Review: Forever Young

Starting in 1939, Mel Gibson plays an air force test pilot about to propose to the love of his life (Isabel Glasser) when she is hit by a car and ends up in a coma likely soon to die. Finding the concept of being around for her death – let alone waiting around for it to happen – unimaginable, he goes to his inventor friend George Wendt for a bizarre solution. Wendt’s company has been developing cryogenic technology, and he wants Wendt to freeze him for a year and thaw him when it’s all over. Cut to 50+ years later, it’s 1992 and two 10 year-old buddies (Robert Hy Gorman and Elijah Wood) are goofing off in a military storage place where they come across the cryogenic chamber. They accidentally do something to it that awakens Gibson, who is startled to be awakened decades late into a world he barely even recognises. Meanwhile, Wood introduces Gibson to his hard-working single mother (Jamie Lee Curtis). Joe Morton turns up briefly as a doctor.

 

Pleasant, harmless 1992 romantically-tinged fantasy film with a little of something for everyone, though I’m rather surprised 12 year-old me enjoyed it on cinema release. As a 42 year-old who knows who director Steve Miner is, I’m rather surprised the journeyman horror director (“Friday the 13^th Part II and III”, “House”, “Warlock”, “Halloween H20”, the underrated “Lake Placid”) is at the helm here. So did 42 year-old me enjoy this box-office success from the 90s? Yes, though perhaps a bit less than 12 year-old me did. It’s a bit sloppy, lumpy and rushed in parts, a little dated in others. As such I can somewhat understand why the film isn’t as well-remembered as most of Gibson’s other 90s films (“Lethal Weapon 3”, “The Man Without a Face”, “Maverick”, “Braveheart”, “Ransom”). However it is a lovely film in many ways, and Miner’s best film to date as director, perhaps by default.

 

Immediately impressive is the exciting score by my favourite film composer Jerry Goldsmith (“Planet of the Apes”, “The Omen”, “Star Trek: First Contact”), helping to make the film classier than it really is. Credit where it’s due, Miner handles the 1930s portion of the film well, and Aussie cinematographer Russell Boyd (“Picnic at Hanging Rock”, “The Last Wave”, the outstanding war film “Gallipoli”) helps him out enormously there as well. Lead actor Mel Gibson is the real anchor of this film, he’s absolutely perfect as the daring pilot frozen and thawed many years later. He gives a very sincere and touching performance, the most substantial thing about the film. He grounds this rather fantastical – and dated – story. Jamie Lee Curtis is an actress I think many – including myself for a while there – have taken for granted. Look at everything she’s done and the trajectory, it’s pretty impressive. She may not have an Oscar nomination (yet) to her name, but she’s had a bunch of great roles over several decades and rarely if ever gives a performance less than solid. Here she’s terrific and relatable, again assisting in grounding the fantastical story. Kid actors Elijah Wood and Robert Hy Gorman are likeable too, with the lesser-known Gorman (from “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead”) probably impressing more than the future Frodo, actually. Everybody’s favourite barfly George Wendt scores early with a plum character part as Gibson’s inventor pal. Look out for a genuinely funny cameo by Art La Fleur as an unimpressed father of Wood’s young crush, and Michael Goorjian also turns up to remind you that the film is from the 1990s. I was less impressed with Isabel Glasser as Gibson’s lady-love, an actress I don’t recall seeing much of before or after this film. She only has 27 IMDb credits and most of them TV shows, and very little after 2006. I’m a little surprised by that (worse actors exist with far more extensive credits), but her performance is forgettable in a pretty important role. Aside from her, the other big issue I have with the film is that although it’s mostly a very nice and well-meaning film, one part of the central plot seems a bit wrong-headed to me. Call me cynical, but Gibson wanting to sleep through his wife’s likely death sounds a touch cowardly and selfish to me. I also think if you were to make this film today, you’d probably want to make the side effects of cryogenics/thawing a little more ‘credible’ than we get here. Credible being a loosely-used term in such a fantasy of course.

 

Whilst I’m not a fan of fish-out-of-water films usually, this is a sweet one. It’s also less corny and less comedic than most, though Miner’s direction is typically workman-like outside of the prologue. Yes, it’s his best film but nonetheless anyone could’ve directed it on the face of it. 12 year-old me was probably drawn in by the kiddie elements of the story, though I certainly wasn’t an aviation nut nor am I now. Still, I can see the appeal for children and teens here, especially if you do like aviation. Adult me liked some of that stuff, but also some of the more mature elements. I particularly liked how Curtis’ doctor suitor isn’t portrayed as a bad guy or love rival. It’s not that kind of film, thankfully. I was also impressed by the old age makeup by veteran Dick Smith (“The Exorcist”, “Scanners”), which I reckon is some of the best and most subtle I’ve seen. Old-age Gibson amusingly looks a lot like George Peppard. I didn’t take to the film’s conclusion as much as I would’ve liked, however. Some will be satisfied with it and I understand why. However, I think in order to truly come off it needed to be stretched out longer. Yes, it would be a sadder ending, but more right for the story nonetheless.

 

A nice, likeable, well-acted, and thoroughly watchable film that is very much of its time in a lot of ways. Scripted by Jeffrey ‘J.J.’ Abrams (who had just scripted “Regarding Henry”, and who would go on to be quite a big deal in years to come), it’s not anything terribly substantial, and you do wish it were. It could’ve been, with a touch more care. However, it might prove diverting enough dependant upon your mood at the time. A rather soft recommendation at best, though if you have younger audiences in mind (assuming they can enjoy something made before last year) it might prove worthy of more than that.

 

Rating: B-