Starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Scoot McNairy, Maggie Grace, Martin Donovan,
Hannah Ware. Directed by Elliott Lester. (2017, 94 min).
You
gotta give ol' Arnold this much...he makes no pretenses about the
fact he ain't the man he used to be. Unlike many of his peers, he knows he can no longer pull-off being an
indestructible action hero without looking ridiculous. For much of
his post-gubernatorial career - even Terminator Genysys, to a certain extent - he acts his age and all the baggage that comes with it.
And
fortunately for him, he had learned to become a better actor over the
years than most of those same peers, to the point we can accept him
in a straight dramatic role, such as his melancholy turn in Aftermath. In fact, his
rich, low-key performance is the best part of the entire film.
Arnold
plays Roman, a construction worker whose wife and pregnant daughter die in a mid-air plane collision. Jacob (Scoot McNairy) is the
air traffic controller who was on-watch when the disaster occurred,
which ultimately killed 271 people. For most of the film, their
individual stories are presented concurrently. Both men are
devastated, neither able to put the tragedy behind them.
Roman still wants answers - or even an apology - which aren't
forthcoming. He becomes so withdrawn and lonely he contemplates
suicide. Meanwhile, blame for the crash is placed almost solely on
Jacob, both publicly and at work (though it's suggested it may not
have actually been his fault). Not only does he become alienated from
his wife and son, he's forced to relocate to another state with a new
job and identity to avoid further public scrutiny.
Eventually,
Roman decides he can't fully move on until he confronts Jacob
personally, either for an apology he's still waiting for, or to exact
revenge.
 |
| "Sarah Connor?" |
But
Aftermath is less about revenge than how two people struggle to deal with an emotionally devastating tragedy. Neither is a
hero or a villain. While we watch both men make some questionable -
sometimes terrible - choices, we empathize with both of them. This is
entirely due to the two leads. McNairy delivers an effective
performance in arguably the most challenging role, a hapless man
whose overwhelming sense of guilt threatens to consume him.
Schwarzenegger is the real
revelation, though, with a complexity & vulnerability he only
hinted at in Maggie.
With
almost no moments of levity, Aftermath is a bleak, mournful
and understated film about the effects of a tragedy that most of us
pray we'll never have to experience ourselves. As such, it's not a
grand old time at the movies, though worth the effort to see
Schwarzenegger at his absolute best.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
FEATURETTE:
Interviews with director Elliott Lester & director of photography
Pieter Vermeer
AUDIO
COMMENTARY - with director Elliott Lester & producer Eric Watson
DIGITAL
COPY
KITTY CONSENSUS
PURR-R-R...NO PICNIC, BUT SCHWARZENEGGER IS OUTSTANDING
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