~ Come Rayne Or Shine ~

Robert Pattinson, the ever-so-famous guy who immortalized (literally) Edward Cullen in the overly-hyped 'Twilight' series, returns with a more sombre offering that is "Remember Me". 

"What's the premise of the story?", you may ask. Robert Pattinson plays Tyler, a guy who has recently lost his brother to suicide. He blames his overbearing, yet highly successful father (played by Pierce Brosnan) for his brother's death. Tyler turns to all sorts of things to 'numb his pain', eg: smoking to no end, drinking like there's no tomorrow and getting into bar fights just because he wants to. After a certain incident though, he meets with Ally (played by "Lost" star, Emillie De Ravin). Ally also shares a similar loss, but she chose a different side to coping with the pain. Together though, they forge a bond and as with all stories, you know what's the inevitable result. *wink* 

Although it's KIND of like a love story, but the underlying point of coping with loss is always there, which mostly gives the film a bit of a downer tone. Still, the chemistry between the two leads are quite nice to watch. At least it's much better than the "I'm ever so broody and hungry for Bella that I can die" Edward and "I'm so stoned all the time I can't afford better expressions" Bella relationship. *wink* Tyler is still broody, but at least we know WHY he is brooding most of the time...and it's quite nice to see a different side of him too, especially when he is with his younger sister Caroline (played by the cute Ruby Jerins).

Kudos should be given to Emilie De Ravin for her portrayal of Ally. She is SO different from her "Lost" character, which I loved...and manages to even out Robert's broodiness with her take on life and moving on. I especially liked Ruby Jerins' turn as Caroline. Also herself losing a brother, Caroline is somewhat wise beyond her years, turning to art as an expression (and a darn good one at that). But she was also picked on by her peers who really didn't understand her. The sort of climax to her side of the story is both shocking and sad to see that even kids can be as mean as the adults.

There is a little twist to the end of the film...not quite sure why it was done that way, but it's a bit weird to bring in a sort of political statement just at the end. Didn't have that much of an impact; I guess it's aimed more towards the people in the US more, as it hits closer to home. It would have been nice though if they had just expanded the relationship between the characters...the estranged relationship between father-and-son (so not very convincing, even though Pierce Brosnan and Robert Pattinson look KIND of alike, but that's about it) after the final 'confrontation' bit hit hard, but then it just sort of dissipated after the twist, which made me go 'Huh??'

Listening in to some of the comments by the moviegoers after the film ended, most were obviously not there to watch the story. Seeing that it was almost a full house (with giggly girls) even with its limited sessions, it's not hard to guess what (or rather WHO) was the main attraction to the movie. As the camera focuses on you-know-who, you can literally hear sighs going around the theatre. *rolls eyes* Okay, I can see why girls fall to pieces when they see him, but the hype is just that. Hype. Yes, he has good acting chops apart from the Edward Cullen expressions, but err...again, I just didn't get it. Oh well..*shrugs*

A word of caution if you were to catch this in Malaysian cinemas: for SOME reason, the Censorship Board has decided to go 'snip-happy' in cutting out scenes just because they like it, and it's not a pretty picture. Granted, there were some 'scenes' in the movie, but other than that, their attempt at cutting out the HBO words were an epic failure. Even though you can see that it's cut (from the visuals), but you can still HEAR it! *rolls eyes* Overall though, still quite a nice movie...give it a go for the story.