Hereafter (2010)

Don't Believe the Hype

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This film opens with a harrowing recreation of the Tsunami that devastated Indonesia in 2004. Then for the next hour and forty-five minutes it just circles the drain. What bothered me most though was the bastardization of Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto (second movement) used as a motif for the boy's story. The intro is a note for note copy/plagerism of this famous composition; then an altered Rachmaninov melody wanders around aimlessly until the boy's scene is over, which ultimately ends up nowhere; much like the rest of this film. On second thought, good match Clint!

Nice little film well directed and acted but it just didnt go anywhere.Scenes like the tube explosion etc - Why? Lots of possibles but the story never really went in a particular direction.If you are feeling down , depressed or lost someone then I wouldn't watch this!Clint Eastwood wrote all the music for this film and Unforgiven so credit where credit is due as the music was in tune with the film!

HEREAFTER is an intriguing supernatural drama from acclaimed director Clint Eastwood. This film ties together three varying plot strands into a satisfying whole. As a film it's a slow-moving and largely subtle character drama, exploring the effects of death upon three diverse characters. The first is a French woman who survives the Boxing Day tsunami in the film's hair-raising opening sequence, which in five minutes outdoes the whole of THE IMPOSSIBLE. The second is Matt Damon as a psychic struggling with his abilities. The third is a London schoolboy whose brother is killed in a car accident.I always feel uneasy about Hollywood productions like these as all too often they veer into mawkishness and sentimentality but for the most part Eastwood avoids those pitfalls. Instead, HEREAFTER feels realistic throughout and the exemplary direction helps that. The acting is the film's strongest element and if not much really happens by the end, you're so caught up in the lives of the characters, as hard as they are, that you don't really mind. It's hard to believe that Spielberg, the man behind CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, could executive produce a film like this.

I bought a DVD of 'Hereafter' many months ago, as a friend had mentioned to me one day that he had enjoyed watching it in a local Pattaya cinema. To be honest, the title put me off, and I assumed that it was yet another one of those 'spiritual' type stories where people in this world are contacted by or guided by someone in the after-life, along the lines of 'Ghost' (which to be fair was a pretty good movie but is now quite dated), 'What Dreams May Come', 'City of Angels' and so on. Frankly this story line has been done to death and I grow weary of movie producers who insist on regurgitating the same old story lines, rather than give their audiences something original to get their teeth stuck into.Anyway, it was bothering me in my list of 'UNSEEN MOVIES' so I decided to give it a go. I should have known better, as it was produced by that genius of a film director, Clint Eastwood. Who would ever believe that a 'corny' macho, deadpan cowboy actor would transform himself into one of Hollywood's finest ever filmmakers? For me, he has never made a bad movie, from Bridges of Madison County, to 'Mystic River' and the wonderful 'Gran Torino' and of course, he has already received several Oscars, most notably for 'Million Dollar Baby'.'Hereafter' is a great movie, all the more so because almost everyone connected with this movie - from the writers to the director to the actors - has publicly stated that they do not believe in the afterlife. The story is beautifully played out, by a tour de force of actors – especially the two French actors, (Cécile De France and Thierry Neuvic), and Matt Damon in quite possibly his finest role ever. This is not an action or a fantasy movie in the traditional sense, although the horrific opening footage of a tsunami which devastated a South Pacific Resort is truly riveting. It is a beautifully understated, introspective film which explores the characters and lives of the three principal players, who come from totally different walks of life and from different parts of the world: San Francisco, Paris, and London. It is the clever tale of how they became drawn to each other by their varying needs to connect, (or to 'disconnect' in the case of one of them), with the so-called 'hereafter'.It is a well-crafted film and you can't help rooting for these somewhat flawed 'heroes'. The subject matter is dealt with in a manner that neither promotes nor disparages the notion that there is something there in the next life. In the end, we are left to our own deliberations.Yet another masterpiece from Eastwood.The film cost an incredible 50 Million dollars to make, which although the cost is about par for this kind of major Hollywood blockbuster boasting a 'name' actor and director, it does seem to make you wonder where all the money went, other than in the pockets of the people making it.