There are some early clues that "Aftermath" is going to be a mediocre B-flick. First of all, it features B-movie diva and frequent Razzie nominee Sean Young. Secondly the film starts out with lots and lots of busy work while taking what seem like forever to develop any semblance of a story. The rest of the cast of has beens or never wases makes itself known as the film wears on delivering shamefully hickory performances. In one scene where Young is viewed through a telescopic gun sight the film was flopped as her ear bud is in the wrong ear, her coat buttons the wrong way, and the letters on the news telecam behind her are backward. In another, an attache case containing a bomb is inspected for bombs on an X-ray revealing something which looks just like a bomb...wires, black boxes, etc. but passes the check. Need I say more. (C-)
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ebertjr19 November 2004This movie has a very interesting storyline but faces the challenge of being a cheaply made action movie. A movie like this doesn't get a fair shake because the production value is low. This is true even though we've had years of big-budget crap with unbelievably high production value and no story and no soul. People should be DEMANDING action movies with better story lines, which is what Aftermath offers.
Contrast this movie to the "indie" movies that often have less story and less production value, and you'll see it's actually a pretty well crafted movie. Still, compared to movies like that, you would have never seen this go wide in theaters. I'm not sure what came first, the public's unwillingness to see watch low-budget action movies or Hollywood's unwillingness to market them. Because they seem perfectly willing to push indie garbage like "The Good Girl" and the public seems willing to accept it.
I'm not saying this movie is the greatest movie of all time. But it does provide good entertainment and is well worth the investment of time when it comes on cable. It plays a bit like a long episode of the X-Files, and even has William "Cigarette Smoking Man" Davis from the X-Files in it. -
alvink13 April 2004this movie for me contains one really great line.
when ms. young says, 'when i joined the bureau, things were either black or white', and her companion says, 'things are the same as they always were, you're just seeing them differently, and this is a good thing'. now that's a nice line.
there are other nice moments, but overall, this is not a good movie. the situations feel contrived, the camera work failed to call my attention, and i am sure that they were one continuity assistent shy of a full crew.
ms. young's smile is truly interesting, but that's not enough to carry a whole movie.
3 of 10, only for the occasional snippet of interesting dialogue. -
michaelRokeefe20 December 2003An FBI agent(Sean Young)is assigned to protect a government witness who was involved in a bombing that killed her partner. Some action, weak story and lousy acting make for a busy mess. Also in the cast are: Chip Chuipka, Tim Post and Steve Adams. Young is not very believable, but at times nice to look at.
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ocepps6 April 2005Yes, the film is low budget but the story line is interesting. The makers were also fortunate to have been able to cast Sean Young as the star. Her beauty sometimes clouds the fact that she's a very good actress, and has an arresting presence on the screen. She really brings this movie to life.
The basic theme of the movie gives viewers a context they can relate to. At the same time, the plot is not just something recycled from the headlines. There are questions that keep your interest up.
While there were a few technical glitches that a larger budget would have caught, they didn't bother me. There were enough plot twists and turns to keep my interest.
In sum, Aftermath is a decent film and worth watching. -
grafxman10 July 2004The always gorgeous Sean Young plays an FBI agent in this cerebral thriller. I thought I would have a little difficulty accepting her as an FBI agent but I didn't.
This excellent and unusual thriller is very different from most of them. There are no car chases, fist fights, shoot outs etc. Well OK, towards the end there are a few.
This is a tension filled mystery is about catching a murderous and very illusive bomber. It also stars the inherently evil William B. Davis as her boss. He played the "Lung Cancer" guy in the X-Files.
There is one absolutely horrible goof near the end of the film. In one scene Sean young is holding her automatic pistol on a guy and the slide is locked back as if the gun has just fired its last shot!! It was OK in the next scene but GOOD GRIEF, that was totally ridiculous.
Anyway, I gave it the nine I felt it deserved. -
Brian-Albin7 November 2004Wow was this a stupid movie.
These people need to learn what a pistol slide is for. To avoid spoiling too many surprises I will say: a character accidentally shoots himself, someone else picks up the pistol, then has to chamber a round. It is a self loading pistol! It would have loaded a cartridge when the person was killed. Then one character covers another with the slide to the rear - which is as useful as an unloaded gun, then a few seconds later the slide is home without us hearing it slam home. This was not a noisy scene, we would have heard it. Where was the continuity boss on this picture? With less certainty I will add, It looked like Agent Anderson kicked the car fender with a cushion sole, then I could hear her running through the tunnel on hard soled shoes.
When escorting Harper into the courthouse, a shot was fired, so instead of saying "Get him inside" special agent Anderson said "Get him down". So there they are, pinned down under fire - a few feet from the door, until one of the agents is shot, then it is okay to get everybody inside!
Agent Anderson's partner is my hero. He shows up with a bloody bullet hole in his shirt front and carries on with business as usual. When Rachel asks if he is hurt, his response is basically "It is only a bullet through my chest, don't worry about it, I don't."
We were clearly shown the sniper on the balcony as Agent Anderson looked up at him, then later in the show a surveillance camera expert finds him on tape and brings him to the attention of Agent Anderson! Her appropriate line at that point is: "Oh yeah, I saw him at the time of the shooting but I did not like to overplay my role as the hero in this picture."
And by the way, Who attempts sniper work with that little pea shooter that moron was using anyway?
I did not see if there were any errors in the last quarter hour of the picture as I got bored and turned off the television.