AFTER (2019)

AFTER began as an e-book on Wattpad.com. It's not something I'd normally read, but I figured "Why not? It's online, it's free, it's less than 100 one-page chapters long and it serves as research for the movie." After the first 20 chapters or so, I wanted it to be over already. Since it was a form of One Direction fan fiction, all 5 members' names were used for different characters (including the co-protagonist), but 3 of them didn't really add anything to the story. Also, they felt interchangeable (hey, just like real life!) due to their underdeveloped personalities. The story was then edited and published as a (physical) book in which the characters no longer had the 1D names. Now, it's a movie. I can't compare it to the book since I didn't read it, but I'd say it's a good adaptation of the e-book. A lot of events were moved to happen before or [ahem] after. Some of them were even placed in the same scene with a different event. They all make more narrative sense now. In theory, replacing lines with montages is a bad idea, but now it makes the story move at a better pace, because of: A) the winning combination of Jenny Gage's directing, Justin Burnett's music score and the chemistry between Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin; and B) the removal of repetitive dialogues and situations and of unnecessary characters. HARDIN SCOTT/HARRY STYLES has gone from verbally abusive (author Anna Todd specifies the loud voice tone he constantly uses) to a jerk who never really crosses any line and who could be redeemed. That being said, it's still an unoriginal plot with an anti-climactic ending. I hope the sequel explores HARDIN's past (which explains why he is the way he is). That was the saving grace of the e-book, and it could've given this very safe movie a little edge. It took me a couple of minutes to recognize Selma Blair. Did that happen to you too?

5/10
-------------------------------------
You can read comments of other movies in my blog.