Review - Hereafter

What Comes Next?

It’s a question that we all ask ourselves. What comes next? When we leave this earth, what can we expect? It makes for a fascinating new film from Director Clint Eastwood and Writer Peter Morgan.

There are three different arcs in the new film Hereafter that merge together and deal with current, topical situations that have taken place in the world.

Marie (Cecile De France) is a popular French reporter. On vacation, enjoying life and her success she is met with the unthinkable. She is a part of the tsunami that rips apart the lives of thousands. During that tsunami, she dies for a bit, and her life will never be the same after seeing the other side.

Marcus and Jason (Frankie and George McLaren) are twins that are dealing with a tough home life. They will do anything for each other to keep their family together. But tragedy strikes and life is not the same without the twins working together to preserve the remaining family unit.

George (Matt Damon) used to talk to the dead. He can still talk; he just chooses not to any more. As he is trying to reacquaint himself with a normal life he meets a woman in a cooking class (Bryce Dallas Howard) who is fascinated by the stories, and in the infancy of the relationship wants him to see what he “sees” with people from her past. But as George is quick to warn her, these readings do not always lead to a stable relationship.

All of these individuals have needs, and it is the hereafter that will connect them. What lies out there, and what do people look to find out about the future? Is there more than what we have on this earth?

Anyone who has a religious foundation has a belief of what comes next. Most people who don’t have that religious foundation also have an idea of what DOESN’T come next. But who is right? Eastwood examines the hereafter in a clever and unique way. The use of three stories to come together is an intriguing and clever way to develop thoughts and questions about the topic.

The problems with the film are mainly in pacing connecting the arcs dots. Eastwood has always been someone who moves at a deliberate pace, but here it felt like this pacing was not beneficial to the overall film. While times it works (the tsunami destruction and deaths), other times it is too much. And when the arcs meet, it feels like a forced encounter that has a lot of the natural feel sucked out of it.

There are solid performances by Damon and De France here that will stay with folks for a long time. Moments in this film are brilliant, but it just felt overall like a disappointing effort at a truly fascinating topic.

Expecting a lot when I sat down in the theater, Hereafter came up short. And despite my unabashed love of Clint Eastwood and everything the man does; I found myself asking the same question as those in the story. What comes next?

B-/C+

Hereafter
Warner Brothers Pictures

Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Matt Damon, Cecile De France, Jay Mohr, Bryce Dallas Howard

Rating: PG-13 for mature thematic elements including disturbing disaster and accident images and for brief strong language.
Runtime: 129 minutes.