Movie 23 - Reminiscence, Dir. Lisa Joy.
The movie follows Nick Bannister (Hugh Jackman) and Watts (Thandie Newton), who run a business that helps people relive their old memories using a system called reminiscence.
The movie does a good job of starting off by showing the tech involved, which is the machine. The beginning also establishes the tone of a neo-noir film with the lighting, color grading, and shots of the city, setting the tone effectively. The tone throughout the movie stays consistent, with no random shots of high-tech stuff or anything that might make it a complete romantic movie.
The story is decent but falls short occasionally. The concept of accessing someone's memories is not new; it's similar to Inception (2010), but the way they access and show it in this movie is unique and doesn't start to make you question the science of it.
The twist that Mae (Rebecca Ferguson) leaves Nick was unexpected; I didn't see that coming. After this happens, they show that he is constantly using the machine to see her in his memories, similar to how one might indulge in alcohol, which doesn't make it a ridiculous thing to do. The scene where he sees Mae involved with the mob made the story interesting.
As the story progresses, it becomes confusing to figure out who is working for whom, as relations that have been made in the past are already forgotten by the viewer because a lot of new information is shown. I had to check Wikipedia to crosscheck who is who.
The whole reveal of Mae tricking Nick was a good scene; it showed how she questioned her choices and made new choices to save others, which was a good amount of character development. Nick has terrible character development as they tell that he is a war veteran, but the dude cannot strategise properly, and the whole point of getting closure so he can stop using the machine is a failure as he still uses it, and they even show a shot of him getting old and still using it. Thandie Newton is good; the action sequence of her saving Nick is pretty cool, and generally, her dialogue is fine. Not a lot of screen time, so not much to say about her.
The movie becomes boring and the side characters are not helpful as you dont know who they are and what importance they are supposed to be as they only get revealed at the end and by that time you're bored. The dialogue becomes weak, Hugh Jackman is just ranting about how he wants to find her as he loves her, but he just keeps going in circles. Some of the dialogue is very cringe and hilarious to watch.
Overall, it's a movie that needs better writing. The actors and actresses acted the best they could, and it showed throughout. The neo-noir aspect is shown very less; would have loved to see more of it as it's a future setting. I wouldn't recommend this movie as it will leave you underwhelmed at the end. 4/10
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My next review is going to be a fun one Tag (2018)
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