Hereafter

Starring Matt Damon and directed by Clint Eastwood, Hereafter tells the story of three people and their experiences with death. Matt Damon plays an honest-to-goodness legitimate psychic who doesn't like doing readings anymore because of the emotional toll it causes and how it affects his ability to lead a normal life. Second, pre-teen Marcus losses his twin brother Jason, and shuts himself off from the world. And lastly, Marie almost dies (well I guess she technically does for a moment or two) when a tsunami hits Thailand (yes, that tsunami) and afterwards tries to figure out what the vision she had means.

The scenes with the tsunami are amazing, it doesn't feel so much like special effects and it really helped me understand how so many people could have died during the event - it makes it realistic and dangerous. I also really like the chemistry between Matt Damon and Bryce Dallas Howard, the scenes between them are playful and flirty and when it turns serious I'm still buying it.

On the downside, the fact that the movie shifts between the three main characters, by the end of it, it doesn't seem like we have learned enough about any of them. Also, when Matt Damon does a "reading" it can be a little silly, like when he's talking to the dead, and whoops, he's gone, now he's back again and has more to say. I can understand that only hearing one side of a conversation with a dead person is hard to pull off, and darn it Matt Damon tries, but it just comes off as mostly silly. We've been waiting with Matt Damon to reconnect Marcus with his brother for like the whole movie, and how it was done was kind of a let down. Additionally, in the end Matt Damon ends up with Marie, who saw that coming? Was he even over Bryce yet? It was kind of random, and we didn't get enough notice to buy into this relationship and really believe it because shortly thereafter the movie just ends!

The verdict:

The makings of a good movie, just hold the extra cheese please.