The Forgotten (2004) Reviews

• Plan 90 From Outer Space

  Critical Eye UK2006-04-13

  There were moments early on in this when a score of 8 or more seemed possible -- unbelievably high, considering the box-office dross churned out nowadays. But then, 'unbelievable' becomes the defining characteristic of the enterprise, and all the good work that's put into writing, acting, and direction vanishes into another of those swirling cloud-holes that seem to litter American skies. Nonsensical narrative can, of course, always be forgiven when it's in the service of something greater, and 'The Forgotten' certainly has Grade A nonsense as its underlying premise -- the notion that aliens should wish to spend time and resource figuring out what is it that bonds parents to children and vice versa, a preoccupation about as arcane as it's possible to get considering that aliens very likely have other priorities to think about, like survival, world domination, world extinction, the rising price of gas etc. Unfortunately for 'The Forgotten', however, there isn't anything else. Aliens as anthropologists is the theme, and once that's apparent then everything that follows is absurd (not least the fact that if, as an alien, you already 'control' the US Government and its security service to so great an extent, how come you don't 'control', or even harness, the talents of Earthbound scientists and anthropologists to do the field-work for you???) But no. Aliens kidnap kids in hugely and unnecessarily complex scenarios then spend an inordinate amount of time trying to cover up their actions. Yeah. Sure. Yet 'The Forgotten' can't be forgotten so quickly: the lead performances are exceptionally good, the writing crisp and the direction sharp, fresh, and capable of well-nigh Hitchcockian surprises. What a pity then that inventiveness so quickly evaporates, and what could and should have been a superior sci-fi offering ultimately shows itself to be too intellectually lazy to face up to the challenges of its own narrative.

• Very silly experiment

  mariogomezg2004-10-26

  EVERYTHING ON THIS REVIEW IS A SPOILER: Oh yes, you BELIEVE the bad comments! This movie has a horrid script, hands down. You know the premise: A mother loses her son and one day everyone begins to forget about the kid; pics, videos and everything disappears. Her psychiatrist tells her that she's nuts and must go to a mental institution. She escapes and is later arrested, but the NSA -no less- wants to take care of her, so you know there's SOMETHING ELSE. And what is that "else"? Aliens are abducting children to conduct experiments, and the government is collaborating with them, for the space guys are too powerful to oppose. Wanna know how powerful they are? Powerful enough to see and hear everything that happens at any time, anywhere on earth. They can also change newspapers and records, make all trace of any person disappear and create memories in people's minds. THAT is how powerful they are. Yet with all their power, all the physical evidence we see of them is people getting vacuumed into the air. Wherever you are in the planet, they can suck you just like that. But, if aliens cand do all that, WHY the hell do they need to use the NSA, or any other earthly power for that matter? Isn't it plainly stupid to chase Julianne Moore the entire movie when they know all the time exactly where she is and they can vacuum her when they feel like it? Not that she and her fellow parent are very adept at hiding: Though they are constantly chased they never worry about changing their appearances a single time. She goes to her husband's workplace (which should be heavily guarded) in a completely careless way, and also goes to the other parent apartment after they become fugitives, though no cop shows (are they incompetent or what?). Speaking of the apartment, aliens can modificate newspapers, minds and whatever necessary, but can't erase a child's paintings from the walls. I guess that just takes too much power, so they just prefer to cover them, though they're easy to discover. And what's the reason behind all? The EXPERIMENT. What's the experiment, you ask? The alien guy explains it: "We can measure a mother's love for his child (Oh yeah? HOW?), but we can't quite understand it. So we try and see if we can break the bond between them". And for what in the world? Remember, these aliens can see and hear it all, can abduct anyone in a second, we couldn't ever dream of challenge their power. So why would they ever care about breaking the mother-child bond? They do it out of boredom? And why is Julianne the only one who doesn't forget? Well, it's because... er... because she's very stubborn! No kidding, that's all the explanation we get! Every other parent in the world can be a lousy forgetful bastard, but not Julianne, she could never do that! So that's the end of the experiment, the bond can't be broken, right? Wrong! The alien is getting nervous because if she doesn't forget, "the experiment will be a failure" Pardon me?! The point of an experiment is to OBSERVE results, not to provoke them! If you want to achieve concrete results, then it's a project, not an experiment! Can't the writer even tell this simple difference? Anyway, he erases Julianne's first memory from her baby, so that's it! But no, it's useless, she remembers again! So the alien guy is vacuumed as a punishment. Serves him right! In the end the cold heartless aliens become suddenly benign and decide to give everyone's children back, just like that (in return for ruining their experiment?). The little ones don't remember a thing and go on happily with their lives (just ignore the fact that more than a year has passed in the rest of the world!). Even more, no one remembers anything at all, just Julianne (she's stubborn!) But who cares about the terrible truth she's discovered, she's got her son back after all (would they also return the photo albums?), smile and enjoy! And that's about it. Now you judge if you want to pay to see THIS.

