Movie Review: Aftermath

Aftermath ** / *****

Directed by: Elliott Lester.

Written by: Javier Gullón.

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Roman), Scoot McNairy (Jake), Maggie Grace (Christina), Judah Nelson (Samuel), Larry Sullivan (James Gullick), Jason McCune (Thomas), Glenn Morshower (Matt), Mariana Klaveno (Eve), Martin Donovan (Robert), Hannah Ware (Tessa).

 

I have to give Arnold Schwarzenegger credit – since leaving politics and returning to acting, he has at the very least tried to branch out a little bit in terms of his performances. Sure, he made another Terminator movie – and has teamed up with Stallone for his nostalgia movies – but he’s also made a few movies in which, shocking, action and heroics play little or no role at all. The zombie film Maggie is one example of that, and now the revenge drama Aftermath is another. Neither film is particularly good – although, I don’t really think he’s the problem with either of them. When he was the biggest action star in the world, he often coasted on that charm – it worked because he was so charming. Now, he seems to want to delve a little deeper – but he’s just not getting the type of roles that really allow him to. I admire him for trying though – and I do think that perhaps he really could do something good given the right circumstance.

 

In Aftermath, Schwarzenegger plays Roman – a responsible, law abiding guy who goes to the airport to pick up his wife and pregnant daughter – only to find that they’ve just been involved in a horrific plane crash – and while they haven’t been found yet, there’s almost no chance they made it out alive. The movie then flashes back to earlier, in the air traffic control office, where Jake (Scoot McNairy) is alone, and trying to do too many things at one time. Everything he does makes sense, and yet, he ends up missing some very important communications – which is what leads to two planes crashing into each other midair – killing everyone on board both. The film then follows Roman and Jake in the year after this horrible accident, as both struggle to put their lives back together. All Roman says he wants is an apology – but what he really wants is someone to blame. Jake is in danger of screwing everything up – his marriage to Christina (Maggie Grace) – and then 10 year old son. Both will try to move on.

 

In a way, casting Schwarzenegger as Roman is clever of director Elliott Lester. When we see Arnold, we simply assume that eventually, he’s going to kick someone’s ass – and the film is setup as a revenge drama. And yet, it isn’t really that simple, is it? The film really does allow us to see Jake as a person who just made a few perfectly understandable mistakes – some beyond his control. He is partially at fault – but not completely.

 

The problem with Aftermath though is that it’s just so dull. The movie is about grief, so it was never going to be fun – but the film is pretty lifeless throughout. The characters are basically given one note to play throughout – and they do that well enough, I guess – it just never adds up to very much. The climax of the movie – and then the 10 years later afterword – simply ring false for all involved.

 

I really do like Schwarzenegger as an actor – perhaps it’s just remnants of the action loving 12 year old I was back in 1994, when True Lies was one of the my favorite movies, alongside Terminator 2. But I want Arnold to get a great role, and really dig in, and show us something different. He’s trying – he just needs a director to give him the right role. This isn’t it.