Warning: This review contains the analysis of a movie. Other than analyzing it, I can't think of any way to review it at all, short of summarizing the first few minutes and then telling you that some very strange stuff happens. My advice: If you plan to see the film (which I don't recommend at all), hold the review until afterwards.

How would you feel if you were told that you didn’t have a child when you had always thought that you had one? This becomes an even more complicated question in Joseph Ruben’s latest movie “The Forgotten,” in which the leading roles are performed by Julianne Moore, Dominic West and Gary Sinise.

Well, let’s get deeper and analyze the film. Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) plays a mother who lost her son, Sam, 14 months ago in a plane crash. Nine other children also died in the same crash. Telly has been undergoing treatment by a psychiatrist (Gary Sinise), who wonders whether she has been enhancing her memories of Sam. She continually looks at photo albums and watches home videos of her son. But one day, all the physical mementos of Sam suddenly disappear from Telly’s life. The photo albums and videos are now blank. She has a breakdown and then is informed that she never had a child, that this was a false memory she had invented. In desperation, Telly meets with Ash (Dominic West), who says he lost his daughter on the same flight. He remembers both of their children, and he wants to help Telly figure out what’s going on. So, they begin pursuing the truth. Everyone else they come into contact with believes that they never had children. And then, the National Security Agency (NSA) enters the picture.  It wants to make them shut up. Why?

First of all, in my defense, something really is forgotten in this movie. Considering the name of the film, this is ironic. After I had watched the movie, I was not sure what to focus on first. Unfortunately there is no evidence of a solid thread that stitches the whole thing together. Watching the movie makes you feel that its whole production was rushed. To begin with, the main theme should have been presented in a way that would have allowed the plot to evolve a little bit more slowly. Also, the same theme was used in “The X-Files” TV show. Yeah, that's right. The whole thing is related to some alien stuff, but you're forced to watch all of Telly's emotional ups and downs, which have nothing to do with the story.

All right, maybe a little, but not the whole movie for God’s sake. In my opinion, both the director and the screenwriter are extremely weak in this movie. I say the director is weak, because there is no sense of any real editing having been done. Everything is straightforward in the movie, and so except for some thrilling visual effects, it bores you. I mean it. The only memorable thing about the film is the visual effects, which simultaneously excite and scare you. The screenwriter? I think that while he was dreaming up this story, he was like: “Well, what should we have? Let’s have a distraught mother for the sake of emotional exploitation. What else? Yes! Let's throw in some aliens. That would be mysterious. What else? Hmm… Let’s add some chase scenes, guest stars and the NSA. But this still isn't enough. No, not enough..!” And, unfortunately, there really is more:-D

All in all, if you want to see some thrilling visual effects that definitely scare most members of the audience, then see the movie. But I think you can let this one slide by you without any regrets. Hehe… Have fun and stay cool.

Rating:

Editing: 0;

Visual effects: 1;

Directing: 0.5;

Acting: 0.5;

Story: 0.5

Atilla Karakurum (IE/IV)