Reminiscence (2021)

Reminiscence (2021)

 

3/10

Starring

Hugh Jackman

Rebecca Ferguson

Thandiwe Newton

 

Directed by Lisa Joy

 

A film about memories sure knows how to leave none. The possibility that you will leave your seat satisfied after watching this movie is highly unlikely. The movie wastes all the A-list actors it has on boring dialogues and a plot that tries to drown you in neo-noir sci-fi. In the end, you can only think of numerous films that have done this better.

The movie is like Vanilla Sky meets Inception, and instead of a beautiful merge, they decided to just take all the boring parts of both and mix them up, serving them on a gold-plated dish. You know that annoying feeling you get when you’re done throwing up, but your mind keeps retching (gagging) even though there’s nothing left in your stomach? That’s what I felt while watching this movie. It just keeps going on and on, but you can tell there’s nothing left to deliver.

The movie takes place in the future, at a time when it seems the Earth has decided to take back some of its land. We see Miami flooded (climate change), and in this future, technological advancement seems to be in line with the spiral collapse of human society. We are introduced to Nick (Hugh Jackman), who fought in a war that preceded this societal collapse. Nick is a skilled interrogator from his time in service, and he uses that skill to make money after his service time. Working alongside his service partner, Watts (Thandiwe Newton), they use a special machine to dig through people’s memories—either to act like P.I.s and help them solve nagging issues stored in hard-to-reach places in their memory, or to help people visit memories they love seeing. This turns some of their clients into addicts who return to relive a moment in their lives when they believed everything was perfect.

There was a girl, Mae (Rebecca Ferguson), who came in, and Nick fell in love with her. Soon they were in a relationship, but one day she disappeared. Nick became obsessed with finding out why and kept immersing himself in the machine to find clues he believed he missed.

The police call them to investigate a case, and while going through the man’s memories, Nick sees Mae. Now there’s a murder, Mae seems to be involved, and Nick starts investigating again, trying to find his girl. In doing so, he gets tangled up in a case of infidelity, and his life is put in danger.

The movie is written, directed, and produced by Lisa Joy, who is also the executive producer of HBO’s Westworld series. The movie is not worth your time—just wasted potential.