Reminiscence

Reminiscence

By James Davidson

“Reminiscence” is a new Science-Fiction Mystery film starring Hugh Jackman, Thandiwe Newton, and Rebecca Ferguson. It follows the story of Nick Bannister (Jackman), a private investigator who uses futuristic technology to investigate people’s memories to solve crimes. When a mysterious new client named Mae (Ferguson) comes in to find some lost keys, Bannister’s life is changed forever. When Mae suddenly disappears, Bannister begins to look for her, and discovers that Mae has a dark and mysterious past. As he becomes more obsessed with finding her, the mystery becomes more complex and he begins to discover things that he does not like. “Reminiscence” was released on August 20th 2021 and is available in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service.

I was intrigued by the plot of this movie, I love science-fiction films and this story seemed right up my alley. While it delivers an interesting story with some incredible acting and visual effects, it unfortunately delivers it in a dull snooze inducing way.

I was impressed with the acting in this movie. A star studded cast lead by Hugh Jackman and Thandiwe Newton delivers an incredible, heartfelt performance. All of the actors portray their characters to perfection. While it was expected with a cast including such big names, it was nice to see the performances. You could tell that the cast really cared about this movie and the characters.

Unfortunately, the incredible acting is overshadowed by a dull, dialogue laden film. I was frustrated with the fact that the film was so slowly paced and bogged down by a lot of exposition. The plot itself is interesting and has a lot of promise. It has a very classic science fiction feel to it with an intriguing mystery added in. It should have been an incredibly interesting movie. Regrettably, the plot is so slowly paced and bogged down with dialogue that it struggled to keep my attention.

While the movie moves along at a snail’s pace, it does have some great visual effects that almost save the film. The entire world the movie is set in is interesting and well represented on screen. Visually this movie is beautifully shot and the cinematography is almost enough to distract from the slogged down plot.

This movie is rated PG-13 for strong violence, drug material throughout, sexual content, and some strong language. There is a good bit of gun violence, along with an underlying drug theme throughout the film making this movie inappropriate for young viewers. This would be a good movie to watch with a group of friends, if you don’t mind a slower film.

“Reminiscence” is a frustrating movie that had a lot of potential. The plot shows a lot of promise and it has some incredible acting performances coupled with some stunning visual effects. Unfortunately, this is not enough to distract the viewer from a film that is slowly paced and bogged down with a lot of dialogue that struggles to hold the viewer’s attention. I might watch this movie again if I didn’t have to pay for it, and I was more prepared for a slow film. It earns 3 out of 5 stars.