In the not-too-distant future, climate change has made sea levels rise drastically to coastal cities and the everyman scrambles to find work in this new world. Nick Bannister is a former war veteran working at a facility that allows people to relive their memories. When a particular customer named Mae enters his store, he becomes madly in love with her and the two start a relationship together. But when Mae vanishes with no explanation given, Nick is hellbent on figuring out what happened to her and who she was before he met her. While the trailer and marketing makes it seem like it's about Nick trying to get his memory back about a particular woman, the story is really more like a crime mystery. Think "Vertigo" but with a sci-fi twist. Critics have called the plot unoriginal because of the film borrowing aspects from beloved film noir and sci-fi hits. However, I personally believe that the story manages to make these inspirations original enough to be its own thing. The story actually goes in various directions and twists that got me extremely invested in figuring out what's going on and how it's all going to end. The ending itself though, without going into spoilers, can be a bit divisive in regards to a satisfying conclusion. The tone is very much an unapologetic film noir, which means that the mystery and monologues are plentiful, while comedy and action are minimal. This is not a fast-paced action thriller, it's more of a slow-burn mystery that really only has two action sequences in the well-paced two-hour runtime.
Hugh Jackman as Nick is as good as you can for the typical Jackman role. He has his outbursts and gloom, but has a bit of charisma and charm. Nick is very much typical of the average detective protagonists in these movies, but Jackman nails the look and demeanor of one. Rebecca Ferguson as Mae is great as the mysterious femme fetale that stole the heart of Nick and is constantly questioned on her morales. Ferguson is both attractive and captivating as the lover who may be a heartless villain or a misunderstood victim. The side cast is also on par with the leads in terms of their performances. From Thandie Newton as Watts, Nick's friend and co-worker who acts as his advisor regarding the unsolved mystery of Mae, Cliff Curtus as Cryus, a dirty cop that butts heads with Nick, and Daniel Wu as Saint Joe, a crime boss connected to Mae's past, the side characters is quite good thanks to their respective performances and interesting characterizations. There are other side characters I haven't mentioned, but that's mainly due to having not as much screen-time and their roles being too critical for the story. Overall, the cast gives it their all and the characters are fleshed out enough to give them a sense of humanity and depth, even if some are a bit on the more generic side.
Lisa Joy is known for her work on "Westworld" and was given the opportunity for her first film to be completely original and given a moderate budget of nearly $70 million. While that does seem a bit concerning for some, Joy proves that she's an extremely competent director and one that's meticulous in her work. The dystopic future is perhaps the most plausible I've seen in any film with the concerns of climate change resulting in rising sea levels, extreme humidity and working around the flooded landscape in regards to transportation. It's all thanks to the spectacular set design and visual enhancements.While the future has its gloomy details, it also offers some interesting technology that doesn't feel too far from man's advancements with the ability to look in one's memories via hologram projection either in a first or third-person perspective depending on the memory of the environment displayed by the subject. Joy also knows how to make her work as visually engaging as possible not only by the look of the future, but also the varied use of colours. While the film primarily uses more muted or darker colours for its genre, there's still some nice vivid moments and highlights throughout the movie. The cinematography by Paul Cameron is fantastic to say the least. From the long, zooming opening shot to the various wrap-around and tracking sequences to the wide artistic shots, this may be Cameron's best camerawork to date. What's not an example of anyone's best work is Ramin Djawadi's score. Djawadi has made some of the best musical compositions for his work on "Game of Thrones" and "Westworld". His offerings in this film are so transparent and bland that it seems that anyone could have made it. The CGI however is pretty good. The flooded Miami looks amazing at times and the hologram projections were done by a brand-new technology, so the effects are very top-notch. As for the action, there's only two sequences to note. While the shootout in the middle of the film is fairly average, the climatic chase and melee brawl offers some great visuals and grittiness. Overall, Joy's film debut is something to look upon and it's a shame that very few are actually going out to see it.
"Reminiscence" is a surprisingly great sci-fi film noir that will become a cult classic in many years to come. While the inspirations it carries can have its cliched baggage, the ending itself is divisive, and the score by Djawadi is painfully generic, the rest of the movie is actually really good in so many areas. The story is engaging with its twists and turns, the tone is very much a film-noir to the core, Jackson is as enjoyable of a main lead as always, Ferguson is great as the femme fetale, the entire side cast is filled with interesting characters and solid performances, Cameron's camerawork may be his best to date in ambition, the CGI is extremely good, the climatic action set-piece is creative and riveting, and Joy's direction offers a believable future environment that's both realistically detailed and visually surreal. It's actually sad that more people will go out to watch freaking "Paw Patrol" over this and the box-office disaster this will become will essentially put off Hollywood to never offer more original and unique films like this.
Verdict: 8/10. Great movie, but has its fair share of drawbacks. Please check this one out if possible, especially in theatres for amazing eye-candy!
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