3/09/2024

Hereafter (2010) - A movie so bad it might kill you

[ZERO]

 

Star Matt Damon blocks most of his unnamed female co-star (Cécile de France (The French Dispatch (2021))) on this mysterious, greyish blue poster for Clint Eastwood's Hereafter

A French woman passes away in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Two brothers have a neglectful parent in London. And in the States George is having a tough time, since he is a clairvoyant.

 

Hereafter is written by Peter Morgan (The Queen (2006)) and co-produced, directed and scored by Californian master filmmaker Clint Eastwood (Play Misty for Me (1971)), whose 31st film it is.

Eastwood attempts to make a metaphysical 'fates-intertwine' type of film here, (he has seen Babel (2006), it seems), but the result is the worst film of his career. Hereafter wallows in pointless roughness and saccharine sentimentality. 

Matt Damon (Ocean's Eleven (2001)) as a clairvoyant is teeth-grindingly god-awful. His predictable romance with Bryce Dallas Howard (Rocketman (2019)) at Steven Schirripa's (Jersey Boys (2014)) cooking class is simultaneously colossally uninteresting and the movie's most watchable scenes, which says something.

Hereafter is a film that depends entirely on a connection with its audience in order to work. But here is no connection, and its serving of phony mumbo-jumbo as thoughtfulness is enough to drive good people into their graves.

 

Related posts:

Clint EastwoodThe Mule (2018) - Drug-runner true story proves another fine fit for screen legend Eastwood 

Sully (2016) - Eastwood's miracle landing biopic is inert and overrated  2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
Top 10: The best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
American Sniper (2014) - Eastwood conveys an American man and myth in electric masterpiece  
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess   
J. Edgar (2011) - Eastwood, Black and DiCaprio's great, intense biopic   

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Gran Torino (2008) - Eastwood's actor persona comes full circle in absolute smash (co-producer/director/starring actor)
The Changeling (2008) or, The Christine Collins Story
 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]    
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Letters from Iwo Jima/硫黄島からの手紙 [Öjima Kara no Tegami] (2006) - The Japanese side of Eastwood's remarkable WWII two-parter   

Flags of Our Fathers (2006) - Eastwood's Iwo Jima portrayal is captivating and profoundly moving 

Blood Work (2002) - Eastwood churns out uninspired thriller adaptation (producer/director/starring actor)


1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Absolute Power (1997) - Eastwood stumbles with low-caliber thriller (director/co-producer/co-starring)

The Dead Pool (1988) - The highly entertaining last Dirty Harry movie (starring actor) 

Heartbreak Ridge (1986) - Lots of deficiencies in Eastwood's weak Marine movie (producer/director/starring actor)
City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair (co-starring actor)
Tightrope (1984) - An undervalued Clint Eastwood sex killer thriller (starring actor)
Any Which Way You Can (1980) or, More Monkey Business! (starring actor)

Escape from Alcatraz (1979) - Siegel, Tuggle and Eastwood's phenomenal prison escape thriller (starring actor)
Every Which Way but Loose (1978) or, Honky Tonk Monkey Business! (starring actor)

The Gauntlet (1977) - Locke/Eastwood cast sparks in corny shoot-em-up (director/starring actor)
The Enforcer (1976) - Eastwood teaches revolutionaries a lesson in third, less punchy Dirty Harry (starring actor)
The Eiger Sanction (1975) - Eastwood's mountain climbing dud (director/star)

High Plains Drifter (1973) - Eastwood cleans up red town in great western (director/star)
The Beguiled (1971) - Intense, erotic Civil War kammerspiel thriller (starring actor)
 
Dirty Harry (1971) - Eastwood's great, signature renegade cop character comes to life (starring actor)
Coogan's Bluff (1968) or, Dopes and Hippies, Beat It! (starring actor)
 

Hang 'Em High (1968) - Post and Eastwood make spaghetti in the West (starring actor)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) - Leone ends his poncho trilogy with certified classic (starring actor)
For a Few Dollars More/Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965) or, Return of the Poncho Killer (co-starring actor)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho (starring actor)

 



 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 106.9 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.12 times its cost)

[Hereafter premiered 12 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 129 minutes. Eastwood was paid 6 mil. $ to make the film. De France received 300k € for her performance in it, approximately 327k $. Shooting took place from October 2009 - February 2010 in London, England, France, including in Paris, California, including in San Francisco, and in Hawaii. The film opened #28 to a 220k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked the next weekend at #4, behind new release Paranormal Activity 2 and holdover hits Jackass 3D and RED, staying in the top 5 for one more weekend (#5), grossing 32.7 mil. $ (30.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 16.7 mil. $ (15.6 %) and Spain with 14 mil. $ (13.1 %). The film was nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar, lost to Inception. It won a David di Donatello award and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 6 notches over this one. Eastwood returned with J. Edgar (2011). Damon returned in True Grit (2010). Hereafter is rotten at 47 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


What do you think of Hereafter?

No comments:

Post a Comment