Not Forgotten (2009)

Actor Simon Baker (TV’s the Mentalist) plays a loving father, Jack, of a young girl living in a border town.  After a voiceover from the little girl and some scenes establishing him as a pretty normal guy and decent father she then disappears during soccer practice.  Working with both the authorities in the United States and Mexico his life soon unravels.  See the authorities in the States want to know why he didn’t exist until about 10 years earlier, and those south of the border want to know why dead people show up when he comes for a visit.  All of a sudden Jack his a badass killer, who practices some sort of “evil” religion that allows or justifies him going on killing sprees.  Oh and then his supposedly dead 1st wife, and mother to his child, shows up running a brothel.  Not to fear though because he soon kills her off thinking that she kidnapped their daughter.  But when he realizes she didn’t (I think after he kills her) another twist is revealed having to do with his current wife and stepmother to his daughter. 

This is a terrible movie.  It is twisted, confusing, and has a terrible narrative.  Not Forgotten is one of those movies that might have seemed like a good idea on paper, but makes for a terrible experience on film.  First of all the pacing is really bad.  You have short bursts of action, followed by long stretches where nothing really happens to move the story along.  Then the movie contains a few twists that are poorly setup and fall flat.  The 1st one is that the Jack character is some sort of killer.  I don’t buy it.  I’m thinking that he is supposed to be all mysterious in the beginning of the movie, but the character comes off flat.  This might be because of the writing or it might be the performance of Simon Baker.  Honestly I’ve never seen the appeal to Baker as an actor.  I suppose he is supposed to be clever somehow, but I find him really annoying in most everything he has done.  This includes his lifeless performance here in Not Forgotten.  I don’t buy him as a father and I really don’t buy him as a killer.  Hell even in the scenes where he is killing people up close and personal he isn’t menacing. 

The 2nd and 3rd twists involve Jacks former and current wife.  I guess that his 2nd wife being a hooker isn’t that big of a deal or hard to swallow.  But then she claims he disappeared with their daughter, when he moved right across the border into the neighboring town!  Yeah that is so sneaky…  Then there is this crazy twist where his 2nd wife marries him and helps raise his daughter until she has her 1st period then kidnaps her.  I think it has something to do with that crazy strange religion they all apparently are involved in.  But the fact that she does this to take something important away from him because he killed her father when he was a bad man makes no sense.  Especially after they try and burn them both alive as soon as he gets to Mexico! 

I really tried to make sense of this movie, and I might be missing something.  But I don’t think that I am.  Basically Not Forgotten combines a confusing story with an actor that I really don’t enjoy in the best-written material into a real mess of a film.  Not recommended.

½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2009 John Shatzer