by: ahf
Posted on 11.10.09 in All Horror Films
Release Date: 2004

I love me some Julianne Moore. Could this be one of her best films…not so much. The Forgotten is certainly a vehicle for Moore, but her fabulous acting chops can’t save a bland attempt in The Twilight Zone.

We meet Telly Pareta (Moore) a year after the loss of her son Sam (Christopher Kovaleski) in a tragic plane crash. Telly’s constant grieving has become a danger to her relationships with her husband Jim (Anthony Pareta), her friends, and even her therapist Dr. Jack Munce (Gary Sinise). Just when we think Telly’s sadness may have a break, she finds that mementos of Sam’s have gone missing, mostly photographs. It really is a fun part of the film. We’re not sure if Telly is having a psychotic break and realizing she never had a son, or if someone is really trying to erase her memories of Sam.

Telly goes to the one person who might be able to understand what she’s going through. Ash Correl (Dominic West) is a retired Hockey player who’d daughter died in the same plane crash. Mysteriously Ash cannot remember ever meeting Telly, Sam or even his daughter Lauren. Telly won’t except this and has a freak out in Ash’s apt while he’s passed out drunk. She rips the wall paper of his walls to reveal drawing left by Lauren. After showing this to Ash he calls the police. Whilst Telly is being shoved into a car by men who obviously aren’t your standard issue police officers, more like men in black, Ash says Lauren’s name out loud and remembers her making the drawings on the walls. At the last moment Ash saves Telly from being hauled away to the loony bin by the FBI. Telly, crying, looks up to the skies and see…well, what appears to be a UFO in the clouds. Hmmm….are you telling me this is a movie about alien abductions?!?

Around this time the film gets almost as convoluted as some of my reviews. They introduce a new character, Det. Anne Pope (Alfre Woodard). I love Alfre almost as much as I love Julianne, but what a waste of an actress in this film. Now we have two parents with supposed wiped memories, the FBI, a Detective…and oh yeah, some very odd dark man who seems to following this story on the fringes played by Linus Roache. People run, hide, search, and get sucked up into the air. The sucked up into air parts really are the best scenes in the movie.

The Forgotten is slow, but has great actors in it. It’s eerie, but lacks a certain Sci-Fi edge to really keep your interest. Mostly I’m really disappointed with films that give me a great setup that I’m into for the first half until you realize where they’re going with the plot and realize you’ve seen this story before. Boo. It happens a lot. I think I’d rather be watching re-runs of The X-Files.

* Acting – 4
* Blood – 1
* Violence – 1
* Partying – 1
* Language – 2
* Humor – 1
* Predictability – 4
* Girls – 1
* Gore – 1
* Sexuality – 1
* Torture – 1
* Overall – 1

• ★★★★★

  Acting:

• ★★★★★

  Blood:

• ★★★★★

  Violence:

• ★★★★★

  Partying:

• ★★★★★

  Language:

• ★★★★★

  Humor:

• ★★★★★

  Predictable:

• ★★★★★

  Girls:

• ★★★★★

  Gore:

• ★★★★★

  Sexuality:

• ★★★★★

  Torture:

• ★★★★★

  Overall: