Moore shines in “Forgotten”

With horror taking a backseat to the thriller genre, the box office is seeing more and more returns to Alfred Hitchcock’s form of hysteria rather than the gore-riddled mania of the seventies and eighties. “The Sixth Sense,” “The Village,” and ” The Others,” are only a few examples of this.

Next up to bat is the Julianne Moore vehicle, “The Forgotten,” which entails a mother’s desperate attempts to reclaim her life after her son is the victim of an alien abduction.

Topping off the movie’s greater aspects are the performances by its two lead characters, Julianne Moore and Dominic West. Since the film involves lost children, they are understandably crying through most of the movie’s calm scenes and screaming in anguish during the louder ones. This is dangerous because it draws eerily close to becoming the sappy equivalent to a Lifetime television special. However, Moore and West are able to pull off the piece respectfully.

Another of the movie’s attributing honors is the excellent direction of Joseph Ruben. Many of the scenes were given sad blue film filters which added to the depression of the characters. Artistic set designs and shots contributed to more of its memorable moments. The car crash scene is probably the best and scariest sequence portrayed on film in a long time. The abduction scenes are, at first, expressively unique and scary, but as the film wears on they become routine and deliver only in moderation during the climax where it should at its most thrilling.

This movie, like much of its forerunners, begins by posing a number of questions culminating to a pinnacle ‘answer-all’ in which the final revelations will be revealed. This is a reasonably difficult format to work with and “The Forgotten” is a good example of what can go wrong when handled disrespectfully. With so many questions raised in the opening half of the film it becomes increasingly more difficult to wrap up, and in the end many story aspects end up ‘forgotten’ themselves. Audiences are left only to presume the missing pieces. In the end, the writing is what makes this film only par for the course of today’s running thrillers.

There are better thrillers available in your local movie store and the only reason I can find to see “The Forgotten” is if you’ve already seen them all.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 8 2004. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry