#20 – After
Rating: 
The post-apocalypse is drearily brought to the screen by Ryan Smith in After, a sub-Silent Hill effort which lifts liberally from both the video game and film in a plethora of ways; the protagonists are in a vehicular accident, to awaken in a deserted town surrounded by a mysterious fog, where they eventually come to discover that the town has two sides – light and dark – and spend most of their time traipsing around hospitals and schools. So blatant is the pilfering that it’s amazing Smith got away with it, if not for the fact that the film will likely be relegated to bargain bin obscurity anyway.
A promising beginning – as Freddy (Steven Strait) tries to hit on Ana (Karolina Wydra) during their bus ride - unfortunately does not reflect the rest of the picture, and when the two awaken from their devastating bus crash, tension very quickly drains away, for Smith cannot find a unique or interesting direction in which to take his story. The dark mist in which various ravenous beasts live feels trite and derived from the likes of Stephen King’s The Mist and John Carpenter’s The Fog, while the rest derives from Konami’s aforementioned video game series.
Though an effort is made in act three to connect these two apparent strangers by examining time and memory – with exposition laid-on willy-nilly by the fog’s “powers” whenever it feels like it – Smith never gets us to care in the first place, and so the film’s big revelation has next to no emotional impact. Add to this some unintentionally guffaw-inducing dialogue – such as when Ana says to Freddy, “I’m sorry I tried to blow you off on the bus” – and you have a film that wants to mould itself into an affectionate, character-driven romance, but instead get one that materialises as insipidly dull. The actors try hard, but the mercilessly derivative, emotionally pat script stifles their efforts at every corner.
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1 Comments
Having just watched this film, I can’t believe that you would call the characters stupid. To me the characters were what made this a decent, believable film, way more believable than 90% of the over budget tripe that comes out of Hollywood. Firstly, the woman who ran in to get her baby was in fact choosing to end her own life. She clearly states she wants to join her kids in heaven. The only stupid actions were possibly of the mother and son. But they believed the ordeal was over because the 2 murderers were then dead. As for the strategic ideas. How many can you come up with when you’re stuck at the top of a tower block with the only 2 safe exits covered by a skip and a lunatic sniper? What would have been your great plan, in the given situation, knowing that any wrong move and you’re are dead?