User reviews

Not exactly the best film and the filmography surplus, but this film still manages to pull viewer into a story that is, simply put, sad. The sequence of events takes characters through many years of deep regrets and pain, showing us that one event can leave an indelible mark on us. Despair and pain can lead even most average person, who lives completely average and peaceful life, to become furious madman in the hunt for something that will never be.

This is far from Oscar material, but it is a certainly watchable movie, which, in some moments, makes you think "what would I do?".

Arnold S. showed his "emotional" side, which to be honest is very warm, paternal and sensual but at the same time ... Well, look at the film. It is not a waste of time, but do not expect too much

This was a very interesting experience, to watch an Arnold Schwarzenegger film without laughing or thinking "damn what a bad ass". Instead the film is emotionally tough and Arnold really pulls it off to make you feel pitiful and sad from the opening sequence. And the film becomes interesting by showing two perspectives of a very complicated and sad situation. The film makes you think about morals and revenge in a very "deep" way, something i would have never expected from an Arnold Scharzenegger film. Respect to Arnold for evolving as an actor.

Not a casual watch but definitely a very good film. (must see for Arnold fans)

Not a bad movie. Arnold fans like myself will be chomping at the bit waiting for him to do his usual thing, but this is Arnold showing that he can actually act. Good drama, well written and acted. But lacks that certain something to make it great. Still worth a watch though.

When I watched this it reminded me of the Joker. A dark character study based on a true story of how people deal with grief. The ending is perfect too. Arnie is really showing his range here which is something his action hero contemporaries have not tried to stretch. Not sure how much of this is based on truth and how much is fiction but it's totally believable. Truly tragic all around.

This is not a bad movie, like most of the other reviews make it look. However, It wasn't good either. It was average - a movie that I wouldn't watch again because there is nothing new to see or discover the second time.

I didn't hate the movie. I thought the acting at some points was poor and the script was forced, but apart from that, everyone did their job. Some parts could have been improved in terms of making it more realistic.

Overall, I am giving Aftermath a 6 out of 10. I really wanted to like the movie more but I just couldn't.

One of the best movie ever for me, especially this kind of underrated film, the main reason why I love it. Best Schwarzy performance ever too. I don't understand why such idiots don't love this movie ONLY because it is definitely not an action movie. I guess they knew it in advance. My opinion about this film will never prevent me to love PREDATOR, TERMINATOR or CONAN too. But in those films, Arnold was terrific ONLY for his presence, and not his actor play. Here he is awesome ONLY on his actor play, and not his physical presence. And, in this film, you have no good guy against bad guy scheme. I love it too. And everything here is a surprise. A very moving movie for sure. So shame that was not released in French theatres. I highly prefer this instead of the last TERMINATOR movie with Arnold absolutely ridiculous About the revenge after one's family death topic, I prefer this one to COLLATERAL DAMAGE, more action oriented.

Aftermath was not what I expected at all. It's strongest moments were early as the story of the crash unfolded. It was terrifyingly mundane, just another work day for Jake in which a very understandably human mistake was made. Only, this mistake resulted in the collision of two passenger planes and unspeakable tragic loss of life. Arnold Schwarzenegger does a fantastic job portraying the strong, older man who loses his family and lacks the emotional equipment to process it. Scoot McNairy is perfectly cast and conveys the guilt and depression of Jake with heart wrenching power.

Unfortunately this story becomes less and less interesting as it progresses. perhaps that's a credit to the filmmakers for not adding dramatic power by adapting it too much. But, ultimately at the end I felt a sort of, "That's it...?" If you're a Schwarzenegger or McNairy fan, you might enjoy it. Otherwise, Aftermath fails to deliver.

The tragic story of the film makes you think that it has the wrong actors in it, but Arnie himself proves you wrong. His stoic demeanour really makes you feel for his character.

The double story and how it comes together is a bit messy at times but overall it is compelling until the end.

Decent, not amazing, but worth a watch

Don't expect any Terminators jumping around in this movie. The plot is somewhat new, and not a used up scenario you find in every second movie.

It's a movie that goes a bit deeper than the usual special effects movies these days.

I did not find this movie boring as some stated, it got a slow pace but well thought. The characters need to breathe to send their message out.

So if you want pure action, stay away from it, if you like movies that bring their message with acting, go for it. Arnold Schwarzenegger is talking with his whole body, that's what I prefer to overextended dialogues.

So if you thought you leave it out, because it's just a 6 rating, you might miss an interesting new face of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The actors around him did a good job as well.

Two aircraft collide mid-air. People on the ground suffer. Arnold Schwarzenegger is old and fat, he should have stayed away for this one.

The residual mumbling, groaning, so called music is oppressive and loud, the dialogue is sparse, uninformative, inconsequential.

