Roman Revenge
Roman (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a construction worker, is looking forwards to the arrival of his wife and daughter home and having got his place ready is off to the airport to collect them. But on getting there he is ushered in to a side room where he receives the devastating news that they died in a mid-air plane crash. It leads to many months of pain, suffering, and depression as he tries to make sense of his world and get answers. It also leads to him trying to find Jake (Scoot McNairy), the air traffic controller who made an error which led to the two planes crashing into each other. But for Jake and his family the aftermath of that fateful night has not been easy going with him suffering bouts of depression and suicidal thoughts whilst having to change his name.
Let me start with the important fact: "Aftermath" is based on a true story, not just that of a devastating plane crash but also that of a devastated husband who in real life was seeking justice when he tracked down the air traffic controller who he blamed for the accident. That fact is important because with Arnold Schwarzenegger leading the cast it would be easy to watch "Aftermath" expecting more of a typical action movie than what it is, which is a dramatisation of a true story. And as such if you do watch it with those expectations I am going to say there is a very good chance of finding "Aftermath" slow going and boring.
That, being slowing going, is actually a big problem with "Aftermath" as whilst we get to see how both Roman and Jake's lives are turned upside down following the crash with both men dealing with depression, there is a ponderous nature to the movie. And this is where for me the casting of Schwarzenegger was a mistake because being slow makes this much more of a character study and sadly he does not have that depth to really bring out the depth of his character. Oh with age Schwarzenegger has become much more layered as an actor but he does not have that range. And so whilst Scoot McNairy does bring the emotional devastation to the character of Jake it is the focus on Roman which dominates the movie and causes it issues.
What this all boils down to is that "Aftermath" is one of those movies where the casting let it down and no matter how much I like Arnold Schwarzenegger in action movies he does not have the range to play the sort of character which this movie requires.
