Remember Me

You Wanna Be Bond?

I suppose the major buzz generated for this film, is whether Robert Twilight Pattinson can act outside of Edward, the lovelorn, pasty white face vampire. To me though, it seems that he can't escape from being stereotyped now, and all the more so as long as he continues to play brooding, teenage characters with plenty of angst that need to be released. If anyone is to think Keanu Reeves only has one expression, then Robert Paattinson looks close to become heir apparent.

Remember Me though was saved by the curveball that got thrown in the last 10 minutes of the film. I had expected it to spiral somewhere, because it started out quite bleak and without hope in the relationships of its characters, but had inched toward an all's well that end's well track in no uncertain terms, until Will Fetters' story decided to lay down the emotional impact. It treaded for the most parts at being an emotional family soap opera that just hovered around without going anywhere, before that emotional sucker punch that on one hand may seem gimmicky, but on the other was excellent in effectively wrapping the story up in one fell swoop.

It's a romantic story centering around Pattinson's angry Tyler Hawkins and his lover Ally Craig, played by Emilie de Ravin, and their respective families which have suffered and are still not quite over with the pain of tremendous loss. For the Hawkins, it's to deal with the loss of their son/brother, and for the Craigs, a senseless murder in the first scene that Ally as a child had to bear witness to. Different upbringing meant different ways at expressing one's pain, and for Tyler, he's onto this self-destructive mode until Ally, who has moved on in life in calmer terms, enters his life. Then it's more romancing and plenty of drama when characters clash, though with some scenes (such as the angry sex one that the censors and distributors here agreed on snipping it off) that made it look pretty out of place, or at times contrived.

In essence it dealt with how people show emotions, and their respective dealing with pain and loss. Love gets expressed in many different ways, some explicitly in verbal terms but ringing hollow emotionally, and others through the responsibility of making sure that their loved ones are financially free, hence the sacrifices made on a relations level. Patinson though only managed to brood with cigarette hanging on lips. or smirk a lot when events unfurl in a manner agreeable with him, and looks very much immature when paired up against Emilie de Ravin's more powerful performance.

Allen Coulter's film also had its star studded cast to thank in carrying the film through, even though most like Lena Olin and Pierce Brosnan had bit parts, with the latter looking quite un-Bond like with the added paunch around the waist to play a filthy rich man who had sacrificed close family relations for the pursuit of material success. Chris Cooper didn't manage to bring anything more to the table than that of an NYPD cop doggedly tracking down his daughter, or to dish out some severe punishment. The scene stealer had instead gone to child actor Ruby Jerins as the little girl Caroline Hawkins, an art prodigy who is trying to reach out to an emotionally distant dad.

As mentioned, if not for the way this film had ended, Remember Me would have become just another misnomer of a title.