Aftermath

Aftermath-720P

Aftermath-480P

Dear Reader, I have waited long for this movie, but later I have realized that I wasted months of my life, later on, I have wasted 90 minutes of my weekend, sitting and watching this piece of "....", no story, no objective, nothing to learn, no idea, no purpose. The whole time you will be waiting for an event to happen, something to catch your attention. Since the accident was the main event of this film, at least they could have shown it, the aircraft crash, something related to the accident more. In brief, don't waste your time watching this.

Arnold Schwarzennegger ? There was a time in the 1980s when no action blockbuster wasn't complete without the Austrian bodybuilder waving around an arsenal that could equip a third world nation killing movie bad guys while making wisecracks. Never an actor but the epitome of a movie star whose characters would shoot from the lip. I wasn't a big fan but could understand the appeal of Arnold but there was something likable about him. After leaving the movie business to pursue a political career one would expect him to fade in to obscurity and be remembered with a nostalgic glow. As insane as it may seem Arnold left politics and has reinvented himself as character actor with films like MAGGIE and he surely has one eye on an Oscar. Stop laughing because this is the obvious agenda. Arnold is trying but is he trying too hard ? !!!! SUGGESTIVE SPOILERS !!!! With AFTERMATH there is an element of trying too hard. A film inspired by true events where a character has lost everything and decides to hit out is probably something produced with Arnold in mind from the 1980s ala THE EXTERMINATOR type exploitation , but AFTERMATH isn't some sort of vigilante commercial blockbuster. Instead it's an indie type drama keeping in style and the tone of the 1995 Jack Nicholson film THE CROSSING GUARD with the sensation of loss and grief to the fore It might be a backhanded compliment to its star and director Elliot Lester but the human drama and themes are so very well done that AFTERMATH ends up becoming one of the most depressing films you'll see in 2017 . There's lots of scenes where there's no dialogue , instead emotion is conveyed vi Arnold's facial expression and Mark D Todd's somewhat manipulative music. If nothing else when the character of Roman becomes self appointed avenging angel you won't be reminded of THE TERMINATOR.

Near Christmas, the construction foreman Roman (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is eager to welcome his wife and pregnant daughter that are coming home. When he arrives at the airport, he is informed that their plane has crashed with no survivors, destroying his life. The air traffic controller Jacob "Jake" Bonaos (Scoot McNairy) commits an error and two planes collide. Jake is forced to have another identity and move to another town, being separated from his beloved wife Christina (Maggie Grace) and son. Roman hires a private investigator to locate Jake. When Roman meets him, a tragedy happens. "Aftermath" is a slow-paced heavy drama of tragedy and revenge based on the Überlingen mid-air collision in 2002 and the aftermath. The film has great direction and performances and make the viewer to think about causes and consequences of tragedies. However it is indicated for specific audiences. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): Not Available

Yuk. Another waste of time. The flaws are too numerous to list but let me save you some time, wait for it to be on TV or something you can leave it on while you doze off or do something more fun. Just not a believable movie the story is weak the acting is amateur hour you can't get the time wasted on this back. You would get a better show from your kids than this. I love Arnold's movies back in the day but he can't seem to get a good role these days. I miss him. Re-watch one of the good old Arnie movies this one is a dud. Yawn

I have grown up watching Arnold be the Barbarian, be a machine, be the strong man he has always been, but never ever did i feel that he would be able to touch my emotional chords. With Aftermath, he has done what the world did not think he was capable of. A truly gripping acting performance. The period of bereavement, the emotional imbalance, the true portrayal of a man hurt and saddened by events of life..what a great performance. I highly recommend this movie. Arnold you have done what no one expected you to do.

The film is based on the 2002 accident: Überlingen mid-air collision over Switzerland, plane flying from Russia to Spain (71 deaths including cargo plane involved). The main issue is that the film is focused on the tower controller and someone that has lost their family in the accident. The film does not cover the whole accident. Arnold is getting way to old for any action films so he is trying to create a portfolio of drama films. The film is extremely boring and dark, you keep waiting and waiting, hoping something would happen and nothing does. The whole problem with the accident was around the TCAS and ATC processes/systems. Considering this, they should have made a film based on the Japanese passenger flights that have missed each other by 100 meters thanks to both pilots taking evasive actions due to the same reason. However the film doesn't shed any light on this nor what did the airlines learned from what happened, what was changed to avoid such accidents in the future? In all honesty after watching this I feel like I really should be avoiding flying at all costs. You also learn that Russians prefer to punch first then ask question later (based on the actual history not the film). Sure, watch the film if you are interested in casting Arnold. Especially if you are directing some kind of drama film and Arnold seems interested, otherwise stay away, booooooring without any kind of story or culmination. The whole film is just a 90 minutes CV showing that Arnold can do Drama.

In this slow-moving and painful melodrama, the viewer keeps waiting and waiting for something...anything...to happen that will change the tempo of a bleak and depressing "aftermath" of a tragic plane crash. In the special features segment of the DVD, the filmmakers suggested that their goal was to create a "nuanced" and "visceral" cinematic experience. In the performance of Mr. Schwarzenegger as Roman Melynk, there was no doubt a strong visceral reaction to the loss of his wife and daughter, and that response was sustained throughout the film. But the film failed to evoke a "nuanced" response, remaining on a single emotional level, despite the passage of eleven years in Melynk's life. The screenplay set up a parallel drama between Melynk and the aftermath of the distraught flight controller on whose watch the plane crash occurred. A shortcoming of the film was in the inability to make clear whether or not the controller, Jake Bonanos, ever did anything wrong. He certainly does not receive support from his employers, who urge him to move to another city and change his name! In fact, after nearly committing suicide, Jake Bonanos relocates far away from his family, becoming Pat Dealbert, travel agent! It is almost as if the poor schlub has entered into a kind of witness protection program. The scene in the tower lacked credibility in that Jake was all alone in the nerve center of a major U.S. airport. Additionally, the incompetent technicians deserved scrutiny in the follow-up investigation for their negligence in distracting the flight controller and failing to fix the telephones that momentarily took Jake away from his post. These details are important, yet were never clarified in the film. While the film was well-photographed and Mr. Schwarzenegger effectively carried the film as the brooding Roman Melynk, there were far too many clichés and stereotypes, including the airline officials who were not very believable as crisis counselors, vampire-like attorneys, a journalist with no integrity, and one-dimensional grieving souls who lost their loved ones. Sadly, there were not many insights into the grieving process. To the contrary, the film's main theme appeared to be revenge, as opposed to healing. In short, there needed to be much more nuance, which was one of the stated goals of the film artists.

My take away from this film wasn't so much the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger, (whom I simply admire as one of Hollywood's best) but how does one deal with and guilt and grief. From the viewpoint of the Air traffic controller, I totally understood his guilt, blaming himself for the mid-air collision and carrying such a heavy load of lost life on his conscious. I don't know about anyone else but whenever I turn on the news and hear of hit and run drivers, who may have taken a life and didn't stop at the scene of the incident to see who they hit I always ask God to give them a burden of guilt and shame that they turn their-selves in. This ATC bore his guilt but tried to restart his life, although I didn't think it was his entirely his fault, but the burden of guilt took its tool on him and his family. The grief of a lost loved one can also be heavy on ones heart, that you can never know how a person will handle such pain. Did I condone what Arnold did to the ATC? Hell no, but I understood his pain, because all he wanted was an a apology from the airline. Overall a thought provoking conversation film, you know the kind you have after you leave the theater. Not a film for everyone, but a definitely a conversation piece.