• The very definition of "Hollywood ending"

  binaryDigit2004-10-03

  My comment to my wife after watching the film was "if aliens came to earth and wanted to know what was meant by the term 'Hollywood Ending'", then they would just have to watch this film to find out. As previously mentioned, the first half of the movie is interesting. The often used premise of "what is reality" and the thought that that which you hold as real runs counter to what everything and everyone else around you feels. In many ways it's much like "Jacobs Ladder" in that respect. The second half really however degrades into what feels like a made for TV SciFi channel one hour series. The ending is truly awful and makes absolutely no sense. I think my wife summed it up best when she said "the ending didn't fit the movie whatsoever, but I liked it anyway because it made me feel good". Yup, I likened the ending to something you'd see in a Star Trek episode, going along interestingly enough, and then the perfect pat ending sprouts up in the last 5 minutes and makes everyone feel good to be human. I didn't mind the "open endedness" of the ending so much as the total sense of non congruency once the pieces are laid out in front of you. It's like getting to the end of the puzzle, and instead of having missing pieces (which you can at least fill in in your head), you have pieces left over from two other seemingly related but different puzzles. The acting was serviceable, with Julianne Moore turning in a "Riplyesque" performance (whether this is good or bad depends on your perspective) but Gary Sinise basically walks through the movie (while bearing an eerie resemblance to Steve Jobs in the beginning). The other actors move the plot along, but nothing worth saying anything more about. Oh, this movie has one of the best "jump in your seat" auto scenes ever!

• The Alternate Ending on the DVD is well worth it!

  DrJOnes6662005-01-16

  Instead of going into a detailed review of this movie, I would just like to point out that the DVD of The Forgotten offers the possibility to view the Theatrical Release or the Extended Version which contains an alternate ending. The Extended Version runs 8 minutes longer than the Theatrical version. Basically, the changes consist of 2 scenes that were cut off the Theatrical Release + the alternate ending. If you have not seen this movie yet, GIVE YOURSELF A FAVOR and watch the EXTENDED VERSION. The alternate ending is TOTALLY DIFFERENT and in my humble opinion a lot more in tune with the rest of the movie. I have not seen this movie in theaters and I decided to watch the Extended Version first. I'm glad I did! After the viewing, I decided to check the Theatrical Ending and I can totally understand why many people have talked negatively about the "Hollywood Ending" of The Forgotten. The Extended Version fixes that very well. I cannot understand why this was not the version showed in theaters. All in all: good acting, good story - 8/10.

• The Alternate Ending Saves the Story

  claudio_carvalho2005-06-24

  Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) is a mother who can not forget her nine years son Sam, who died in a plane crash. When the memory of Sam is erased from the persons close to her, Telly investigates and finds Ash Correll (Dominic West), a father who misses his daughter, who died in the same accident. A further investigation of them shows a kind of conspiracy with a surprising conclusion. "The Forgotten" is a good thriller, which recalls X-Files, but the theatrical conclusion is horrible. I was very disappointed with the last fifteen minutes, but the alternate ending in the DVD is better and better and saves the story. I am suspicious to write about the wonderful Julianne Moore, since I am a great fan of her, but she has another excellent performance. It is amazing how beautiful and talented this actress is. The cinematography is excellent, the effects are sometimes very scary and I enjoyed this movie. I could be better with some improvements in the screenplay, but anyway I recommend it to fans of X-Files. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Os Esquecidos" ("The Forgotten")