Clint's back in form - a review of Hereafter

Hereafter is not Clint's regular subject material. Not to say he has specific subject matter, but in general he has amount of subject matter he likes to explore. This feels like Clint Eastwood discussing spirituality. Not everyone is going to agree with his opinions, but he does a fairly good job at not forcing an opinion on you.
For those unaware, the plot is A french woman has an experience that shifts her entire life. A pair of young, british boys have their lives changed forever by a moment of pure, random, Chaos. And lastly Matt Damon plays an American who is a legitimate psychic. The three stories remain separate. Each exploring what a connection to death means to them. As different as their stories are, they reflect each other as well. Each has a supporting character in their story that represents a darker element of their life, a reason that they might look into this story of spirituality. And in each of these suporting characters we get a strong, well acted performance. In addition, we get very strong characterization from our leads, and whether this is from good acting, or great directing, it works really well. Now if I need to explain that this is all directed by a capable, proven, and expert director then I am sad and shall cry forever. But yes, Clint is superb here. The music is solid, again Clint is in fine form. The plot, the writing is all well done, with Matt Damon's scenes connecting to his psychicness are what really sell this movie. Those scenes each provide the best scripting in the entire show. Now where the movie falters is some of it's effect. The connecting with the otherside stuff and the effects in general look poor. You will often go, hey that looks fake. But the emotions, the reactions? Those all look real, some of the best I've seen in response to CGI.

Overall? I'm a big fan of this movie. I liked it, and I thought it was strong piece of film making. Overall, I give it a B. It isn't perfect, it isn't the best thing to come out this year, but it is certainly top ten. Give it a try.