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| The Forgotten | 
| Category: Movie
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  278 reviews
Sales Rank: 7288
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 95 minutes
ASIN: B000T4349G
Theatrical Release Date: September 23, 2004
Release Date: November 25, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
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| Customer Reviews:
It's ok...not too scary December 22, 2004
Why on earth are people dissappointed when then film does something that they were expecting? Do want the film to be predictable? What if you were told that every moment you experienced and every memory you held dear never happened? In Revolution Studios' haunting psychological thriller The Forgotten, Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) is tormented by the memory of her eight-year-old son Sam's death in a plane crash 14 months ago. While trying to work through her grief, and her subsequent estrangement from her husband Jim (Anthony Edwards), she is informed by her psychiatrist, Dr. Munce (Gary Sinise), that she is suffering from delusions, that her son never existed and she is fabricating his memories. Stunned, she tries to find evidence of Sam's existence photos, videos, scrapbooks. But it has all disappeared. Telly is convinced she is going mad until she meets Ash Correll the father of one of the other plane crash victims. Together, they embark on a search to prove the existence of their children and reclaim their sanity. So what's the problem? The premise grows too ridiculous to take seriously. That's what is wrong with it. Beautifully shot, some so-so preformances, some good scares but nothing that'll keep you up at night. Rent it.
 Didn't I See This On "The X-Files?" December 7, 2004
Scary, chilling, and a not so suprise twist ending best describe this thriller that feels like an expanded "X-Files" episode. The cast is superb. The special effects are effective. Not a real gory tale, but plenty of action and thrills. Great direction and spooky score also are a plus. The story is pure and simple: People seem to be disappearing all over the city. Along with the person the memories also are missing, except for one mother. She remembers her son, but no one else does. Is she crazy? Has she gone completely insane, no! I won't give away what happens to them (for that is the twist) but think "X-Files." I miss Mulder and Scully.
 Preposterous December 2, 2004
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Regular readers will attest to my repulsion for plot spoilers - it's always been my strong preference, as humble film critic, to reveal only the very basic tenants of the story and allow the viewer to be his own tourist guide. However, "The Forgotten" presents a bitter dilemma - to help understand the film's failure, I am faced with a pressing need to discuss its story and that ridiculous twist ending which should send pangs of pain through any logic-based living being. So, if you intend to watch "The Forgotten" (and I suggest you do but only for purposes of healthy debate) then switch off this review and come back once you know all the facts first-hand.
Still here? Don't say I didn't warn you! Julianne Moore is Telly Parada, an emotional wreck deep in therapy. Reason - she lost her nine-year-old son to a plane crash and her only solace now is in the family photos and home videos. But one day she finds her son missing from the photos and the videos - wiped clean. Not even her loving husband, Jim (Anthony Edwards) or her caring friends remember he ever existed! Has Telly completely lost her mind? Her psychiatrist (Gary Sinise) has this to say: "Telly, you never had a son. Sometimes people go around and invent alternate lives, with imagine friends, and imagine families." We suspect it's not so because Telly meets ex-hockey star, Ash Correll (Dominic West) who has been a drunk for over a year - why, he has no clue. But Telly does; she forces Ash to remember the daughter he lost in the same plane crash, the memory of which has been erased. Then Telly and Ash begin to be chased by incompetent NSA agents confirming the government's involvement in a wider conspiracy. Telly confides that "we are being watched." At this point I had accepted the fact that there are only two reasonable outcomes to this story: One, Telly is delusional or two, this film is a reinvention of Francis Ford Coppola's classic "The Conversation." I was not game for what was about to revealed.
Are you ready? There are aliens who are experimenting on select individuals and they have abducted Telly and Ash's children to observe the bond of parental love; they have also erased the memory of these abductees from multiple minds. It's an inventive twist, alas there is no pay-off as the film dives into monster cliches and stereotypes. There is a dramatic climatic confrontation between Telly and an alien (who looks human of course). At this stage expositions and special effects are mercilessly piled on as we reach for the inner sanctum of our intelligence. Ultimately the aliens are defeated in their macabre experiment because they are unable to figure out the metaphysical nature of a mother's love. The kids are restored to the present. Everything goes back to normal as if nothing had happened. This punches open a lot of holes: If the aliens have the technology and expertise to alter multiple realities then surely figuring out human behaviour should be a walk in the park, right? Why did our extra-terrestrials return the kids - surely not out of the goodness of their hearts because we are told repeatedly that "humans are lab rats" to them? Have the writers tried to sneakily pawn off the brilliance of Alex Proyas' "Dark City"?
"The Forgotten" is preposterous. Though, at the very least, it is technically accomplished and is fortunate to have a very talented actress in its lead.
 Great Movie! November 21, 2004
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This movie isn't really terrifying and the twist isn't fantastic. But people who like scary moments and don't want to see the people they care about get killed by evil will like this movie. It's not incredibly deep but the acting is wonderul and so are the production values. It's definitely worth a rental.
About Time Something Decent! November 21, 2004
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's movies like these that give you that little bit of hope; that there's still some creative minds in Hollywood, I really didn't know what to expect, so I went to see it anyway. At first I was a little lost (nothing new there) and just before half way I was getting so into it, trying to figure out what was going on and oh man the cinamtography was great. There's one scene something gets damaged (I wont say) but man... never in my life have I seen a film maker go that far! Wow! I think people should just be a little open minded and give it a go, I ended up loving it...
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