Customer Reviews

Not Forgotten

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This movie has an interesting premise. It has an interesting plot and twists and turns. I like suspense and truly like Simon Baker's talent; I bought this specifically because Simon Baker is in it. The ending is one I did not see coming.

Someone goofed in the editing room or in overall production. It is disjointed in several places and it maybe that some scenes were cut that should have remained. The story is good, has interesting details but something is missing. Most of the acting is good; Baker and the leading lady are great.

I was a little confused by the movie but thought it interesting and okay so I turned on the commentary from the writers/directors to possibly clear what I did not "get". I could not believe what was said in the commentary section. I listened to the inane comments from the writers/directors doing their commentary thing. Incredibly self congradulatory, self centered, self indulgent idiots who don't have a clue as to the audience they are addressing. I really don't care which one was "on scene filming" which portion of the movie while the other was in LA yet these two think it was important for all movie viewers to know this fact and comment on it. Nor do I care that they had to put signs and barbed wire in the river to look like the Rio and how proud of this fact they are - several times and minutes worth. Incredibly unprofessional, slanderous comments were made towards Baker who obviously had artistic differences with these baffons. I hope he got his money up front and cut them loose though he has plenty of material for a lawsuit. He gave them a great performance despite their obvious disdain and slandering of him behind his back such as "at least Simon has good hair but that's about the only decent thing I can say about him. Other than that, no comment." Simon and the other actors still give good performances despite the idiocy of these people at the head of the table.

Not Forgotten is a good ride. The interesting plot twists and solid performances by Simon Baker (from tv's The Mentalist) and Paz Vega take viewers on a journey of intrigue. Blending suspense, horror and action - the film makers even throw in a few laughs. I am usually a pretty good predictor of twists, but didn't see this one coming. Exploring the dark religion of La Santa Muerte is fascinating and yet disturbing. A few keystrokes on the net will take surfers to an informational website about Santa Muerte [...] to read more about it's history.

A great addition to my library.

The daughter of Jack Bishop (Simon Baker) is kidnapped. The police look for her. The police look up the usual suspects. Jack Bishop and his wife (who is not the mother of the daughter) look for her. They go to a blind psychic woman who gives them some leads. They go home.

Many scenes at night time. It is dark. It is hard to follow what is happening. Very small hints are given. Much too small. The viewer is not intended to really understand. Not until the end, the chocking end. Yawn.

If you want to make a movie that has a "clever twist" in the end, but not much of interest before the ending, why not make a short movie for 30 minutes? This one is more than one hour too long.

What is worse, the clever twist may be clever in a way, but it makes the story completely implausible. Good acting cannot save bad writing.

Simon Baker ("The Mentalist") is Jack Bishop, an ordinary businessman and father of one daughter. He is living in a quiet Texas-Mexico border town, happily married to his beautiful wife Amaya (Paz Vega). One day his daughter Tobey (Chloe Moretz) goes missing, perhaps kidnapped by someone, or perhaps involved in an accident.

Time passes by and Jack starts investigating on his own. He soon realizes that his daughter's disappearance has something to do with his past.... Well, actually, there are lots more in the slow-moving story, like some supernatural elements and a lengthy torture scene using a broken bottle, but to be frank I lost interest in whatever is going on about 30 minutes in.

With the pretty impressive cast including Chole Moretz, or Chloë Grace Moretz, better known as "Hit-Girl" of "Kick Ass," the thriller "Not Forgotten" should have been much more interesting. Sorry, but what you get here is a confusing mess of a movie that does not know where and how storytelling should be done. So many hints are dropped in the earlier stage, clearly trying to set up some big surprises for the later part (and I admit I couldn't predict them).

However, with a story that is told clumsily, there is no mystery, no suspense, nothing really intense in the film's slow-paced narrative. "Not Forgotten" never generates tension, perhaps except the last chapter. By the time we get to the film's conclusion, however, most of us would lose interest in whatever is going on before us.

