‘Hereafter’ puts all of the best moments in the trailer, leaving the movie dead

By the looks of the trailer for “Hereafter,” Clint Eastwood has done it again. He’s secured another Oscar nomination bonanza with a movie plot so intriguing and exciting that captivates viewers with exhilarating emotional roller-coasters that will change the viewers’ lives. Unfortunately, that only goes for the trailer.

“Hereafter” tells the three unrelated stories of people affected by death and without any connection until the last 30 minutes of the film where the stories cross paths—a far cry from the trailer that shows the three stories blending well together.  They include Marcus Marshal (Frankie McLaren), who lost his twin in a car accident; Marie Lelay (Cécile de France), who experiences a near death experience in the Thailand tsunami, and George Lonegan (Matt Damon), who has the ability to talk to the dead.

The most exciting moments of the film are in the trailer:  the tsunami, the car accident killing Jason (Marcus’ twin brother), and the bombing of the London metro. The trailer doesn’t include the extremely long conversations between the characters; instead, the trailer includes all of the most dramatic and captivating conversations The dramatic moments come from the great crying scenes from every character in the movie, expected since it revolves around death.

The only aspect in which the movie goes further than the trailer is in the development of the characters. The viewers are able to fully identify themselves with the characters in the movie, as if they were a part of their lives. But the transition from story to story is extremely abrupt, which prevents the film from having a golden moment where tears should roll off the audience’s cheeks. Although the development of characters was further in the movie, a more complete development would have made a moment possible. There were many scenes where Eastwood could have extended the “sad parts” in the movie in order to create an climatic scene of the angels singing (no death-pun intended), such as the moment of Jason’s death. He did it before in the 2004 Oscar winner “Million Dollar Baby.” If Eastwood were able to repeat this moment, it would be something the movie was better in.

In order to save two hours of your life, watch the two minute trailer. It will give you the action, the message, and the finest acting from the movie. However, you will miss the extremely long conversations. Oh, no.

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