MOVIE REVIEW: 'Hereafter'

Famed director Clint Eastwood tries to make a statement about death and what comes next in his latest film, "Hereafter." However, that statement is muddied by a slow-moving plot, and jumping back and forth from three completely separate stories that don't interact until the final minutes of the film.

The first plot follows George (played by Matt Damon), who somehow as a child picked up the ‘gift' of being able to communicate with the dead. Damon is a great actor, showing his range from the "Bourne Identity" movies to the dry, dark comedy "The Informant!" This storyline was easily the most interesting of the three stories, and as a viewer, you definitely wanted to see more of it. George meets a single woman, Melanie (played by Dallas Bryce Howard of "The Village, "Spider-Man 3"), and they had great chemistry. However, I really felt short-changed by how small of a role Howard wound up having here. For that matter, Damon is barely on screen here, too, as he's competing for time with Eastwood's two other live-after-death mini-stories.

A French TV journalist, Marie, has a near-death experience while surviving a tsunami. The footage of the tsunami opens the film, and it is incredibly shot and easily the best part of this entire film. However, Marie's overall storyline was flat and didn't hold my attention. Her storyline also is entirely in French, with subtitles. That didn't bother me at all, but I know that turns off other viewers.

The third plotline here follows Marcus, a young boy who has someone close to him die. Marcus struggles to get past this death. Toward the end of the film, George gives a reading to Marcus. A couple elderly women near me in the theater were weeping heavily during this scene, but I was relatively unmoved. (And I've never been embarrassed to admit when a movie scene makes me cry. I still get misty-eyed every time I see Mandy Moore die in "A Walk To Remember.")

In 2006, the movie "Babel" got nominated for an Academy Award for best picture. "Hereafter" follows the same design as "Babel," as the film jumps from storyline to storyline, before tying them together at the end. If you liked "Babel," chances are you will get into "Hereafter" more than I did. However, I would put "Babel" on a list of the five worst films nominated for best picture over the past 10 years. (And it's worth noting that "Babel" only has a 64 percent approval rating at Rottentomatoes.com, even with its Oscar nomination.)

Eastwood has made some excellent movies in recent years, from "Million Dollar Baby" to "Letters from Iwo Jima" to "Changeling" to "Gran Torino." However, I found last year's "Invictus" (also starring Matt Damon) to be disappointing, and I found the same thing here. Eastwood simply made this too somber, when a film about the hereafter should be a bit more uplifting and hopeful.

Shot on a $50 million budget, "Hereafter" earned $12 million in its first weekend. Top critics at Rottentomatoes.com gave it a solid 64 percent approval rating. However, the overall critical rating at Rottentomatoes.com was a mere 51 approval rating - in other words, barely half gave it a thumbs up. With mediocre reviews coming in, this film might struggle to break even at the box office, even with its big-name director and actor.

Despite the mediocre reviews, I still wouldn't rule this film out for a possible Oscar nomination. A critic who writes an Oscar blog on Entertainment Weekly recently placed it on his list for 10 likely movies to get a slot this year.