Who is ready for an incredible journey through their past with Hugh Jackman? After 2 years of development, Reminiscence was finally released on August 20th. This movie is the directorial debut of the up-and-coming director, Lisa Roy. Starting All-time favourite showman, Hugh Jackman and ravishing Rebecca Ferguson. The audience had high hopes for this movie. With great casts and a marvelous plot, what went wrong that a movie with such calibre didn’t go so well in theatres. Let’s find out.
Reminiscence trailer had the entire world captured with its unique plot. Come on, it is about a journey through your memories in a post-apocalyptic Miami. Who wouldn’t be intrigued by that? Hugh Jackman plays the role of Nicolas Bannister, “Nick”, our male protagonist.
Nick is a private investigator who solves crime with his special machine, called the “Tank”, by going through a person’s memory to find out the truth. He also offers people to go through their memories of their own choice. One fine day, Mae, played by Rebecca Ferguson, comes to Nick to find her lost keys. They both immediately hit it off, and they started dating. But then, we see Mae leave out of the blue and Nick sets on a new quest to find why she left.
As the movie progressed, it turns into a mystery-thriller. Nick finds out about Mae’s past, which is very unlike the person he thought Mae was. After discovering the truth, the movie ends with a tragedy. And with the help of science and memories, Nick and Mae live on together for the rest of his life.
Now, you must think, what’s not to like about the movie. And we agree. Reminiscence movie brings out a dark truth in front of us that no matter what we accomplish, we are still drawn to an inevitable future which sucks.
The concept is a real eye-opening thought, that our future is not what we expect it to be and people don’t want to look forward. Instead, they choose to dwell in the past, reliving their former life repeatedly with their loved ones and lost ones. In the film, we watch several people go through their memories. Some even go through one specific memory multiple times because that makes them happy, makes them feel alive.
The retro-futuristic theme throughout the movie worked really well. Not only it set up a fortuitous environment, but also served with the suspense in the movie. We loved Mae’s very enigmatic character. It’s truly hard to figure out if she is good or evil throughout the movie, with a sudden disappearance, her scratchy past, working with the offside. We can’t overlook the on-screen chemistry between Jack and Rebecca. It is like one of those movies where you can’t imagine any other actor playing the part of Nick and Mae.
The film had such an excellent plot with memory invasion and the city covered with water. But after the first part, it kind-of disappears apart from the occasional visits, like that one fight scene underwater. With an A- list cast team, the movie could have done so much more. And the mystery itself was very dissatisfying. Our heroes were more of casualties, caught up in between the drama of a very rich family. Apart from that, the movie was really slow paced. With a story like that, we could easily do a good job in one and half hours or less. But two hours was just too extreme.
The movie gave us really familiar scenes from Inception (2010) where “the Tank” was itself the dream-invading tech surrounding the movie. We also picked up bits of Minority Report (2002). It was fun watching a playful recreation of classic movie tropes with a modern twist.
Reminiscence had it all, Romance, mystery, thrill, crime-drama and tragedy, all in a perfect balance with each other while the plot keeps you on your toes. For other fun content, check out our other articles about “Don’t breathe 2” and “Free Guy”.