“Count from one to a hundred, ten times…”

The moment I saw the trailer for this, I was immediately intrigued. I remember I first saw the preview back when it was in its promotional stage in November of last year. However, due to reasons I’m unsure of now, I did not get the chance to see this film in theaters, and only now did I see it for the first time. With a semi-high expectation, I started watching <Forgotten>.

I personally love Korean thrillers, especially when you add crime and mystery to the mix. When I saw the trailer for <Forgotten>, I was instantly sold and was curious as to how the story would unfold. Directed by Jang Hang-Jun, the film featured an awesome main cast of Kang Ha-Neul and Kim Moo-Yeol. With a mysterious tone and an eerie mood, <Forgotten> had me wondering the ending from the start.

The synopsis is as follows:

The day a family moves into a new house, Jin-Suk’s older brother Yoo-Suk is kidnapped without reason. Every night following that day, Jin-Suk suffers from hallucinations and nightmares. 19 days later, Yoo-Suk returns, but without any recollection of the abduction. Jin-Suk detects that something is different about his brother, and becomes suspicious of his strange actions. One evening, he notices Yoo-Suk leaving the house, and this continues for the next few days. Jin-Suk, determined to get to the bottom of his unusual brother, decides to follow his brother to see what he’s up to. That’s where he encounters a shocking truth, and a string of confusing events unfold.

Trailer



Source: m i a n o m o

The Good

From the beginning of the movie, especially if you’ve seen the trailer, you start to wonder who the crazy one is: the older or the younger brother. You think, “Surely one of the two is psychotic.” As you get deeper into the film, up until I would say around the halfway mark, you continuously wonder how the movie will resolve (I say halfway mark because the movie takes a total shift in approach midway, but I’ll get to that later). The movie does a great job engaging the audience, making them think and try to solve the mystery between the two brothers.

I also loved that <Forgotten> had many spine-chilling scenes. There were several times I felt my bones tremble with thrill. For example, the scene where the older brother clicks the mechanical pencil so that the lead nearly reaches the younger brother’s eye was creepy AF. These goosebumps moments are crucial in thriller-genre movies, and <Forgotten> had a good harmony of these elements with a realistic story.

The performances by Kang Ha-Neul and Kim Moo-Yeol were incredible. The casting of the main characters was done wondrously, and I think it’s these two individuals that were responsible for really keeping the viewers hooked. You can’t tell which one is the delirious one, and that’s a sign of great acting by both parties. However, as opposed to the great acting by Kang Ha-Neul and Kim Moo-Yeol, the performances by the supporting actors weren’t that good. I think there was a slight mistake in casting the supporting roles, as the two leads absolutely outshined the other parts. Also, Kang Ha-Neul’s presentation on <Midnight Runners> was very engraving for me, but his role in this production changed my perception of the actor.

Another great aspect of the movie was that it tied up almost every loose ends of the story. In a film like this where the story opens up many doors of possibilities to keep the audience guessing, they expose too many details that many of the loose ends aren’t resolved at the end. I greatly appreciate and applaud the fact that nearly every one of the doors were shut before the film ended, and answered majority of the questions that were asked. However, there was one small detail I felt was unanswered, but I won’t get into it because I don’t want to spoil the story for any potential viewers (hint* taxi).

The Bad

As mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of thrillers; however, I absolutely hate horror films. <Forgotten> was on the borderline of horror and thriller in the first half of the film. There were a few jump scares, which I despise, and one that totally freaked the sh*t out of me… Watch out for it. For sure after that scene, I was more tense continuing into the movie, thinking there’d be more. However, this is just a personal preference, and if you do like horror/this type of movie, then you may enjoy it. I simply thought it was unnecessary, but it does keep you at the edge of your set.

** Minor spoilers ahead, skip ahead to “Eon’s Ratings” if unwanted **

This is something a lot of people loved about the film, but something I thought was a detriment: The twist. Okay, there were a few twists, and some were decent. But the overarching turn of events just had me disappointed. I felt that it was way too predictable, and it’s overplayed in many movies. The film was great in the first half, as I said before, but it just took a weird turn. I feel like they could’ve done so much more with the story in the latter half, and seemed as if there were two different directors for the first part and the latter part. I’ve seen people compare it to the American film <Shutter Island>, but I don’t think it was as good as that movie. However, I must say that the very last part of the film was different from many typical movies, and ended in an admirable way. I appreciate that it took a contrasting approach as opposed to many thriller films.

Eon’s Ratings

Acting: 8.5/10

Casting: 7.5/10

Plot: 7/10

Visual/Special Effects: 7/10

Cinematography: 8.5/10

Overall: 7.7/10

Verdict

All in all, this was a decent movie. However, I am not a fan of its turn of events. I think the first half of the story was great, and that they should’ve built on and continued with the narrative it portrayed in the beginning/trailer.

Ticket Price Value: $8

(Ticket Price Value is the price I would pay to watch the film again for the first time)

What were your thoughts on the movie? Do you agree or disagree with my review? What would your ‘Ticket Price Value’ be? Leave a comment down below!

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Disclaimer

Please keep in mind this review is composed of solely my own opinions, and should be taken with a grain of salt. I am in no way a professional writer, nor have I majored or studied journalism. This is for informative entertainment purpose only, representing my personal views. I do not own the images and/or videos used in the review. No copyright infringement intended.