Hereafter (2010) — movie review | |
Today’s review is for the 2010 romantic / drama movie “Hereafter” starring Matt Damon as George Lonegan (a psychic), Cécile de France as Marie Lelay (an investigative TV reporter / anchor person) and Frankie McLaren as Jason Marcus (a young boy who’s twin brother dies). The characters are based in San Francisco, Paris and London (respectively). The basic plot tells the story of their individual experiences with death and how the three threads finally touch each other. | |
The story begins with the big action scene – the 2004 Indonesian tsunami and how it nearly kills Lelay. She “dies” and is “brought back”. Thus, her near death experience. We then shift to London where we get the life story of Jason. He is put in foster care after his mother is taken for drug addiction / rehab and his twin brother dies when running out in the street to escape street bullies. Lonegan is a “former” psychic who has abandoned his “calling” because he is tired of living with other people’s deaths and loss. | |
Blah, blah, blah… Long story… Jason helps George meet up with Marie. Happily ever after. | |
Is this a good movie? Acting, drama, special effects, worth your time? Not particularly; ok to good; not really (far too predictable); so-so at best; it depends on your reason for wanting to watch it in the first place. | |
Acting: I am a pretty big Matt Damon fan, but, this is not one of his best roles so it’s difficult to judge the performance. Here, Damon is expressive in subtle ways, so I would say his performance is better than the role. I don’t know anything about Cécile de France, but the camera mostly loves her. I say mostly because there are some scenes where she comes across as anorexic more than dead. Is that her fault, the makeup or the direction? I don’t know her work enough to judge. McLaren is pretty good to very good as the “abandoned, isolated, but hopeful” child. It’s my first time seeing him, too. So, again, it’s tough to be overly critical or to rave about how great a career he may ahead. He does the job, which is pretty good for a young actor. | |
Drama: This movie didn’t work for me as a “drama”. It was far too predictable and – truth be told – felt like 75 to 90 minute story dragged out to over 2 hours. There is a secondary love interest, starring Bryce Dallas Howard as “Melanie” which takes a long time to develop, and then goes nowhere, and then ends suddenly. This relationship features one of those incredibly sensual scenes where (in turn) one of the actors is blind-folded while the other is feeding them and asking them questions. It is reminiscent of “9 1/2 Weeks” (eating strawberries) or “Phenomenon” (Travolta getting his shave and haircut). This is a terrifically shot scene; it’s just lost in an otherwise mostly forgettable movie. Heck, I almost forgot it for this review. | |
Special effects: There are really only two special effects: the opening scene tsunami and the periodic “afterlife” communication scene(s). I’m not sure why the tsunami doesn’t work for me. It just didn’t. As for the afterlife scenes, well, they’ve just been done in too many other movies – and frankly, done better. | |
Worth your time: If you believe in a “hereafter / afterlife”, and want to believe we can communicate with those who’ve passed on, this movie is for you. I’m fairly religious and old enough to hope there is more to here than what we see – so check (kind of). I’m a big fan of Matt Damon and a tease popped up on YouTube – so, I was hooked. If you like any of the other actors or just like to watch Clint Eastwood directed movies, then again, worth your time. Otherwise, I think you’ll find this movie a bit of a slog. Unfortunately, I did. | |
Final recommendation: poor to moderate. This isn’t a bad movie. I just didn’t find it a particularly good one. | |
Post-script: I then turned around an (re-)watched “The Martian – Extended Cut” starring Matt Damon to clean my palette. This was the fifth or sixth time I’ve watched this movie and I still think it’s a terrific movie! A much better way to spend two hours (plus)… But that’s just me. | |
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On This Day In: | |
2023 | Speaking Of Death |
Still Praying | |
2022 | Is Normal Just Routine? |
2021 | The Rush Is On |
Another Rerun (How Many Tears) | |
2020 | It Is Still About Sharing And Cheering |
2019 | Sounds Like #LyingDonald |
2018 | Start Building |
2017 | Woof! Woof! |
2016 | Cast Out |
2015 | Small Pieces |
Happy Father’s Day! (Love Without End, Amen; My Dad; That’s My Job) | |
2014 | Uncertain Work |
2013 | Unpatriotic And Servile |
2012 | What Price Freedom? |
2011 | Particular Importance |
Three From Bette… | |
Speaking Of Death
June 21, 2023 by kmabarrett
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