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 he Forgotten" is a hard film to review, in
much the same way that it is hard to properly articulate the feelings
brought about by an extended bout of vomiting. This is Hollywood at its
worst, a lame, by the numbers retread of a dozen better films and infinitely
more inventive episodes of "The
X-Files", which simply fails to entertain on every imaginable
level. The film is little more than a cheap, insulting cash in on the
continuing thirst for conspiracy theories, an easy target which it
nevertheless somehow still manages to miss by a mile.
In these uncertain times,
paranoia and distrust are all too common, yet "The Forgotten" is
so lazy and shoddily made that it actually serves to diffuse such anxieties,
and is more likely to elicit laughter from the viewer, followed by a vague
sense of annoyance at having wasted an hour and a half of their life. There
is an absolute and indeed obvious lack of effort here, and the film comes
across as an odious, unwanted and confused piece of trash that was only made
to help level up the studio's balance sheets.
Certainly, it is almost impossible to imagine anyone
being inspired by such an unoriginal concept of such unambitious scope,
and so it can only be assumed that it was made as a tax write off or to
fulfill some kind of obscure contractual agreement. Whatever the case may
be, it could never be argued that "The Forgotten" was made with
any kind of genuine attempt to entertain, as this is truly dire stuff, a
film which acts as a damning indictment of the lack of creativity in
contemporary Hollywood cinema.
The plot has an admittedly intriguing opening: a
woman, who has spent the last fourteen months trying to get over the
tragic death of her young son, is suddenly told that her memories are in
fact false and that she never had a child. This revelation comes to her
after she returns home one day to find all of her son's pictures missing,
and all evidence of his existence having been erased. However, she cannot
let go of her memories and, convinced that something sinister is afoot,
begins a desperate search for the truth.
This takes up around ten minutes of the film, and in
the name of fairness, in case anyone is unfortunate to have it inflicted
upon them, I will refrain from revealing anything further, though to be
honest, anyone who has seen the trailer already has a very good idea of
where the story goes. The fact that the trailer reveals almost the entire
plot of the film is a pretty accurate representation of its confusion and
of director Joseph Ruben's inability to properly handle any of the film's
would-be surprises and twists. This is no great surprise, given that
Ruben's career has floundered badly since his classic film "The
Stepfather", and his recent films, including the lamentable
"Money
Train", can quite charitably be described as 'awful'.
Although there are a number of thematic shifts in the
narrative, Ruben seems unsure whether to treat them as crucial revelations
or mere plot developments, and as a result the viewer is confused, and is
often left wondering whether or not things we have been shown are supposed
to be important or not. The film simply plods along without any enthusiasm
or conviction, casually throwing in events now and again in a fashion that
makes it more and more clear as the running time drags on that there is
very little to the narrative beyond the initial high concept premise.
Since the viewer knows early on exactly where the film is going, "The
Forgotten's" inability to shift up a gear and deliver thrills of any
description rapidly becomes tiresome, annoying, and ultimately, soul
destroying.
This is made all the worse by the fact that the
script, by Gerald Di Pego (who cursed the world with the Lopez vanity
vehicle "Angel
Eyes") is under the illusion that it is far more intelligent than
it is. Without going into any great detail about the nature of the central
conspiracy, it's safe to say that the film relies heavily upon
coincidences for its narrative progression, and the fact that the
supposedly super intelligent sinister forces behind it all have a penchant
for leaving incriminating photographs simply lying around. This pushes
things into the realms of the ludicrous, as viewers try in vain to stifle
laughter at the thought of these people posing quite happily in front of
the evidence, smiling away, despite the fact that they are involved in
some kind of sophisticated evil scheme.
"The Forgotten" never actually gets around
to explaining exactly what this scheme is, and without any kind of
background or mythos, the viewer is left floundering in a sea of
disinterest. Some films succeed by throwing in tantalizing glimpses of
their secrets, allowing the audience to work things out for themselves;
"The Forgotten", on the other hand, seems to be clueless.
Perhaps this would not have been so glaringly obvious if there had been
enough action to distract from the film's essential dullness.
Unfortunately, this is not the case, as the trailer shows almost all of
the film's meager quotient of special effects and 'excitement', though the
use of the word is hardly appropriate. It is also worth noting that the
film only avoids a 'PG' rating through a single and incredibly gratuitous
use of bad language.
The final nail in the coffin is the atrocious acting.
Julianne Moore, looking more gaunt and cadaverous than ever, is wholly
unbelievable in a role which shifts wildly between high pitched bleating
and a sudden transformation into a low-rent Ripley. Dominic West is
equally at fault, playing an intensely annoying 'movie drunk' who spends
half the film swigging from a bottle, and then suddenly decides to pour it
down the sink and quit when he is required to show more manly qualities.
Right.
The bottom line is that "The Forgotten" is
absolutely awful, and without any redeeming features. Even by the
lamentable standards of modern Hollywood, this is a poor, poor effort that
offers even the least discriminating of viewers nothing more than a
limp-wristed slap in the face.
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