Not Forgotten

source: Not Forgotten

A poor plot, badly acted and lacking in anything approaching suspense or excitement. The premise for the film is fine and if you read the plot outline then you tend to think that this film will be OK even if it hasn't been produced on the biggest budget and perhaps is lacking in the A-List star department. If I've seen a worse movie this year then I have been lucky enough to have erased it from my memory. To see Chloe Moretz in truly outstanding form in a great film then watch her star as Hit Girl in Kick Ass and not be embarrassed this lumbering shambles. I did just manage to stick it out the the bitter end of this movie but in all honesty I'm not sure how !! I gave it two stars and it was lucky to get these.

With a wonderfully dark performance by Simon Baker and a plot that takes viewers in a few new directions, Not Forgotten is an extremely well done mystery / suspense / action / thriller. In an era of sequels, remakes and shock value slashers this is truly a unique movie genre and I highly recommend it. After watching I am even more fascinated by the La Santa Muerte cult / or rogue off shoot of catholicism. A few minutes of surfing the web and you can find an entire page that explains this cult > http://www.santamuertenotforgotten.com/ Watch with a friend so you can discuss afterwards, it's a movie worth purchasing for your personal library. Die hard Simon Baker fans will enjoy his performance and a few bad ass scenes.

I don't care how bad the reviews are, the chance to see Paz Vega (Sex and Lucia, Spanglish, The Other Side of the Bed) means I will watch it. As a bonus it has Claire Forlani from Meet Joe Black. I like her, too. We are treated to violent flashbacks, gratuitous nudity from strippers and prostitutes and vaguely supernatural facial distortions in an attempt to distract us from the bad acting and bad script. Similar to Taken, it also has elements of A History of Violence. Of course, come may recall Eyes Wide Shut at certain points. In other words, there is nothing original as this film is capitalizing on Simon Baker's popularity as The Mentalist. Jack/Roberto is not the only one with a secret.

I wish I could give this film a zero. The producer obviously likes to have an endless display of non stop naked women. I mean gimme a break! we GET it. Did it really have to go so over the top? it was totally degrading and disrespectful to women. To have a woman push her freakin T_ts up against a car and rub them all over watching them press against the glass, to strip club scene after strip club scene and women propping up their * and shaking them....endless. I thought I was watching a soft core * or the ultimate revenge of PORKYS. When a director has to stoop this low, to me it shows he lacks creativity and is using women as shock value to "capture" his audience (lame) and WOW so origonal. Aside from the gratuitous female nudity, it was OK. I probably would have actually given it a few stars but I am still so morbidly offended that I wish I couldn't even give it 1. lousy. director and writers are perverted womanizing pigs. tone it down next time for christs sake. If you are that hard up, go buy a playboy,....women like to watch movies too ya know. It doesn't always have to have an enormous amount of raunchy nudity in it. thats what porns for.

There are certain primitive cultures which definitely believe in Vodoo and the Black Arts. Others subscribe to the superstitious belief in a Christian God, sacred relics, prayer and chants. In this film written by Tomas Romero and directed by Dror Sonef, one is offered both. Filmed and played out in a Tex-Mex town along the U.S. Mexican border, the story concerns Jack Bishop, (Simon Baker) a Former hit-man and assassin, now a soccer coach, his daughter Toby (Chloe Moretz) and his second wife Amaya (Paz Vega). Despite his first wife's death, Jack believes he has found happiness until his twelve year old daughter is kidnapped, which sends his world tumbling. Jack places good faith in the sheriff Casper Navarro (Michael Dell Lorenzo), his brother-in-law to return her. The case is slow, but surprisingly reveals several strange clues to the F.B.I agents (Mark Rolston and Gedde Watanabe). They believe they should be looking for their suspect close to home. The movie is a shallow copy of 'Taken' but with gratuitous nudity, dramatic violence and savage brutality, does add a creepy, shadowy black magic and murderous multi-plots to an otherwise suspenseful action movie. Given patience, you might enjoy the film, otherwise it's not for the squeamish. ***

I was open minded when I chose to see this film but I have to say that this film was NOT good. I thought the story left enough to play with but in the end the film fails to impress. There is not so much plot twists but instead the introduction of characters you learn nothing about. It is slow paced and there is very little importance on the build up so I was bored watching it. I found some parts quite silly like the brake out of jail. There was a lot of detail missing in the film and too many questions left unanswered. You could save a lot of time by simply watching the repeated scene throughout the film and the ending because that's just about all that happens. I would be embarrassed to recommend this film to friends and this is one film I will want to forget in a hurry.

