Unforgettable review
Unforgettable
A Film Review by James Berardinelli
United States, 1996
U.S. Release Date: 2/23/96 (wide)
Running Length: 1:57
MPAA Classification: R (Violence, profanity)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Ray Liotta, Linda Fiorentino, Peter Coyote, Christopher McDonald, David Paymer, Kim Cattrall,
Kim Coates
Director: John Dahl
Producers: Dino De Laurentiis and Martha De Laurentiis
Screenplay: Bill Geddie
Cinematography: Jeffrey Jur
Music: Christopher Young
U.S. Distributor: MGM
Impact Pt II full movie best quality
Some cultures believe that the eye of a dead person retains the last image it sees. In
Unforgettable
, the latest whodunnit/thriller from director John Dahl (
Red Rock West
,
The
Last Seduction
), it's cerebral spinal fluid, not the eye, that provides the picture, but the
basic idea is the same. Using a special serum, it's possible to re-live the final moments of a murder
victim's life, and, in the process, determine the killer's identity. There are a couple of drawbacks,
though. First, those who subject themselves to this process risk having their own minds
contaminated by the personality of the corpse whose memories they are plundering. Second, the
drug that facilitates this procedure damages the heart.
Ray Liotta is Dr. David Kane, a hotshot pathologist based in Seattle. David is a veritable Sherlock
Holmes when it comes to bloodstains and bullet holes, but his uncertain past has left him with few
supporters and fewer friends. Recently, David's lovely wife, Mary, was bludgeoned to death, and
the doctor, who was on a bender at the time, was charged with the crime. After being released on a
technicality, David has devoted his life to learning the killer's identity. For this information, he's
willing to risk everything.
Enter Dr. Martha Briggs (Linda Fiorentino), a university professor who has made an amazing
discovery: a drug that allows a living specimen to experience the memories of any other creature,
living or dead. Thus far, the compound has been used only on rats, but David volunteers his
services as a human guinea pig. When Martha refuses, he breaks into her lab, steals a vial of the
formula, then, using a sample of his late wife's spinal fluid from the medical examiner's office,
prepares to conduct the experiment on his own.
Unforgettable
has an intriguing premise and a fascinating setup, but, somewhere along the
way, Bill Geddie's script degenerates from a unique, concept-based thriller into a routine murder
mystery, complete with a full compliment of red herrings and false leads. As involving as the first
half is, with its glimpses into the minds of the dead, the second half is disappointingly formula-
driven. The plot is structured like a house of cards; ninety minutes into it, someone starts shaking
the table.
The most interesting aspects of
Unforgettable
are glossed over. What happens when a
person experiences the visceral thrill of a psychopath's first kill? How can a man remain sane
when he keeps re-living his wife's murder? And what happens to someone's personality when they
have two, three, or more "lives" jumbled together in their mind?
Unforgettable
poses each
of these questions, but doesn't bother to answer them. For Geddie's screenplay, these issues are
setup — his intent is to present a technologically hip whodunnit. Unfortunately, in the process, he
abandons virgin territory for a burned-out wasteland of recycled contrivances.
Ray Liotta, who is equally capable of playing heroes and villains, is adequate as the obsessed
David, despite the absence of a certain intensity. Linda Fiorentino, apparently recovered from her
disastrous appearance in
Jade
, plays her character with
an appealing vulnerability — quite a change from her role in Dahl's previous effort,
The Last
Seduction
. The supporting cast includes Peter Coyote and Christopher McDonald doing the
good cop/bad cop routine, and David Paymer as Kane's lone friend.
Dahl's direction is never off, even if the script is.
Unforgettable
is energetic and moody,
and there's an eerie, fractured quality to the retrieved memories. But all of that is just so much
icing on a half-baked cake. This motion picture definitely has the wrong title; if anything,
Unforgettable
is completely unmemorable.
© 1996 James Berardinelli
– James Berardinelli
e-mail:
berardin@bc.cybernex.net
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