Simon Baker does his best as Jack, a mild-mannered guy who begins to show a totally different side as the story unfolds, and surely his fans will be interested, while fans of Chloe Moretz would be disappointed as she looks terribly bored, given no chance to show what the talented player can really do.

Like other reviewers I got this from Amazon to see what Simon Baker can do with a character different from The Mentalist or The Guardian. Wow! Great job! Baker has a truly impressive range as an actor. The plot is pretty dark and compelling, but frustrating. I watched this about 4 times trying to figure out how the didn't-see-it-coming ending could result from what went before. No luck. It can't be done. It is not possible for the characters who did it to pull all the plot strings necessary to make the ending logical. That being said, get this DVD just for the enjoyment of watching Baker make the impossible seem entirely real. It's a great story, well presented, great location details, worth repeated watching. Just don't expect the ending to make sense.

"Not Forgotten" probably won't do much to enhance U.S./Mexico relations. Set in Del Rio, Texas, a town located just north of the border, this thriller stars "The Mentalist"s Simon Baker as a loan officer whose daughter is kidnapped by a bloodthirsty religious cult that, we're told, has achieved widespread notoreity in Mexico.

"Not Forgotten" - which is strong on atmosphere and milieu and weak on anything even remotely resembling suspense - features all the red herrings, false leads and narrative blind alleys that we've come to expect from such films, with each of the characters harboring some deep dark secret from the past that, when it is finally revealed, turns out to be a surprise only to the other characters in the story. For, indeed, when the most likely suspect turns out to be the actual culprit in the end, you know that the screenplay could probably have used a few more runs through the typewriter before going before the cameras.

Not Forgotten is about a small family living in a sleepy down on the Mexican border. Jack Bishop a widower with a young daughter and a new wife live an everyday life until his daughter Toby are kidnapped. Slowly Jack's dark past comes into focus while he searches for his lost child, even turning to the religion of Santa Muerte to try to find the little girl. What follows is an interesting mystery thriller with some good but rather obvious plot twists.

The movie have a dark and atmospheric mood to it and this is it's best feature. The story is rather ok, the characters are well done but where Not Forgotten shines is in the mood. Both the use of color as well as the music is very well done. The movie have some phasing problems though and do get boring in certain sections.

Another thing this movie has going for it are the strong element of religion. While the cult of Santa Muerte is used as the villain of this plot, it is still presented in a great way and the movie made me want to go out and learn more about the religion. The inclusion of curses and blood soaked rituals adds to the mood of the film, but at the same time this faith which many real life people follows are treated with respect.

Not Forgotten had it's flaws, it moves to slowly at times at the plot is to obvious to make a good mystery. But all in all I think it is a good movie with strong themes, good characters and with a focus on a religion that many people, at least here in Europe do not know much about. I enjoyed watching Not Forgotten and I am glad that I picked it up.

I really wanted to like this. I'm a big fan of Simon Baker, I think he's a fine actor, but if he keeps making movies like this, his movie career will go into freefall. How he can go from sublime TV like The Mentalist to this, only he knows.

A story of a man whose daughter from a previous marriage is kidnapped. He and second wife go out to find her and so ensues dodgy religious stuff and lots of running around in the dark. The movie doesn't know whether it's a horror, thriller or is it just wasting our time. Go for the latter. There is zero chemistry between the two leads although you've got Benito Martinez from The Shield who is always worth watching.

The sound quality on the DVD is atrocious and there are no subtitles.

I feel this REVENGE movie/video has been underrated. May be because of the complex plot, twists and turns and perhaps because of the hints of the supernatural. The story line is far different from any movie I have seen and the who dun-its kept the story line moving. It is full of suspense and well developed. I may have wanted a different ending but it was very logical. And again the final ending caught me flat footed in the last 20seconds of the movie

Excellent thriller with many twists and turns, you never know what is going to happen next. Finally, a great film that features La Santisima Muerte!