Summary
- Aftermath is a departure from typical Schwarzenegger films, focusing on raw emotion and personal grief.
- The movie is based on a real-life tragedy, the 2002 Überlingen mid-air collision in Germany.
- Critics gave it a low score, but some audiences appreciate Schwarzenegger’s contemplative performance.
It’s been a year and a half since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s last on-screen appearance in FUBAR — not counting his vocal feature in the anthology series Secret Level. But Netflix has something for fans of the legend in February: the 2017 disaster movie Aftermath.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is regarded as the ultimate action hero. He’s a man who has, pretty much, lived many lives. He’s saved the world, battled aliens, and even traveled through time. But in Aftermath, he does something far more tender: he grieves. Based on real events, the movie trades the iconic action of Schwarzenegger’s filmography for a quiet, suffocating sorrow. There are no muscles, guns, or revenge rampage; just a raw, slow-burning story about loss, guilt, and the desperate need for closure.
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Aftermath Isn’t the Typical Schwarzenegger Movie
…And That’s a Good Thing
Picture Schwarzenegger standing alone in an airport, staring at a departure board that will never show his family’s arrival. Erase the dramatic gun and action brawl from this memory; it’s just the weight of a man whose world has collapsed. That’s Aftermath, a film that strips away most of what cinema has come to associate with Schwarzenegger and leaves fans with something raw.
In the film, he plays Roman Melnyk, a construction worker whose pregnant daughter, Olena, and his wife, Nadiya, die in a midair crash aboard flight AX 112. Schwarzenegger has played indestructible characters, but in Aftermath, he’s completely breakable. His silence exudes more emotion than probably any action scene could have done. Schwarzenegger himself acknowledged this shift in roles in an interview with Fandango, saying:
In action movies when you confront the enemy, there’s always a chance because it’s up to you and how experienced you are dealing with villains like a Predator or a Terminator. But in this case you have no control – everything that you had is suddenly gone in an instant – so that’s a real drama and a real dilemma. And to act it out is very challenging, and very appealing to me. I always like to challenge myself and do something I haven’t done before.
Aftermath Is Based on a Real-Life Tragedy
The Überlingen Mid-Air Collision of 2002
Aftermath becomes more chilling upon discovering that its story is derived from authentic events. In 2002, a horrific midair collision occurred over Überlingen, Germany — claiming the lives of 71 passengers, majorly children — after air traffic controller Peter Nielsen’s single, but fatal, mistake. Aftermath, like its name suggests, skips recreating the “boom” of the collision, preferring instead to portray the fallout of the tragedy. As with many movies based on real events, Aftermath changes some details, like new names and a different location, but the emotional core remains untouched.
Roman, the grieving father, longs not for money, but for someone to say the words “I’m sorry” to. For his mistake, the air traffic controller drowns in guilt, the weight of his error crushing him. There’s no big moment in the Aftermath where Roman chooses self-help. Instead, he lets his pain fester in silence. The world tries to, and does, move on. Those responsible for the accident begin to carry on with their lives as if nothing happened and the airline offers money as consolation — but he can’t.
Schwarzenegger’s Roman isn’t a trained assassin, but if Liam Nesson’s movies have taught audiences anything, it’s that grief makes people unpredictable. When he finally comes face-to-face with Jacob “Jake” Bonanos, the air traffic controller responsible for the crash, it’s as tragic and spur-of-the-moment as anyone would expect from two broken men.
What Is Happening With Aftermath On February 10?
It Will Be Streaming on Netflix
Netflix is set to bring Aftermath back to the spotlight when it subsumes it under its catalog come February 10. On that day, fans will get access to one of the legendary star’s most compelling and unsettling stories, one that lingers long after the credits roll. Most Schwarzenegger movies give an adrenaline rush, but Aftermath is more than likely to leave viewers with a crying towel in hand. Aftermath is a painful story about the ripple effects of tragedy and proves that sometimes, the most haunting experiences come from the world as it is.
How Did Audiences React To Aftermath?
Critics Scored It Low, and Audiences Score It Even Lower
Schwarzenegger’s star power failed to aid Aftermath’s commercial fortunes much. The movie earned just $674,000 at the box office, a number that Schwarzenegger’s regular blockbuster successes make a mockery of but which isn’t that surprising considering that it went up against The Fate of the Furious, Smurfs: The Lost Village, Going In Style, and, Kong: Skull Island.
If the critics’ 41% Rotten Tomatoes score evidences Aftermath’s divisiveness, the audiences’ 25% score proves it was largely unlikely. Arnold’s performance is never in doubt for moviegoers, but the story’s slow pacing and the writers’ decision to express grief from the eyes of only two men — neither of whom were passengers — compromised the movie’s emotional depth and made it shallow. But for the audiences who favored Schwarzenegger in his quieter contemplative phase, rather than a gun-slinging Rambo, it is an outstanding rarity.
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