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The Forgotten was interesting. When it came out in theatres I wasn't that taken by the trailer so I skipped it. Watching the movie, I was more engaged then I thought I'd be. It starts off as an odd, psychological sort of thriller and stays pretty tense, if a little silly at points. However, by the end it unravels into a sort of horror movie that I didn't really care for.
The big reveal in the airplane hangar and the Alien Scientist flexing his powers shifted the tone of the movie and it was a little late in the game to be doing that.
Julianne Moore, I thought, was believeable -- desperate, confused, slightly crazed. Dominic West who played Ash was just gorgeous and drunk. He was pretty superfulous, didn't add much. I think the point was for there to be at least one person who believes her so that we don't doubt that she isn't crazy. It was rather slipshod in that respect. The NSA agents were ridiculously ineffectual. It might have been more effective if we were left to wonder if Telly (what an awful name) really were insane. Gary Sinise's about face half way through the movie didn't make sense, either. He never gives us a reason for why he suddenly believes her and by the end, at the big reveal, it's more of a wtf than a Oh, that makes sense.
The story really kind of goes nowhere, but while I watched it, I didn't care. I just wanted to know what was happening. The the revelation at the end is another point that fails to live up to what the movie tries to do (exactly what that is, I'm not even sure). Nothing really seems to happen for a reason. It's just a series of random events, puzzle pieces, that never actually come together to make any sort of coherant picture. You end up taking it for what it is and waiting for the outcome.
There was an odd attempt to make a comment on mother love and the mother/child bond. Telly's insistence that her son is still alive is an odd to me. Why is she the only mother of who knows how many to remember her son? Why is she special or different? That's something not addressed. Obliquely, a comparison is set up between the mother/child versus father/child relationship. Ash (Dominic West) forgets that he has a daughter. For reasons that are never clear, perhaps to further supress his memories, he has become a heavy drinker. Telly uses this as part of her reasoning for his tampered memories. It's all very hodge podge. I'm not sure why the mother/child bond is meant to trump the father/child bond. It would have been useful to set Telly up against, either in contention with or colusion with another mother in the same circumstance, especially if we're setting her up as a unique case subject, to highlight her singulairity.
I thought that the very end where the Alien has wiped her earliest memory of Sam, his birth, was particularly silly. The memory that takes precedence over that birth memory is the memory of her pregnancy which then leads her back down the same road: I had life ... I had a son ... his name is Sam. It still doesn't explain WHY Telly is so special. Why does she remember when other parents, mother's included as far as we know, don't remember their missing children? Why does her husband forget? Why does Ash forget?
The Forgotten asks more questions than it answers. We don't know what the ramifications are for a failed experiment. Why is the Alien so insistent on the experiment not being a failure. Why does everything get shifted back in the end and why does Telly still remember? The movie builds up a lot of steam but deflates in the end.
The effects were crazy and startling. I mean who doesn't notice people getting zipped up into the sky? Although, I understand why they used that particular technique takes advantage of a pre-existing mythology, same as the abduction language. I especially love the cloud ship thing in the beginning part of the movie when she's running from the NSA. And that's another thing. Exactly what were they going to do with her? I mean these aliens are watching them and they can yank her up at any time, what does the NSA have to do with it?
So, oddly enough, it's not an awful movie, but not a great movie either. I'd be pressed to say that it's even a good movie, but it was engaging while I watched it. The after is another story. I think the puzzle of finding out *exactly* what was happening kept me watching more than anything else. That and the hotness of Dominic West.
The big reveal in the airplane hangar and the Alien Scientist flexing his powers shifted the tone of the movie and it was a little late in the game to be doing that.
Julianne Moore, I thought, was believeable -- desperate, confused, slightly crazed. Dominic West who played Ash was just gorgeous and drunk. He was pretty superfulous, didn't add much. I think the point was for there to be at least one person who believes her so that we don't doubt that she isn't crazy. It was rather slipshod in that respect. The NSA agents were ridiculously ineffectual. It might have been more effective if we were left to wonder if Telly (what an awful name) really were insane. Gary Sinise's about face half way through the movie didn't make sense, either. He never gives us a reason for why he suddenly believes her and by the end, at the big reveal, it's more of a wtf than a Oh, that makes sense.
The story really kind of goes nowhere, but while I watched it, I didn't care. I just wanted to know what was happening. The the revelation at the end is another point that fails to live up to what the movie tries to do (exactly what that is, I'm not even sure). Nothing really seems to happen for a reason. It's just a series of random events, puzzle pieces, that never actually come together to make any sort of coherant picture. You end up taking it for what it is and waiting for the outcome.
There was an odd attempt to make a comment on mother love and the mother/child bond. Telly's insistence that her son is still alive is an odd to me. Why is she the only mother of who knows how many to remember her son? Why is she special or different? That's something not addressed. Obliquely, a comparison is set up between the mother/child versus father/child relationship. Ash (Dominic West) forgets that he has a daughter. For reasons that are never clear, perhaps to further supress his memories, he has become a heavy drinker. Telly uses this as part of her reasoning for his tampered memories. It's all very hodge podge. I'm not sure why the mother/child bond is meant to trump the father/child bond. It would have been useful to set Telly up against, either in contention with or colusion with another mother in the same circumstance, especially if we're setting her up as a unique case subject, to highlight her singulairity.
I thought that the very end where the Alien has wiped her earliest memory of Sam, his birth, was particularly silly. The memory that takes precedence over that birth memory is the memory of her pregnancy which then leads her back down the same road: I had life ... I had a son ... his name is Sam. It still doesn't explain WHY Telly is so special. Why does she remember when other parents, mother's included as far as we know, don't remember their missing children? Why does her husband forget? Why does Ash forget?
The Forgotten asks more questions than it answers. We don't know what the ramifications are for a failed experiment. Why is the Alien so insistent on the experiment not being a failure. Why does everything get shifted back in the end and why does Telly still remember? The movie builds up a lot of steam but deflates in the end.
The effects were crazy and startling. I mean who doesn't notice people getting zipped up into the sky? Although, I understand why they used that particular technique takes advantage of a pre-existing mythology, same as the abduction language. I especially love the cloud ship thing in the beginning part of the movie when she's running from the NSA. And that's another thing. Exactly what were they going to do with her? I mean these aliens are watching them and they can yank her up at any time, what does the NSA have to do with it?
So, oddly enough, it's not an awful movie, but not a great movie either. I'd be pressed to say that it's even a good movie, but it was engaging while I watched it. The after is another story. I think the puzzle of finding out *exactly* what was happening kept me watching more than anything else. That and the hotness of Dominic West.
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-04 11:25 pm (UTC)From:I prefer to watch bad movies knowing in advance they're bad, and have them be bad enough that I can have fun watching & mocking. This movie wasn't bad in the fun way ... it was just annoyingly craptastic.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-05 05:53 am (UTC)From:*shrugs* dunno.