After seeing this awful thriller, the first question that comes to mind is : why did Julianne Moore agree to star in this junk ? Just like Nicole Kidman ("The Others"), Naomi Watts ("The Ring"), Halle Berry("Gothika") or Sarah Michelle Gellar ("The Grudge") and before Jennifer Connelly ("Dark Water"), Kate Hudson ("Skeleton Key") and Naomi Watts again ("The Ring Two"), Julianne Moore was certainly looking for the supernatural thriller / box office smash that was lacking in her filmography. Supernatural thrillers are for actresses what Die Hard / Lethal Weapon movies are for actors : a great way to lead a movie with a character that does not require to flash her boobs and is more than the hero's girlfriend. Sometimes it works ("The Others", "The Ring", "The Grudge"), sometimes it doesn't ("Gothika"). Never, however, has it failed like "The Forgotten" does. It's a shame, for Julianne Moore is certainly one of the best actresses working today. There are two overwhelming problems in "The Forgotten". The first is the screenplay, that is such a rip off of a bad "X-Files" episode that Mulder and Scully are probably rolling in their graves. The second problem is Joseph Ruben's direction, who's managed to make Julianne Moore act like a b-movie starlett. Plus, the movie is visually ugly : after "The Others" and "The Ring", two movies that were both scary and visually stunning, the bar has been raised. In the end, "The Forgotten" is often unintentionnally laughable, ridiculous, and frankly, one wishes the director could disappear in the sky (just like many characters in the movie do) and be replaced by Hideo Nakata instead.
Review of The Forgotten
