MOVIEW REVIEW: ‘Forgotten’s’ promising plot fails to unfold
Grade: D
A shallow story line, an absolutely inept conclusion and oodles of melodramatic sappiness make “The Forgotten” worth forgetting.
This sci-fi, suspense thriller’s only strength is its beginning, which, ironically enough rests on a sentimental premise: the unrestrained love of a mother for her son.
But after the warm and fuzzy stage is set, the film unravels like a disappointing birth-day gift; all wrapped-up in a cozy package, turning out to be nothing more than another pair of socks.
Julianne Moore (Far From Heaven) is Telly Paretta, an un-wavering mother who cherishes every emblem, including pictures and videos, of her dead son Sam. More than 14 months have passed since her son’s death and Paretta is so emotionally tied to him she can’t move on. One day she discovers all the photo albums and videos have been emptied and erased. She confronts her husband (Anthony Edwards) whose answer is painfully shocking. “There is no Sam,” he says. “There never was.”
Her therapist (Gary Sininse) reveals to her that she’s delusional and suffers from paramnesia and post traumatic shock that began with a miscarriage nine years earlier. Sam was just a figment of her imagination. But Telly has nine years of intricate memories logged inside her supposedly insane mind and hardly believes she could have made them up. The vividness of those recollections propels her to run away from her husband and dig out the truth.
She soon finds Ash Correll, the father of a girl who died (at least in Telly’s memory) in the same plane crash as her son. In Correll’s mind he never had a daughter, but Telly forces him to say her name out loud, which unlocks forgotten memories of her. Together Correll and Telly search for answers.
At this point the film starts to descend into an abyss of stupidity. It’s so-called suspenseful tension is manufactured with nothing more than several identical foot-chases. For some unknown reason the National Security Agency has suddenly dubbed them dangerous and begins to pursue them. The entire middle portion of the film is swamped by these repetitive eerie-mood-creating chase scenes. No jumps – no scares – just running.
The movie also begins to veer from a conspiracy theory plot to flat out absurdity. The length at which the film goes to strive for originality turns it into a poorly played-out X-files episode. This downward spiral pulls at every aspect of the film to plunge further away from its premise and suffocates anything good working for it. Telly’s lines turn from smart to smug, Correll goes from courageous to campy and the ending is so incredibly blah it left me wishing it could be live up to its title, and be forgotten.
Jack’s Weekly DVD
Recommendation:
“Dogville”
Lars Von Trier’s “Dogville” is a superb ‘illustration’ of human nature and possibly the best film of 2004. Its portrayal of xenophobia is so wickedly brilliant it begs for repeated views.
Jack Saunders is a movie reviewer for the Utah Statesman. He is a senior majoring in print journalsim. Comments may be sent to jrsaunders@cc.usu.edu.