The Forgotten
DVD
Review
The Forgotten is a DVD film that has been around for some
time now, but it is one I hadn’t seen until recently. I bought it in Virgin’s
superstore as part of their 3 DVDs-for-a-£20 offer. I took it home to watch and
then decided to write this, my first film review. Something I’d never thought I
would attempt, because I suppose I am a bit of an escapist and love films that
take me away from mundane reality, regardless of how well they are acted. The film opens with overhead shots from the sky of New York
City as if one flying over it in an aircraft or is it a UFO? Then we meet the
protagonist Telly Paretta, played by Julianne Moore, talking with her
therapist, trying to come to terms with the loss of her small son Sam who died
in an air crash.
As the plot unfolds reasonably quickly, we see that it is
not Telly who has “forgotten” anything, but others around her. First her
husband, denies that he son ever existed as Telly questions why a photograph
has only two of them in it. What’s happened to Sam? She thinks maybe she is
going mad when her therapist arrives and tells her she is delusional, that her
son never was.
The two men want to commit her, but she runs out of the
apartment and to the home of Ash Correll, whom she had met earlier in a park.
His daughter was also “killed” in the plane with her son. He’s drinking heavily (she assumes due to
his loss), but has also “forgotten” the existence of his own daughter. She
tries get him to remember, but that is after he has called the police who take
her away, but is way-laid outside by the N.S.A and taken into their car.
Back in the apartment, Ash suddenly remembers fragmented
memories of his daughter and chases after her, and after a fight with the N.S.A
men, they both escape in different directions.
Before Telly and Ash are reunited to embark on a mission to
find their missing kids, she sees her husband in the street who not only
doesn’t know of their son, but fails to recognise her as his wife.
Next there are scenes of them being pursued, by the N.S.A, a
female police lieutenant (who thinks it odd that the N.S.A would be interested
in a mentally disturbed woman and her associate) and something else that hints
of beings not-of-this-world.
There are some special effects that come so sudden that it
made me nearly jump out of my chair. For those how haven’t watched the film, I
don’t want to describe them, but will just say that they are not so much scary
or stunningly complex, but are the last
thing you would expect in their particular scenes, especially the way some of
the characters are “taken” [by the aliens?].
The acting.
I think Julianne Moore plays the part of the grieving mother
quite well, but it could have been better. I can always gauge this when my wife
starts going through the tissues wiping here eyes… Well, she didn’t. I got to
admit, that if a film is particularly moving, I get the odd lump in the throat
too. But this is a thriller sci-fi, meant to get you away from mundane reality,
so it is something personally, I can easily overlook.
Dominic West, who plays Ash Correll, does an
excellent job as you see him struggle to work out what the hell’s going on as
he starts to get flash-backs of his daughter playing in her bedroom. And then
later, as he struggles to stop drinking himself into a stupor, something which
he really has to overcome if they are both not to get caught.
The therapist, is just as you would expect a therapist to
be, gentle, unassuming - perhaps a
little “cardboard” if I’m honest. The same as her husband and the female police
lieutenant who is trying to work out what’s going on. But again, I would say
these are all just supporting roles and if they displayed brilliant acting, it
would detract from the main characters and their quest to find their missing
children.
Eventually they come to the airport where the children took
off from on their fatal voyage, but this time the alien (who has appeared once
or twice during the film), is waiting. He seems determined to erase Telly’s
memory of her son completely, and she is determined to keep it. Here we get
some more (not stunning but startling) special effects.
To tell any more of the plot would be to give it away to
those who intend to purchase the film, so I will now list what’s on the DVD.
On the main menu..
Play movie --- Plays the movie.
Subtitles ---
English, Spanish, Dutch, Hungarian (all with captions/commentary)
Audio setup --- English, Spanish, Dutch, Hungarian
Scene Selection --- 28 in all
Special Features --- with commentary
Trailers --- The Forgotten [other films] Hellboy, Resident
Evil, Apocalypse, Frankenfish.
The film has bad language just once, no nudity/mild
reference to sex, rated 12 and runs about an hour and a half.
Personally, I will watch the film again…
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