After.Life

Wow, has Christina Ricci had a decent movie since “Casper”? I mean, it’s hard enough trying to remember the actress’s roles (and there are a lot of them), but the fact that she seems to consistently star in films that are sure contenders for worst picture at the annual Razzie Awards just makes matters worse. The last worthy movie I recall Ricci starring in was “Monster”, yet even then the show was stolen by Charlize Theron and had it not been for her remarkable performance, that film would have most likely reeked as well.

So now we have “After.Life”, a presentation that resembles those over-produced, direct-to-video releases that suffer from the ‘domino effect’. What is the domino effect you ask? To keep it simple, it’s when one malfunction during a movie’s production causes another which eventually leads to a long string of malfunctions. For instance, with this particular motion picture, I’m guessing the first malfunction began with the script. The concept is one we’ve seen dozens of times. You know, the one where the protagonist dies, but somehow they’re not really dead and instead find themselves trapped in middle state between life and death. Nevertheless, that has little to do with the film’s downfall. The execution, one the other hand, now that could certainly be held at fault.

Typically, when the script doesn’t live up to the actors’ expectations, they appear lifeless and uninterested throughout the entire movie. In “After.Life”, however, the actors are actually convincing. Liam Neeson plays a creepy mortician who’s motive is unknown. Is he lying when he tells our main character that she’s really dead or is there something more sinister behind his reasoning in keeping her locked up in his mortuary? Christina Ricci delivers a compelling performance as well. Since most of us have likely never experienced the horror of being stuck between the realms of life and death, it’s merely impossible to grade Ricci on certain criteria. Nevertheless, her expressions of helplessness and terror are enough for us to acknowledge that we would never want to be in the position her character is in.

This brings us back to point A. Where does the film go wrong? There is nothing more irritating than a story without a revelation. We’re never sure whether the protagonist is really dead or if she’s alive. Perhaps it’s one of those stories where viewers are suppose to put their imaginations to work, but even so, that doesn’t erase our disappointment. There’s not a lot going on in “After.Life” aside from Ricci’s struggle to prove to her loved ones that she’s still alive and kicking thus when neither she nor we ever learn the truth, it makes for a pointless, unsatisfying journey that we wished we’d never taken in the first place.