Unforgettable (1996)

Instant Favorite.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

I love Ray Liotta and Linda Fiorentino. Great actors. If not for them, this movie would have been completely unwatchable. I would have given this an average 5 stars, but could not do so, as this just dragged on and on and on. This movie was almost 2 hours long. And most of the scenes were dreary lab/hospital scenes, with needles and injections, and repetitive flashbacks of crimes having been committed. Very little in the way of cinematography, sound track, or witty dialog. The murder mystery was okay I guess. But again... it dragged. And, did I mention that I really do hate seeing people shoot themselves up with needles? I really love "atmospheric" type movies, and this was advertised as such on netflix. But, hospital rooms/labs/blurred crime scenes are not what I'm looking for in "atmospheric" movies.

Dr David Krane's world caves in when his wife is murdered and he is a major suspect. For legal reasons the case falls apart but the shadow hangs over him. When a colleague develops an experimental fluid that allows users to experience the memories of others Krane starts to use it to try and piece together what happened to his wife. However with the drug impacting on his heart he only has so long to uncover the truth.Some thrillers manage to have good ideas and spoil them with a bad film. Some turn bad ideas into good films, but many are spoilt by a bad idea. This thriller works well for much of the investigation by Krane – but when it relies totally on the memory drug to move things along it really is very weak indeed. The direction is good enough to give the illusion of pace and excitement but really it never manages to shake off this central terrible idea and the film suffers as a result.Liotta is always OK in most things but really hasn't much to work with. He does well despite the material. Fiorentino was great in The Last Seduction but only because she had a great character in a great story. Here she has no character in a dumb thriller and it shows. Support from McDonald, Coyote, Kim Cattrall and Kim Coates vary between average and good but really they are mainly all red herrings to try and sustain the interest.Overall this is enjoyable in most parts but where it relies on the memory drug heavily it falls down a bit. Goes to show that you can't make a purse out of a pig's ear and this film never manages to shake off the fact that it's central idea is just plain dumb.

This movie could have been a great Argento film, except for the fact that it was written and directed by someone else. So, instead, you have an entertaining diversion that you will never have to see again after you see it the first time. Some people would call that "economical" but I call it "distraction."There's nothing wrong with distractions. Sometimes, they call to mind more pleasant experiences and sometimes they just help you pass the time, but its sad when you can see the potential a premise has, and its just not fully realized.For some reason, this movie called to mind Cat O' Nine Tails, Bird with the Crystal Plumage, and Deep Red. All of them, including Unforgettable, have characters obsessed with solving a murder and all are built around an outlandish premise but whereas Argento uses his premises to introduce a myriad of bizarre and unforgettable characters all with something to hide as well as giving us a visual feast of graphic and sometimes outlandish murders, Unforgettable never allows any character to even share Liotta's spotlight.In fact, it could be said that the main character in Argento's films is the spotlight, often times chasing shadows and sometimes illuminating the next victim for the killer. That actually sort of happens in Unforgettable, but since the spotlight is on Liotta instead of Liotta being the spotlight, its all together less interesting.I highly recommend Unforgettable to people who may be new to Argento, thanks to the DVD revolution making so many of his films available for the first time in an uncut format, especially if said people would like some insight into just what they find so fascinating in his work.

There have been harsh words about this "unforgettable",probably exaggerated.This could be some kind of update of "spellbound"(1945) and it recalls sometimes" D.O.A. "with Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan (1988) ,and even "Jennifer eight"(1992)with Andy Garcia (the latter for the murderer's identity).Except for Hitchcock's classic,of course , the movies I mention had disastrous reviews.And however,they have much more imaginative scripts than ,say,"die hard" (one,two or three,take your pick,they are interchangeable)Script for "unforgettable" is more polished than it has been given credit for.It's stunning when,in the end,the two stories come together,this time recalling "dead again" (K.Brannagh ,1991),another movie with an unfairly mediocre reputation;only 2 stars and a half on the Maltin!OK ,the plot for "unforgettable" is far-fetched,but it has an intern logic,and anyway,is it less credible than B.Willis singlehandedly taming a whole bunch of terrorists ?(Die Hard is rated 3 stars!)Ray Liotta is an actor whose parts are not always worthy of himself.He's convincing here:during the whole movie,his face remains sad,wistful,as if he were waging an almost lost war.He rarely smiles,except when he's with his daughters.Linda Fiorentino,once she's provided Liotta with her drug,is not very important for the action (definitely not Ingrid Bergman in "spellbound").And we will be very thankful to Dahl for sparing us the umpteenth love affair between the patient and his doctor.More,we have here a very original ending,marred by the syrupy eponymous song though.It might be a happy end,after all,and which justifies the title.All in all,it's an entertaining movie,mixing smartly sci-fi,thriller,and whodunit.It could become a sleeper.