Not Forgotten - not a recap

ah yes, the big facey facey school of movie poster making

It's a bit difficult to recap a movie when half of the (and also, annoyingly, the more interesting) conversation took place in Spanish and the subtitles were missing. I don't even know whether the movie came with subtitles. For all I know it didn't, and people were supposed to just get what people were saying, just like they were supposed to get the movie as a whole. As a vehicle for Simon Baker’s shagworthiness the movie was 100 percent on the ball. As a movie that was to provide a decent story however, it failed. Still, I’ll settle for the former if I can't have the latter so it’s not like I’m complaining or anything. 

proof of shagworthiness: Exhibit A

The plot can be summed up fairly easily. Jack Bishop (Simon Baker) is married to Mexican hottie Amaya (Paz Vega) and he has a daughter, 11 year old Toby (the ever wonderful Chloë Grace Moretz) . Toby mother has died of cancer when she was still small and the only reminder seems to be a slightly macabre photo of her which Toby keeps by her bedside and kisses goodnight on a daily basis. Jack seems to be an upstanding citizen – he works in the bank, is a member of the chamber of commerce (I think) and also the coach for Toby’s soccer team – and a reasonably okay dad. Amaya and Toby seem to get along, with Amaya genuinely taking an interest in the child. Then one day during soccer practice Toby goes missing and the rest of the movie takes the predictable turn of vigilante dad looking for his missing daughter while the authorities pick at belly button fluff. 

During the course of the movie we encounter a flashbacks of a guy getting rather brutally snuffed by a couple. If you've ever seen a movie before in your life you'd  straightaway jump to the conclusion that it's Jack doing the killing. This of course hints at the fact that Jack may not be quite who he seems to be - he seems to be capable of even greater amounts of hotness than evidenced in the present, for one thing. 

dark haired Jack is hotter than blonde Jack

There’s also a lot of Mexican mysticism thrown in, which is fine, but it does get a bit repetitive. But then again, it allows for this:

look, there were no subtitles. this is the best i can do.  

In the end Jack has to face his past (which is clearly not forgotten) (by anyone) in order to find his daughter.  Apparently all the killing and what not is related to him being some form of debt collector. Though how killing the defaulters helped the creditors is not explained. Also, mugshot artists in Mexico are clearly more competent than their american counterparts as is evidenced here:

¡Ay, caramba!

Although we see Jack reaching into his past as a last grab resort to finding his daughter, it’s still not clear how he eventually discovers the truth. But then clearly I missed half the plot unraveling due to my linguistic disability so maybe it makes sense after all. But one thing I cannot come to terms with is the final plot twist. I can understand someone holding a grudge but surely there are easier and more effective ways of wreaking vengeance.

In closing, I’m still not quite convinced that no cockerels were harmed in the making of this movie.