Forever Young

Director: Steve Miner
Star(s): Mel Gibson, Jamie-Lee Curtis, Elijah Wood, Isabel Glasser and George Wendt
Date: 1992
Themes: Love and bereavement

Review:

This film seems to be one of the only films when Mel Gibson has short hair which brings up the dilemma - with or without?
At the time of its release it was received quite well using the famous scene of Mel running down a street to sell it (similar to Will Smith's run in Enemy of the State but without the traffic) for some reason the audience might be intrigued by this.

The story is about a man (Mel Gibson) who plans a meal for his wife in order to pop the question to her. He sees her cross the street but she is hit by a car and severly injured. Gibson can't bear to see her die in hospital so agrees to try his friend's experiment and be frozen for some years. Unfortunately, Gibson's body is forgotton and he is found 30 years later by two boys who unfreeze him by accident. He follows the boys home and one of the boy's mother takes him in. Gradually his age catches up on him. He tries to explain his story to the army and other people but noone believes him until he discovers that the love of his life from 30 years ago never died and she is still alive today. The story ends with Gibson (very old) finally being with his true love (also very old).

The film is an interesting mix of sci-fi and drama and although Demolition Man used the same idea of freezing it was an original film at its time.Mel's charm and sense of humour shines through, as always, to make this a very satisfying film and a bit of a tear-jerker.