Hereafter is a film that deals with the old question, “What happens when we die?” Well, as a Christian I know that I am going to Heaven and that Hell is also a real place where many will go as well. I’m not going to go to the “White Beyond”, the “Eternal Nothingness”, the “Final Slumber”, the “Next Life”, etc. So, with the basis for the film’s plot already solved before the film has begun, could it still be good? Let’s see!

There are three different plots where we see the main characters. We have George, Marcus, and Marie. Let’s go through the plots one by one and see how they fared. This way we can cover all of the bases and I will also comment on which plot was the most interesting. I will also cover which one was the least interesting and I may as well say that it wasn’t even close.

The first plot that we will go with is Marie’s. “Why?” you may ask? Well, Marie’s was the first to appear so it makes sense. After getting hit by a Tsunami, (she should have played more video games. It probably would have increased her reaction times and it may not have been such a close shave.) Marie decides to take a break from her job and write a book. (It’s too bad since the job was pretty interesting)

Unfortunately, she decides to change the complete plot of the book which leads to her being alienated from her employers. To their defense, she did change everything without their consent. I would have been pretty disappointed as well. Eventually someone picks up her book, but will people take her seriously? She believes that she saw a glimpse of what comes after death, but it’s hard to say what it was. She consults many people, but they aren’t really of any help.

Let’s go to George’s plot. His is definitely the best since it starts to delve into the realm of super powers. George has the power to communicate with the dead. This can come in handy, but it’s also a sad power since it always involves death. He doesn’t really use it for petty reasons like winning the lottery or finding out who makes the best pizza. Instead, he lets people find out what their dead relatives had to say…for a price!

George retires from this and decides to work in a factory. Unfortunately, there are the inevitable budget cuts and this isn’t a very stable way to live for the future. George goes to a cooking class, but things don’t go very well for him. (He never even gets to make a pizza!) Can George show the world that he doesn’t need his powers to be rich and famous? To be honest, there isn’t really much more to say about his plot. It was fun thanks to the super powers and the cooking part was intriguing.

Marcus had the worst subplot. He’s not even going to get 2 paragraphs for the summary! His brother is murdered, (An assisted murder is still a murder. They didn’t mean to destroy him, but that’s essentially what they did. Although we can call it an “accident” if you want) so Marcus tries to find out how he can bring him back, or at least talk to him. His foster parents are pretty cool, but he doesn’t give them a chance. His real mother appears a little towards the beginning of the plot and at the ending. If only there was a character who could talk to the dead… Why was this plot the worst? The quick answer is that I don’t really find kids entertaining to watch in the movies. I don’t know why, but they’re usually pretty boring and Marcus is no exception.

The three plots all meet up towards the end. It’s intriguing, but there’s not really a big payoff. There is a very rushed romance at the end. It definitely didn’t help the film and shouldn’t have been included. I don’t see why films feel like they need to add this. Melanie wasn’t a very good character either. Thinking about it, Neuvic was also pretty awful.

So, this is a film that was…okay. It’s a drama film that includes some romance in it so you weren’t expecting me to give it a really good score right? If you’re into the genre, then you’ll probably like it. The characters aren’t really that great and there are no noticeable music. The forced romance can be a bit much and Marcus’ subplot wasn’t that great. Personally, you’d be better off watching Kanon. That is a drama/romance that manages to cut away most of the romance and makes the drama a bit better. Did I mention that there are demons?

Overall 2/10