Death, and what happens after we die, is a very deep (and common) question that remains a big mystery for all of us. Is there anything out there? Is there any way for us to possibly know? These are the questions posed in Hereafter, the new release from director Clint Eastwood and Warner Bros Pictures.
We are treated to three (barely) intertwined stories about three lives being affected by death and how the characters deal with it. Matt Damon plays a retired psychic who has turned away from his gift of talking with the deceased. A French television reporter named Marie (Cécile de France), who is covering a news story in Thailand, gets caught up in a tsunami and can’t escape. She dies and comes back to life after getting a glimpse of the “hereafter” and is forever changed. Finally, a pair of twin brothers, Marcus and Jason (Frankie and George McLaren), living with their drug-addicted mom, try to help her change her life for the better to keep themselves from being taken away by social services. Their lives change forever when Jason is hit by a car, leaving Marcus alone.
The three stories each stay fairly separated as we follow the characters trying to adjust to their new situations after the sudden traumas that individually strike them. It is a very slow and methodical film, and not much happens to the characters. The film is more of an examination of the effects death has on each of us, every day.
The problem with Hereafter is that none of the subjects or their lives are particularly engaging or make us want to care about any of the characters. The acting is solid all around but none of the characters or actors particularly stand out. Everything in the movie just ends up blending together into a storyline that seems to be walking-in-place, but going nowhere fast. The film plods along for its entire running length of two hours and ten minutes, leaving viewers wondering the entire time if any of it will add up to a satisfactory explanation, or have any sort of resolution whatsoever. At about 10 minutes before the end there is a minor payoff, but it doesn’t feel satisfying or fulfilling in any real way.
Special Features:
-Step Into The Hereafter with Clint Eastwood and Matt Damon: Probe the world of skeptics, psychics and mediums who explore the possibility of life after death.
-Focus Point Videos
-The Eastwood Factor: Insightful Feature Length Profile of the Actor/Director’s career – in his own words – covering his 35+ year association with Warner Bros.
-Step Into The Hereafter with Clint Eastwood and Matt Damon: Probe the world of skeptics, psychics and mediums who explore the possibility of life after death.
-Focus Point Videos
-The Eastwood Factor: Insightful Feature Length Profile of the Actor/Director’s career – in his own words – covering his 35+ year association with Warner Bros.
-1080p video
-5.1 HD DTS Audio
-DVD Copy of Theatrical Release
-Digital Copy of Theatrical Release
Overall:
Sadly, Hereafter falls short of the weighty commentary on death that Eastwood was trying to accomplish in this film. A lot of things just happen and its generally uninteresting to follow for us as viewers, regardless of how realistic and true-to-life it may be. The film never actually takes its own stance or viewpoint on the dense subject matter that would have helped give it some personality, or, in the least, something to think about. Hereafter wants badly to be an intellectual film, but never shows off an inkling of intellect – it just ends up being a barely-passable film with no real entertaining qualities or depth to it.
ComicsOnline gives Hereafter on Blu-ray 3 near death experiences out of 5.
Get your copy of Hereafter on Blu-ray at Amazon.
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