Aftermath - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Aftermath

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
For those of you who didn’t read the front cover of Aftermath (it’s kind of plastered on there), the story of was actually based on true events that happened 15 years ago in 2002. A swiss air controller and the swiss traffic control office had a flaw in their system and due to some unfortunate incidents, 2 planes collided and all aboard were killed. I remember it was ALL over the news back then, and I was just finishing up college at the time. The Russian man who lost his family was plastered all over the news, and it was even MORE consuming when it was found out that he had tracked down the Swiss air traffic controller in charge that night and killed the man himself. Aftermath chronicles a retelling of those events, changing the locations and people to the U.S., but it uses the basic framework of events to show how grief and pain can affect two different people in different (but oh so similar) ways.

The film opens up with a precursor to the event as construction supervisor Roman Melnik (Arnold) gets up in the morning all excited to meet his wife and daughter (with his unborn grandchild) on their way over from Kiev. He gets to the airport with flows in hand, and a smile on his face, only to be told that their flight had collided with another plane and there were no survivors. Devastated by the loss, Roman is sent into a tailspin. A few short minutes later we see exactly what happened. An air traffic controller named Jake (Scoot McNairy) is on duty and due to putting his headset down, doesn’t hear another plane announcing that they are dropping down to the same elevation as one that Jake had just ordered to drop to. By the time Jake glances back at his console it’s too late and both planes are lost in the resulting crash.

The rest of the movie is us watching…wel… the aftermath of the situation. Roman is completely wrecked by the situation, left with no wife, no daughter, no granddaughter. Only the realization that he is alone day in and day out. Jake is left a shattered man as well, left with the lifelong realization that his accidental negligence led to the deaths of DOZENS and DOZENS of people. His marriage to wife Christina (Maggie Grace) starts to fall apart as the damaged man can’t seem to cope with reality. Soon his inattentiveness and refusal to get help pushes his wife and son away from him, leaving him just as alone and devastated as Roman is. Roman’s frustration is still prevalent and palpable as the airline has not once apologized for the incident, and he’s left with loose ends on his own emotional spectrum. Being that this was HUGE newsworthy material when it happened, I don’t feel so bad about spoiling the third act as it was spread far and wide. The inevitable confrontation between Roman and Jake happens, changing their lives forever and leading towards one inevitable conclusion.

I’m sure many of us have suffered from tragic loss in our lives, and many of us have had to cope with it (whether that ends up in a healthy resolution or not is beside the point), and I’m sure many of us have had to deal with grief counseling. One of the big things that they pounded in our heads during that counseling was the five stages of grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally Acceptance). For the first two acts of the movie we get to see the denial and anger phase of the spectrum, as Roman and Jake deal with the aftermath of the tragedy. Jake tends to spend a lot of time in the Depression stage in the third act, but Roman appears to be locked in the anger stage. Even during the final act of the movie, the poor guy hasn’t seemed to move on, only for the last 8 minutes or so to jump straight to the acceptance phase and the credits roll.

I really did like the first hour of the movie. It’s a much slower paced film than Arnold is used to playing, and he’s much softer spoken. Ever since Maggie the famous action star has been trying to flex his acting muscles and taking different roles in his old age, usually with varying degrees of success. Aftermath allows him to play a much more subdued and broken character. One which is probably his best actual performance yet. The problem comes with the third act when things start to fall apart. The jump forward in time is fine, and so is the change of temperament that we see with Roman, but the entire incident with the reporter and the change after his 11-year jail sentence for murdering Jake just feels HORRIBLY rushed and leaves you with an ending that makes the viewer go “that’s it?”. Scoot tries his best with the material, but for some reason can’t really get the pain and suffering that he feels across. The direction of the movie seems almost clinical in nature. Like they were going for a documentary rather than an emotional drama about a plane crash like Sully.




Rating:

Rated R for a scene of violence




Video:

Lionsgate’s 2.39:1 AVC encode image is quite well done, if not given a sort of bleak look to the digital photography. The film is intentionally shot in a sort of wintery setting, with lots of cool blues and wintery whites dominating the landscape. The cool tones and the tendency to set a lot of the encounters in dim lighting or night time creates a sort of flat look that doesn’t have a wild amount of pop to it. There’s softness too, especially with wide angle shots like the scene where Arnie is waiting at the bus stop after he’s let out from the pokey. However, closeups show much more visible detailing of the face and clothing, giving a much sharper feel. Black levels are strong and healthy, with only minor instances of banding to act as a distraction to the imagery itself.






Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is more than capable of holding up the movie, and carries most of the weight right in the center channel as Aftermath is quite the talky affair. Vocals are crisp and clean, with good balance amongst the minimal front soundstage effects. The surrounds get their exercise from the background noises of the city as well as the score. HOWEVER, there are a couple of excitable moments throughout the film that boost up the LFE volume (there’s one about 13 minutes in that shakes the walls quite nicely) and adds some more dimensionality to the track. The film is mainly a dialog driven mix, but it does everything asked of it without question and with apparent ease.
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Extras:

• Audio Commentary with Director Elliott Lester and Producer Eric Watson
• Interviews with Director Elliott Lester and Director of Photography Pieter Vermeer

Final Score: ​

Aftermath is a rather solid, if not bleak, drama that has a lot going for it, despite the weak third act. It’s nice to see Arnie stretching his wings a tad, and everyone involved seemed to have of passion for the source material. Personally I would have liked for a bit better direction, but it is still a solidly entertaining movie that is easily worth a rental if the trailer appeals to you. Lionsgate has solid technical specs for the film, and even though there are two small special features, the commentary is actually quite informative and revealing.
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Technical Specifications:

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maggie Grace, Scoot McNairy
Directed by: Elliott Lester
Written by: Javier Gullon
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: R
Runtime: 95 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: June 6th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Rental

 

[Todd Anderson]

Is this Arnold's first drama?

I'm picking my brain... I can't seem to come up with one...

 

[Jon Liu]

Is this Arnold's first drama?

I'm picking my brain... I can't seem to come up with one...

Mike referenced "Maggie." I have not seen that one, but I'm assuming it's a more dramatic role for Arnold.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I missed that in the write up...and, you are correct, he did!

I saw Maggie - memory says it wasn't terrible...

 

[Michael Scott]

Maggie would be his first REAL drama, but it was kind of a zombie movie too, this one is a PURE drama in the more classic sense of the word.

 

[Asere]

Thank you for the review. I will be renting this one. I will have to catch Maggie on Netflix.

 

[Jon Liu]

Maggie is on netflix? I'll have to check it out then!