The Forgotten [2004]

January 25, 2010

The year is 2004 and I’m slowly making my way to the theater to see a movie that grabbed my attention because of its X-Files premise. The Forgotten is a psychological thriller about a grieving mother on a quest to find out what happened to her child. This is a nifty little mystery movie that will keep your attention for ninety minutes. However, I did exit that theater disappointed. I was expecting something much, much bigger and that’s entirely my fault. The entire movie feels like a new television show in the vein of The X-Files with just one episode.

So, just be aware of that and you should be fine. Starring Julianne Moore and Dominic West, the acting was top-notch and it really helped with the believability of the main premise. This is incredibly important in movies like this that have that little “suspense of belief” moment. If your actors are not on point, the whole thing breaks apart and comes off as cheesy and commercial. Another good example of this I can give you is the movie Flightplan starring Jodi Foster. It also follows a mother trying to find out what happened to her kid.

I have a feeling that The Forgotten is going to be forgotten in a couple of years. It just has that mediocrity vibe about it. Perhaps you’ll catch it one night on late-night tv if such a thing should exist in the future. And I think this is unfair. As you know, Subversive Rabbit is a site dedicated to recommending movies worth watching. The Forgotten is a movie definitely worth watching. The production values are good, the camerawork excellent and the atmosphere is not just foreboding but also oozing with mystery. The story unfolds with a steady pace allowing us to form our own theories of what’s going on.

Is this woman crazy? Are the aliens trying fucking probe us again? Have our reptilian overlords decided to change their tactics? We will simply have to watch this movie and find out. I just wish they took the whole psychological aspect of the movie further. Oddly enough, just a couple of months after I wrote this review, Julianne Moore starred in another mystery movie, Shelter AKA 6 Souls. And in that movie, they went all in on the psychological shit with mixed results.

Moreover, in between these two movies, Julianne appears in both Children of Men and Freedomland playing a grieving mother. Moving on, while most of the movie consists of Moore’s quest for answers there will be a couple of really effective jump scares. So, you can already guess they appear in the trailer. This trend of jump scares has really become rampant in recent years. At least here we have a pretty good atmosphere to accompany them.

I also want to bring to your attention the alternative ending you can find on the DVD and Blu-ray editions of this movie. It’s far better than the one I’ve seen in the theater and I suggest you check it out. Finally, if you’re looking for movies like The Forgotten check out another hidden gem, Impostor. Starring Gary Sinise, it’s a full-blown science fiction movie with strong psychological themes.