Thiry years after collaborating on the Academy Award-winning movie Forrest Gump, Robert Zemeckis teams up with Tom Hanks and Robin Wright for the film Here. Zemeckis teamed up with Eric Roth (also from Forrest Gump) to adapt Richard McGuire’s graphic novel of the same name. Here had its World Premiere at the 2024 AFI Film Festival.
Here Movie Review
Here follows a generational story about families and the special place they inhabit, sharing in love, laughter, loss, and life. From the moment the film begins, Zemeckis attempts to paint a picture of a house and its evolution from its ancestry to its construction, as well as how many memories and families have resided inside through the years. As he brushes with each stroke, things connect but don’t always land.
The definition of “Here” is in or at this place. In this film, “Here” was a house, a place of stagnant life and even generational trauma. Zemeckis and Roth do a relatively good job of building the story centered around Al and Rose’s family. Al was a military man, while Rose was your stay-at-home wife who raised the kids. As their oldest, Ricky grew up, he wanted to be an artist, and he met Margaret, who wanted to be a lawyer but ended up getting pregnant, and their dreams were halted and left them “Here.”
I understand that if you build this entire film around just this family, you have quite a simple premise and a predictable movie. However, Zemeckis and Roth attempt to do too much to drive home their point. Regardless of how fancy Zemeckis attempted to utilize these picture boxes within each sequence, it becomes quite redundant and predictable. I’ll admit, the picture boxes were quite a unique touch, and as you see him use them more in the film’s back half, they worked more in his favor.
When Tom Hanks and Robin Wright are at the forefront of your film, you would expect the performances to at least carry the weight of an underwhelming script. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. Hanks almost played a Saturday Night Live version of himself. The script didn’t do his character justice, but seeing Hanks deliver some of these lines was quite painful. In the third act, Wright’s performance picked up as Margaret came into her own. This was the only time I felt like Zemeckis and Roth got any of the writing of these characters right.
Paul Bettany shines in the role of Al, a war veteran trying to make a mark on life post-war. However, the economy and pressure to succeed continue to pull him down. Bettany plays the role of the grumpy old man perfectly. His was one of the lone bright spots of the entire film.
I didn’t out and out hate the movie because I can appreciate some of the swings Zemeckis took. His non-linear story-telling was well done, the approach with the boxes was fantastic, and I didn’t hate the de-aging as he made it work with the characters. He just ultimately failed to connect emotionally, and as a result, the film doesn’t deliver that payoff I am sure he was looking for.
Is Here Worth Watching?
From a critical standpoint, Robert Zemeckis’ Here fails to recapture the magic he created with Hanks and Wright in Forrest Gump as an interesting premise fails flat in delivery. From a general audience standpoint, I could see them love the film. It’s Tom Hanks, a simplistic movie about family, and it has a palatable run time, all the makings of a perfect movie for his crowd. Either way, I was HERE, and after seeing the film, I didn’t want to be anymore.
Here hits theaters on November 1.