The screenplay lost so much potential. From the unfolding of events in the control tower, it seems that the crash was caused by the pilot of one of the planes descending without authorisation into another's flight path. The controller was operating two desks at once, so was unaware of the developing disaster. When he did realise the situation he tried to call one of the planes from the wrong desk, so couldn't be heard by the innocent pilot of the correctly controlled plane he was calling. We were led to believe that the controller took the blame. Most unrealistic.

Our hero, Schwarzenegger, walks away from the derisory compensation offered by the airline for the loss of his family. the Airline executives display corporate hand washing, with the lawyer being a monstrous weasel. There is no further mention of the matter.

Oh, and by the way, during the airport scene, where Schwarzenegger receives medical care after the shock of discovery, no one should expect to gain a blood pressure reading with the cuff applied over the clothing on his arm.

So much of the aftermath was swept under the carpet. The dreary, overstated music was enough to make anyone suicidal or fuelled for murderous revenge.

This may well be the most unrealistic and depressing 94 minutes you could experience this year.

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.

The best part of this film is it was based on the real. This is the story that follows after the event of two planes crashed head to head in the mid air. Focused on Roman, the one who had lost his wife and daughter in the crash and the Jake, an air traffic controller who was on the duty on the day.

Roman was not happy for how the officials treated him, and the declaration of the result of the event. On the other hand, Jake was mentally disturbed, that's affecting his family. A year later, when everything was coming back to normal with a book on the plane crash is getting released, a twist in tale emerges and fast forwarding to a few years, the story comes to an end.

There's no judgement on the crash, that's how the story carefully evolved. Like how it happened and whose fault it was. If you understand the title properly, you won't ask that, because the film is not about that. It was the aftermath of the crash. Like how people related to the event coped with. I think decently written screenplay with good performances. But the film was slow.

Everything about the film was the opening and the end parts, the rest of the film was just a drag in the name of gap between the events and letting us know more about the film's two main characters. So, overall a simple film, but depicting the real event matters here. Once viewable film, especially if you are the actor's fan, then the percentage goes up. Though expect less from it or from him, as he's not young anymore and this film is not an action flick, just a decent drama.

6.5/10

Drama about a family man (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who loses wife, daughter and her unborn child in a plane crash. Also, we see what happens to flight traffic controller (Scoot McNairy) who seems at least partially responsible for the event. Ah-nuld is turning 70 this summer, but he's not planning a retirement after his decades-long screen career and the governator years. The problem is, the new generation doesn't miss him. His newer action movies have flopped – excluding „The Expendables" series but these can't be exactly called his movies – and plans for the „Terminator" reboot have been suddenly shelved. Still, there are plans for „Twins" sequel, „Conan" sequel and even more „Expendables. There's also a little problem of him still not being a noteworthy actor. Yes, he has charisma and looks natural on screen. But he doesn't exactly make us believe and transport to a new magical movie land with his acting, to put it in less-than-scientific terms. Having little dialogue and solid support from the cast and crew, he's OK. But there's too much acting – mostly sulking around and looking tormented – and not enough living the part to win me over. Schwarzenegger has taken on serious roles in two recent movies, „Aftermath" and 2015's „Maggie". Both are quite similar experiences: slow-moving, grim dramas drowning in their own heaviness and exhausting the viewer in the process. The atmosphere is palpably moody and grim but not much is happening really in any sense, so the constant struggle to build suspense doesn't bring results. There's also too much showing of Ah-nuld's world-weary face and every hair in his grey beard. It certainly would work in small doses, I guess. They could produce a nice showcase for 4K video… but not a feature-length movie. If there's something worse than watching another American made comedy-drama-lite about still having fun in old age – such as in „Going in Style" –, then it must be former action hero still trying to convince us that he can act. The supporting cast – in this case, everybody but Schwarzenegger – are actually doing a good work. McNairy gives a superior performance as a man tormented by his mistake, and so does Maggie Grace as his wife, but sadly they can't save the result. They could if the roles were reversed and Schwarzenegger was in a supporting role, maybe. This joke is probably more meaningful after actually watching „Aftermath" but: it would make more sense to serve the movie as a prequel to 1996's „Batman & Robin". The origins of Mr. Freeze, so to speak. Sadly, it doesn't share the latter's wacky sense of humor. At least the movie is short, 94 minutes.

Arnie has done action, comedy, thrillers etc. All of these performances hinged on his biceps, accent and catchphrases. Unfortunately, his acting abilities have been...well...questionable. If he was ever put in the situation where he would need to put emphasis on a line that did not require shouting or without a gun in his hand, it was lost on the audience.

Since Arnie's comeback we have seen that he has gone back to much the same genres of movies, so I was dubious when I heard of the plot to this movie. A father losing his family in a plane crash and following the life that follows. It was too deep for Arnie, I thought. However, I was surprised to see the emotion he could portray in his character.

