"The Forest" Movie Review

The Forest was not bad at all. I enjoyed it quite well and was never bored and never lost interest. I was already a huge Natalie Dormer fan before this, and that's still intact. She and Taylor Kinney were the best two actors in the film, no disrespect to the Japanese actors as they were good as well.

The basic plot to The Forest is that Sarah's sister Jess went to Japan and entered the Aokigahara Forest at the base of Mt. Fuji. Sarah fears the worst and flies to Japan to find her sister. Now, you may be wondering what the big deal is about this forest? Why is Sarah so worried about Jess wandering around in this particular area? The Aokigahara Forest just happens to be known as Japan's "Suicide Forest". This is a real place, too. Most that go in go to hang themselves or overdose. Very few people cut their wrists or shoot themselves. But I can write a whole different post on this forest. Back to the movie!

The story was excellent. There's more to the sisters' backgrounds than just what's on the surface. Once the big reveal is shown, you understand just why Jess went here in the first place. But Sarah is determined to get her out and save her life.

The acting wasn't that great, sadly. Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney, and Yukiyoshi Ozawa were the top three best throughout the film. The rest of the cast was quite unconvincing until we entered the forest. That's when everyone really stepped up their game and nailed their roles.

The ending is fitting. I won't tell you what happens as I hate spoiling endings for people. I will tell you that a tragic tale ends tragically but it's not a dumb or disgraceful ending. Will there be a sequel? I kinda doubt it. Everything ties together perfectly. A sequel would ruin it.

In conclusion, I definitely recommend giving this a viewing. It's not incredible and it probably won't scare the daylights out of you but it is very good. There are some dream sequences that can get on your nerves, mainly because there's so many) but stick with it. It's worth it.