Aftermath

Arnold Schwarzenegger gives one of the best performances of his career in this sombre, slow-burning drama that is inspired by a true story. He plays Roman, a construction foreman who is devastated when his wife and daughter are killed in a plane crash. Consumed by grief, he tracks down the man who he believes caused the accident - an air traffic controller named Jake (Scoot McNairy). As the story builds to the inevitable confrontation, the focus switches between Roman and Jake to reveal how both men are struggling to rebuild their lives. McNairy does a good job of conveying the unbearable guilt that Jake is saddled with, while Schwarzenegger delivers an impressively understated performance, portraying a broken man desperate to take back control of the situation in whatever way he can. That doesn't mean a gun-toting revenge mission, however. Importantly, Aftermath isn't the kind of action movie that Arnie fans may be expecting. Instead, director Elliott Lester (whose Nightingale saw David Oyelowo as a lonely war veteran) offers a mournful and affecting study of grief.