I've LONG given up trying to understand the people who rate films here; truly, it is just WAAAAAAAAY beyond me... I can honestly find no flaw in this film what so ever. The mood, atmosphere, acting, look, soundtrack, and especially the direction are DEAD on. I love this kind of film where you really do NOT know everything at the beginning and things are indeed not what they seem. Truly an excellent story and beautifully told. If my life depended on it, I would be at a total loss to find ANYTHING that would make ANYONE not like this movie. The suspense (really helped by superb direction and editing) was slowly but relentlessly built as the story goes on. And this is certainly just about the best performance I've ever seen from Simon Baker. I really like the twists too; I promise you, you will NOT see them coming. The ONLY thing that you might say is a bit of a stretch is the 'conversion' at the end (that shouldn't give too much away : ) I could see people perhaps having a little trouble buying into the change of attitude. Like I say, I DON'T want to give too much away, but that is really about THE only part that might not set perfectly with some people. But even with that said, it still in NO way diminishes the excellent quality of the film that precedes it. If you like movies that are very well made and your Thrillers Dark with just a touch of the otherworldly 'tastefully' thrown in, and you like powerful twists that pack a solid punch, then you should very much enjoy this film.

Not Forgotten has it all. I didn't know what to expect from noted commercial director Dror Soref, but what I got was a first class production that well exceeded my expectations for a "night at the movies." The movie is a thriller, and a thrill-ride, in that it takes very unexpected twists and turns throughout—almost from the get-go. What was refreshing about this film was that it always stayed several steps ahead of the audience. Most modern audiences figure out films too easily. I can emphatically state that this will not be the case in Not Forgotten. The tale follows a family living in Del Rio, Texas—a typical border town, between the US and Mexico. Although it starts off with scenes of girls' soccer games and hot dogs in the town squares, it quickly takes a turn to a darker side into the occult—the Santa Muerte cult (which roughly translates into "Holly Death"). When the daughter of successful bank manager is kidnapped, it sparks a chain of events that don't stop igniting until the very end. This is the story of Jack Bishop (Baker) delving into his past in order to find his only daughter. Not only does the search involve the entire community of worshiping denizens of Del Rio, it encompasses the seeder inhabitants of the dark, back alleys and brothels of towns just South of the Border. It also takes us into up close and personal with the depths that humanity can fall to—to view it face to face. But the most chilling aspect was the narration by the kidnapped Toby Bishop. It's particularly haunting, as she's narrating days after her disappearance—at her own vigil. Considering the frightfully frequency of female abductions in the US border town—the film touches on the "what if"—in this case, what if the preteen Toby has been taken to Mexico and forced into prostitution. Her father states in no uncertain terms the lengths he is willing to go, the depths he will travel to find his daughter—no matter what he has to do find her abductors. In the words of Toby Bishop, "There are just some things that you can't ask the Virgin for…" Baker's transformation is enthralling. From soccer coach dad, to terrifyingly revengeful about getting his daughter back. No more mister nice guy isn't even close when he his got the perpetrators in his sights. The sheer brutality and Baker's cold dedication, make this one of those scenes that you can't forget. Not Forgotten is told in classic storytelling fashion—in the vein of Hitchcock. It is beautifully shot and full of surprising details. The cast, not just the leading but all of the supporting characters are tremendously strong—making this a very well crafted tale. The director is an imaginative filmmaker who creates art with suspense. It is definitely one to see again as all the clues now come to the surface—missed cinematic gems along the tumultuous path that leads one to its powerful conclusion. That is NOT FORGOTTEN.

In Del Rio, in the border of Texas and Mexico, the female teen-soccer coach Jack Bishop (Simon Baker) is very popular and he loves his eleven year-old daughter Toby (Chloe Moretz) and her stepmother Amaya (Paz Vegas). When Toby is kidnapped, Amaya's cousin, the rookie Sheriff Casper Navarro (Michael DeLorenzo), is in charge of the investigation, but sooner the FBI arrives in town to lead the hunt. However, Navarro and Jack travel to Mexico following a lead and the hidden past of Jack returns to haunt him. "Not Forgotten" is an intriguing thriller that uses the mysticism of the Mexican cult "La Santa Muerte" and has a promising beginning. The cast has names like Paz Vega and Simon Baker in the lead roles and Claire Forlani with a minor participation. Unfortunately the resolution of the original story is simply awful and messy, wasting all the potentiality of the plot with a terrible conclusion. My vote is three. Title (Brazil): "Regresso do Além" ("Return From Beyond")