The premise of the movie was interesting, since it follows both the air traffic controller who is blamed for the crash and the father of two of its victims. It was interesting to see the similarities in the emotions they experienced throughout the movie. I thought the character progression was great. The problem I had was that the story progressed a bit too slowly for me. I understand that this is probably more 'real life', but in the context of a movie, I want things that gauge my interest and maintain it. Some scenes were unnecessary and some scenes could have progressed faster.

However, by the end, I did not feel cheated of my time and money. I would recommend this movie to you if you like Arnie and want to see something different. If you enjoy slow-paced movies. It made me realise I hadn't seen my family in a while during my time at university, so at least it got me to organise a meet up with them!

This movie starts well enough and looks promising. Then half an hour of boredom where I'm thinking "Not Manchester By The Sea again?" Just when I'm thinking about switching it off there appears to be what looks like a twist which might set up a courtroom drama. No such luck. I think this film may have been made to try and emulate the (unbelievable) success of MBTS. No sympathy for the characters, parts of the plot seemingly a little odd considering the background of the characters and poor timing. Arnie shows he can act without overacting but I wish he had aged a little towards the end which was supposed to be ten years on. Don't bother.

I've read the other reviews and they range in numerical rating from 1/10 to 10/10. Does that say a lot about the Film itself, or the people reviewing the film? I say with confidence, the latter.

First, I understand people from around the globe use IMDb as it's the premier Movie information sight available on the net. However, please, if your going to write a review which the public will read to gauge whether or not to view a film, learn how to write with correct and coherent grammatical form. Much is lost if an opinion of the author does not know how to formulate a sentence....now that I've said that, on to the review.

In a nutshell, this is NOT a Schwarznegger superhero Conan the Barbarian type role for him. Nor does it resemble any of his early over the top massive budget roles in which his acting was never really anything to write home about.

This film however, depicts him in a real life situation of the most dreadful type. And I have to say I believe it to be one of, if not, the Best performance of his career. It's the first time I've ever seen him in a role that encompasses pain, anguish, self awareness and love. He is believable and does a great job in conveying that role. Scoot Mcnairy does a fine job as well as the "so called" villain. Actually, there are no villains in this film. It is a tragic human interest movie and a trifle hard to watch. No spoilers here.....along with Schwarznegger producing this film, Darren Aranovsky did as well. For those who gave this film a terrible review, you are entitled to your opinion. That said, know this! Darren Aranovsky would not lend his name in ANY capacity to a film that he would view as garbage, as one reviewer called it.

My recommendation is to watch the film and see for yourself. It is by no means a "feel good" movie. It is a well put together film with a solid story to tell. IMO, whether or not an Arnold fan, it is worth the 90 minutes as it does what a good film should do....it moves you.

Arnold Schwarzenegger had previously proved that he could pull off a straight dramatic performance, without resorting to being the "man of action", in the horror-drama "Maggie". Here, he's similarly affecting in a tale that the filmmakers are careful to tell us was *inspired by*, rather than *based on*, a true story that happened in Europe.

Arnold plays Roman, a blue collar guy who loses his beloved wife & daughter (and unborn granddaughter) when two planes collide. The person singled out as being responsible is air traffic controller Jake (Scoot McNairy), who wasn't entirely at fault; not only was he left on his own in the tower, he was simply trying to handle too many tasks at once.

The balance of the film is a study in how individuals are able, or not able, to cope in the face of a big tragedy. As we can see, neither the grief-stricken Roman nor the guilt-plagued Jake handle it all that well. But they give it some effort, until Roman decides that he just HAS to confront the man he holds responsible for his loss.

There the screenplay starts to turn more melodramatic and predictable, instead of the more realistic bent it adopts for most of the running time. Written by Javier Gullon, and directed by Elliott Lester, it's a sombre, slowly paced (some viewers might say monotonous) meditation on dealing with loss. The supporting performances (including familiar performers such as Maggie Grace (as Jakes' wife), Glenn Morshower (as Romans' co-worker), Martin Donovan (as Jakes' boss), and Kevin Zegers (as a lawyer)) are effectively understated.

Overall, the film is respectable in what it attempts, if not all that successful. But give it a shot if you want to see Arnold actually act in a picture that is mostly devoid of violence.

Seven out of 10.

It's not a perfect movie - especially not a typical Arnie action movie. This drama is initially told from two perspectives and then linked together from the half of the film. You can feel the desperation and drama of both sides to the tragedy. So is it a bad Movie? Definetely not as bad as some reviews.

I watched because it featured Arnold Schwarzenegger and I wasn't disappointed he was a likable character and someone you cared about and the film portrayed grief in a realistic an poignant. I was surprised by his encounter both times in the end. I think it's good because grief is a taboo subject and people try to avoid it if they can. This is a good and thoughtful movie. I liked it and in especially liked Arnold.