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The Forgotten(2004) - By T-Dawg

Rating out of 5 possible lobsters :

"Everything you've experienced, everything you've known, never happened."

     Unlike the memories that were unsuccessfully being washed away from Julianne Moore’s subconscious I can’t say the same fate is in store for me after watching the Forgotten. Some movies are instantly forgettable after viewing them but their others that are so bad that they leave scare tissue on the minds eye forever. I can honestly say that I have never heard the phrase “The Children”, “What about the children”, “Where are the children” used with such reckless abandon in my life. Remember Mel Gibson screaming into the camera “Gimmie Back my son!” now picture Julian Moore grief stricken and pale faced doing the same thing in a cheap twilight zone episode.

     I don’t know where to pick up with the review but I on the positive side there is an interesting concept to be had here to bad its been done in better films i.e. Dark City (and to a lesser extent the Matrix, Total Recall, Vanilla Sky and so it goes). Questions flooded my head as I saw quality character actors come into the fold but I must digress they have one thing in common they have done bad scifi before Alfre Woodard (The Core) and Gary Sinise (The Impostor). It was also nice to see regulars from HBO’s the Wire in the mix as well always wondered what those guys did in between seasons.

     Here is the plot in a nutshell – Julianne Moore grieves for 14 months about her son that died in a plane crash (OR DID HE?). Mysteriously things that connect her to the memory of her son begin to vanish. Soon she is the only person that seems to know she had a son but luckily for her she runs into an ex hockey player a Ranger no less that is in the same predicament but doesn’t know it. I’m thinking Dominic West was doing his best method acting as former NY Ranger, Kevin Stevens (Google the name if I lost ya). Long story short her shrink thinks she’s crazy her husband is on that band wagon also but luckily for him he forgets who the bitch is half way through the film. How about the leaps of faith the detective takes in believing Julianne’s story Jesus this trick would still believe OJ is innocent. I love it when the gov’t agencies get their licks in too acting all x-files and shit. And best of all the oh so subtle hints of Aliens and the big shop vac in the sky. Its all part of an experiment we are told and with that tidey bow of plot hole filled we get our prescribed 275 mg Zoloft ending chased with a shot of Absinthe.

One question to ponder:

Wouldn’t the combination of the Butterfly Effect and 6 degrees of separation become relevant meaning the end of humanity (or least everyone being sucked into a perpetual vacuum) all so Julianne Moore can have her child back. Think on it people.

Lest we forget!

Henry's Comments

 "At the top of my list of things I want to forget... growing up as a sexually curious boy on a farm and this movie."