BOTTOM
LINE:
Boring,
tedious and completely lifeless with no sense of wonder or mystery,
this film about the afterlife is the perfect cure for insomnia,
despite some notable key ingredients that, if they had been used
properly, could have made for a much better film.
THE
GOOD: One
of the aspects of this film that could have had the potential to
make it quite interesting is its broad scope narrative, telling
three parallel stories in different countries while integrating
real-life tragic events which are used to provide a haunting message
of faith and belief in the after life. Matt Damon plays the after-life
psychic George, while Cecile de France plays Marie who survives
the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and briefly crosses in to the afterlife.
Also, 12-year old twin Marcus and Jason in London have a hard life
with an alcoholic mother, and in a tragic accident, Jason is killed,
leaving Marcus alone. The stories and characters eventually intertwine
with each other in strange ways, all with their connections to the
after-life. The 2005 London bombings are used in the film to the
extent that Marcus misses the train that blew up, but was assisted
in this regard by Jason’s spirit. Marie’s storyline
is quite interesting in that huge portions of it are in French,
which is unusual in a Hollywood film and somewhat refreshing, giving
the film a more European-style. The rendering of the tsunami is
decent, and terrifying to watch. There are many aspects to this
film that could have made it quite fascinating.
