Hereafter

The critical consensus

Damon’s nicely understated performance is Hereafter’s only strength, otherwise it’s just a load of sentimental hogwash.

(*) (*) (*) Eddie Harrison, The List, 18/01/2011

Slow, ponderous and as shallow as it thinks it is deep, lifted only by an impressive opening and fine work from Damon and Howard.

(*) (*) (*) William Thomas, Empire Online, 24/01/2011

It takes ages for writer Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) to braid the strands of the story together, which is unfortunate because his plotting is so schematic that even without a oujia board the audience can predict the characters' destinies.

(*) (*) (*) Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 25/01/2011

The start of each story promises so much. Yet the more often we ask "yes, and then?", the less often Morgan and Eastwood stump up a convincing answer.

(*) (*) (*) Nigel Andrews, Financial Times, 26/01/2011

The problem is not so much Eastwood's ponderous direction as Morgan's script, written, he says, shortly after the sudden death of a close friend. It is sincere, well-meaning and, I'm sorry to say, quite transparent hokum.

(*) (*) (*) (*) Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 28/01/2011

A fate only slightly preferable to death.

Chris Tookey, Daily Mail, 28/01/2011

It's one to forget for all concerned.

(*) (*) (*) (*) Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 27/01/2011

So bland it is instantly forgettable.

Paul Greenwood, Evening Times, 27/01/2011

With a screenplay by Peter Morgan (The Queen), Eastwood directing and Spielberg producing, Hereafter promises much but delivers disappointingly little.

(*) (*) (*) Alison Rowat, The Herald, 27/01/2011

I wouldn’t quite call Hereafter a near-death experience, but it’s a terribly close brush with total shambles.

(*) (*) (*) (*) Tim Robey, The Telegraph, 28/01/2011

It's astonishingly poor stuff, a work of staggering complacency, soundtracked - you'll be pleased to know - by another of Eastwood's retirement-home-friendly jazz scores.

(*) (*) (*) (*) Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 29/01/2011

Despite stand-out moments both epic and intimate, Clint’s latest is a film about death that’s likely to put many audiences to sleep.

(*) (*) (*) Ellen E Jones, Total Film, 27/01/2011

There's actually a third of a decent film in this glossy vacancy, with Matt Damon.

Jonathan Romney, The Independent on Sunday, 30/01/2011

Scripted by Peter Morgan in a manner that is marshmallow to the hard treacle toffee of his Frost/Nixon, this is a consoling, romantic, inspirational movie in the mid-1940s manner of Portrait of Jennie and A Guy Named Joe.

Philip French, The Observer, 30/01/2011