REVIEW: Remember Me

So I'm going to spend a lot of time talking about Robert Pattinson in this review, because he's the reason for its being here pretty much, and its the beginning of his attempt to have a future career outside of fangirl masturbatory fantasies ( I'll bet you didn't think you'd read that sentence today) so that is the film's main legacy, whether it should be or not. Reviewers have been floating around the James Dean comparison more then once, and its not hard to see why. He represents the same unknowable iconcism, but whereas Dean had a little more to offer to stand next his poster boy image, Pattinson is I think every bit his poster boy image and no more. All the aspirations of depth and soulfulness he shoots for in Remember Me, don't quite land, he's too conscious of himself and thus the character becomes a falsehood. Its not a bad performance, and he's not that a bad actor, but he's not Holden Caulfield either. It stops at Edward Cullen for this guy.

Pattinson aside, Remember is a serviceable enough romance/family melodrama, that's relatively nuanced in its familiar moments and steps. There's good performances from Chris Cooper, who is good in everything to be fair, Pierce Brosnan and from child actress Ruby Jerins, who really has no right to be that good. I look forward to her inevitable casting as an evil kid in a Jap-horror rip off. And then there's the final twist, which despite its surface exploitativeness, actually worked quite well for me and took this film up at least one grade. It might be manipulative, but its cleverly manipulative, which is what you want for your standard melodrama right. The central romance between Lost's Emilie De Ravin and Pattinson is OK I guess, and De Ravin gives a good account of herself, but its not the most affecting or original thing you'll ever see.

If I were R Pattz, I'd perhaps try and play away from the iconicist angle, because it sure is some pigeonholing shit, and if he wants to be an actor and not just a sex symbol he'll have to spread his wings a bit more then this. That's the problem with stunt casting of this nature is that I, and no doubt every critic across the world and further will eat into their text space debating the merits and detraction's of Robert Pattinson rather then the merits and detraction's of Remember Me. But it only has itself to blame for that.

Rating: 6/10