Don't Believe the Hype

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

In New York City, Telly Paretta has been under the psychiatric care of Dr. Jack Munce for fourteen months, the therapy to help her deal with the grief associated with losing her nine year old son, Sam Paretta, one of six children in a plane that went missing, the plane and the bodies never recovered. In the words of Telly's husband, Jim Paretta, Telly has been holding onto the past like a "death grip", which has hindered her therapy. Telly does not appreciate that characterization as it makes it sound like Dr. Munce and Jim want her to forget Sam. Slowly, incidents make it seem like Telly is losing that grip on the past, until one day all physical evidence of Sam disappears, personal as well as public, such as all media stories of the plane disappearance. Subsequently, Jim and Dr. Munce try to explain to her that her therapy is to help her get over the delusion that she and Jim have/had a son. As Telly alone goes on a search for any evidence of the existence of Sam, the only person. Julianne Moore gives easily one of the worst performances of her entire life and the film is simply about a crazy woman who believes she has a kid. Once the first 10 minutes pass you will skip it to the end i know i did..

Sub-par X-FILES thrills are the order of the day in this cheap, poorly-scripted thriller which goes through the motions without ever becoming interesting. It's one of those Hollywood movies where everybody's eye is simply on making money, so forget about any notions of quality or originality – this is one lame movie, without reason, explanation or interest. The actual premise of the film, although quite predictable, is nevertheless still appealing, and there's about half an hour of genuine mystery until the studio bigwigs decide to have an unnecessary shot of a UFO in a cloud – and plausibility goes straight out of the window.It doesn't really spoil this film to say that aliens are behind it all; annoyingly, though, you never discover their motivations behind the kidnapping over than an 'experiment' on Moore. What a load of bull. The ending is typically lame, cheesy Hollywood sentimentality at its very worst, making all the characters live happily ever after without tying up any loose ends (what happened to her husband?). The film seems to go out of its way to be obtuse whilst at the same time boring. There are endless chase sequences which go nowhere and lead to nothing, and nothing is exactly what happens in this film.Julianne Moore is an actress I've always hated – ever since her non-performance in the appalling LOST WORLD. Guess what? She's even worse here! Moore is just totally wrong, inauthentic as the heroine, and she can't even judge her lines right – check out the hilarious bit where she shouts "his name is Sam!" – hmm perhaps there should have been a pause in there somewhere? Moore's supporting cast is similarly of the vanilla variety, with Anthony Edwards revealing once again why he never made it big after E.R. and the only decent actor, Gary Sinise, wasted in almost a cameo role.The film is successful in its 'jump' scares – especially the frightening car crash and the first 'sucked up into the clouds' surprise; the director shows himself a master of misdirection. But that cool cloud effect is then played over and over, totally ruining the effect; just another example of the way Hollywood can't resist throwing CGI effect after CGI effect into a movie. Sci-fi fans should stick to THE X-FILES rather than watch this worthless excuse for a movie – definitely one of 2004's worst.

A psychiatrist talks to a woman that believes she once had a child, something that her doctor fully disagrees; that doesn't sound anything new for those who've seen enough thrillers and mysteries. However, such situation wasn't that utilized in movies when this one was released; in fact, I can only remember "The Sixth Sense" and one or another that dealt with supposedly dead people. Furthermore, this isn't the classic case in which everyone is dead or alive, on the contrary of the main character's situation, so "The Forgotten" proves to be original and innovative. Better than that, it involves aliens in a subtle way, delivering some unexpected SCARY scenes in the last minutes-- mainly when that weirdo guy SCREAMS something repeatedly at Telly. However, I strongly disliked the fact that nothing gets resolved or explained. We're given vague informations about the aliens that carry people away in order to complete a "test", but the lack of explanation made me ask myself if I waited so long for so few. If a better outcome was written, this movie would've been able to achieve the image of a great picture, which, sadly, it doesn't. For a good portrayal of the love between mother and son, I'd rather recommend you 2000's "Dancer in the Dark". If you prefer seeing a good drama involving afterlife discussions, "Passengers" isn't a let down in any aspect.

I don't normally write reviews containing 'Spoilers,' but it seems that a – semi – spoiler is required to make sure that this film is seen by those who will appreciate it the most. Apparently, 'The Forgotten' was not received as well as it might, largely because a proportion of the audience expected a 'rational' explanation to why Julianne Moore's child had gone missing. However (and here's the semi-spoiler), the 'explanation' is anything but ordinary.The Forgotten plays out like an extended episode of 'The X-files' (and we all know what was really going on behind the scenes there). So, if you don't like science fiction, then you're probably not going to like this.Although, whereas The X-files' world was – as best it could – based in reality, The Forgotten doesn't require looking into that closely. In fact... the more you look into the story, the more plot holes you'll probably find (and therefore your enjoyment will diminish with each fact you find which is most likely impossible in real life). However, as with most films, The Forgotten isn't real and therefore you need to seriously suspend your disbelief to get anything out of it.So, if you like X-films-type films/tales and are prepared not to overlook certain elements of the story which would probably be impossible to pull off in the real world, then you should enjoy this. The performances are good, it has a decent amount of tension and is suitably creepy where required.Don't look too hard at the story... just watch the skies!http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/