I’ll do my best not to give anything crucial away. It’ll be a bit difficult to review this without doing so, but I’ll try my hardest. First off, The Forgotten is well acted on the main character’s parts. Had someone not of Julianne Moore’s acting ability played the role of Telly Paretta, it would have been so bad that I probably wouldn’t be wasting my time with a review. So thanks to Moore, it’s a decent film. It wasn’t quite what I thought it would be, a Mystery/Thriller in the vein of Hitchcock (just a little more jumpy). Instead it was more akin to The X-Files than anything else. How you might ask? Just think of the whole point of that show, and you’ll know exactly what I mean. Julianne Moore plays Telly Paretta, a woman grieving over the loss of her nine-year-old son fourteen months prior to where the film begins. He died in a plane crash with a few other kids. Gary Sinise steps in as Paretta’s psychiatrist, Dr. Munce, and begins to wonder if perhaps she is “enhancing” the memories of her dead son, Sam. She’s told by Munce to cut down on how much time she spends in what was—and in some cases still is—Sam’s room, and to not look at the photos of him quite so often. But alas, those very photos disappear! How could this happen? Was it her husband Jim, played by Anthony Edwards, trying to get Telly to “let him go”? Or is it something more… sinister? Munce tells her, along with Jim in the room, that she never had a child, that she had a miscarriage and that she has fabricated this whole scenario in a fit of trauma and insanity. But Telly will believe none of it! She remembers Sam too much. It must be a conspiracy, she can’t be crazy! Goddamn the Man and his governmental bullshit! It’s all their fault, it must be! Right? Teaming up with her neighbor Ash, played by Dominic West, they go on a preposterous journey to find out the truth as to how their children were taken, and why. It seems the NSA agents on their tale are so friggin’ inept they can’t manage to catch a frantic woman and her drunken neighbor. Good God guys, I could catch a wild boar with a shoestring better than you can catch two hapless everyday people. Cripes! If I say anything else, I may give too much away. I know I gave a good bit away, but not enough that you couldn’t deduce this all on your own from the trailers. The end result I actually enjoyed. It’s a bit on the lame, implausible side, but nonetheless refreshing. Linus Roache playing the “Friendly Man” did a damn good job of acting creepy, yet friendly. His stuff at the end is a bit chilling. Good stuff. And Alfre Woodard playing Detective Anne Pope was just great. Is there any role she’s not good in? But dammit! Gary Sinise gave the worst performance of his career. He was as dry and dull as a bag of pork rinds. I could’ve gotten more emotion from Steven Hawking, or even a chimpanzee for that matter. I don’t know what the hell his problem was, but damn it was annoying. Through most of the film, there seemed to be a lurking feeling I got that it’s just fodder for the masses. Much like the fodder that’s spit out at the teens and twenty-something’s, but rather for the thirty-something’s and up. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not exactly riveting film-making. All in all The Forgotten is a decent film. It’s not great, but it’s not bad either. It’s a “renter” in my opinion. out of 5 Skulls. |
 |
| The Forgotten Review by Paul Danda |
 |
|
|