Review of Aftermath (2017) by Jacob F — 06 Apr 2017

Arnold's latest attempt at dramatic acting is probably his most successful yet. Sabotage was poorly directed, awfully written, and every actor, including Arnold, gave a unbelievably poor performance.

Maggie on the other hand was slightly better but still not enough for me. It moved much too slowly, and I never felt any connection between Arnold and Abigail Breslin. Now comes Aftermath a drama, based on true events, following the lives of two men who both fall into a deep depression after two planes collide.

Arnold plays Roman, a construction worker who is also the husband/father of a mother and daughter caught in the crash, and Mcnairy plays Jacob, the air traffic controller that was on call during the accident.

Arnold begins to blame, and hunt down McNairy until their paths inevitably collide. Both actors do a surprisingly strong job conveying grief and loss, and Elliot Lester's directing is solid enough, aside from a few shots that try to convey symbolism.

The real problem with Aftermath isn't the acting or directing. It's the script. The script hardly takes the time to really get into the mind of these characters, particularly Arnold's, which makes some of his actions towards the end seem implausible, and never lets the audience fully understand what really led up to his actions at the end.

Combine that with an ending that is wholly predictable and anticlimactic, and you've got a film that just barely gets by on the strength of its performances. Pick better scripts Arnold.