Forward

Authors: James Somerton
Location: NS, Canada

"Forward"

Directed By: David Fincher
Written By: James Somerton

Principal Cast:

Jodie Foster as Jan Cassidy
Jake Gyllenhaal as Marc Forest/WebMaster
Morgan Freeman as Agent Jack Morris
Evan Rachel Wood as Leslie Cassidy
Jarred Leto as Officer Jim Terrence

Tagline: "One Girl. Three Days. A Million Leads"

Synopsis: Leslie Cassidy has been missing for almost a month now and the police still don’t have any leads. Her mother, Jan, has fallen into a self-induced exile from the world, feeling that it’s her fault that her daughter has gone missing. If only she has watched her closer. The case is nearly shut until Jan receives an e-mail with tiny blue lettering directing her to a web page. When she clicks on it, she sees her daughter’s face…with blood all over it. She reads the words “I wanted you to watch as she dies. Dehydration. Three days.”

The police are still baffled. Every e-mail they receive from the man, who is calling himself “WebMaster” is coming from a different public computer. And the Libraries he has been sending them from don’t have any recollection of them.

A day has past. The FBI sends in their best agent, Jack Morris. These forwarded e-mails have happened before. Five times before but the FBI was never consulted before the girls died. Agent Morris thinks he knows how the find “WebMaster”. They find him in a Starbucks watching Leslie’s live webcam.

Two Days have passed. Jan is losing her mind as “WebMaster”, who says his real name is Marc Forest, refuses to tell anyone where Leslie is. She watches the webcam nonstop. Time is winding down.

Twelve Hours. Now if the FBI knew Marc Forest’s real name, or would at least let Jan see him, they would be able to find Leslie. Marc Forest, also known as Gregory Smith, is Jan’s next-door neighbor.

What the press would say:

Jodie Foster returns to the genre that last saw her win Oscar Gold in “Forward”; a technological crime thriller that keeps the audience guessing for two hours, dropping hints along the way that never add up until the very last piece of the puzzle is dropped. Foster plays the mother of a teenaged girl who has been missing for over a month. The police have all but given up on her but the public is still rooting for her return. When Foster’s character receives an e-mail inviting her to view a live-webcam of her daughter being tortured with starvation and dehydration, the FBI is called in. Enter Morgan Freeman as a brilliantly sarcastic FBI agent who writes off every theory the local authorities have cooked up and spins his own theory that eventually leads to the arrest of the torturer, nicknamed “WebMaster”. The only problem is, he won’t talk and the young girl should be dying soon due to dehydration. From this point on it’s a battle of wits as “Webmaster” toys with everyone’s minds and sends them on wild chases that lead to nowhere. Meanwhile, Foster’s character is helplessly watching her daughter die. This cast is utterly amazing; Foster and Freeman are joined by Evan Rachel Wood as Foster’s lost daughter. Although Wood is seen very rarely in the film, her character managed to get deep inside the audience so that they never forget that the movie is really about her, not the warped games “Webmaster” plays. Jake Gyllenhaal plays “Webmaster” and his alter ego, Marc Forest. Gyllenhaal uses his boyish good looks to his advantage as this twisted killer. Watching this movie, I was always hoping that it wasn’t really his character that was responsible for these events. The screenplay is cleverly written with twists and turns everywhere that take you so far from where you thought you were that you should be careful not to get lost along the way. Strangely enough though, there are no plot holes. In two hours and twelve minutes, every last lose end is neatly tied up, although some end up a little messier than other. It’s the clever dialogue that drives this movie to the conclusion though. David Fincher has mastered the thriller genre and uses his talents to make sure that the screenplay works visually. This is a dark and brooding film that gets under the skin of the viewer. There is no gore and no loud shocks but I left the theatre more afraid than I ever have. The Internet is such a part of our day-to-day lives now that we never really pay attention to some of the terrible things that take place there. And the fact that this film is loosely based on a real case in BC, Canada makes it all the more terrifying.

POSSIBLE NOMINATIONS:

Best Picture
Best Director – David Fincher
Best Original Screenplay – James Somerton
Best Actress – Jodie Foster
Best Supporting Actor – Morgan Freeman
Best Supporting Actor – Jake Gyllenhaal