Watch Aftershock For Free

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

good back-story, and good acting

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I expected a disaster film of 'epic proportions', as the media stated, but this was a family drama instead. Despite this, I enjoyed the film and thought it was absolutely brilliant. Where do I actually start with how good it was? I understand now, the film is not about the earthquake, but about the 'aftershock' of the earthquake - used figuratively. This is about a family torn apart by one of nature's most devastating disasters. (In fact, the Tangshan earthquake of 1976 was the third most devastating earthquake in history).The film beautifully captures how one's ordinary existence can turn to chaos within a matter of seconds. The acting was superb and the visual effects when the earthquake hit was some of the most impressive I've seen. It showed how brutal and deadly an earthquake really can be. From there the film was emotional and tugged at the heart strings. It was a beautiful depiction of loss, love and keeping memories alive, and a mother's grief that lasted more than three decades.If you're into disaster films, you might not appreciate the film, but if you're into drama movies, this is perfect.

There's not many films I've seen that really open the tear ducts but I was literally crying within the first ten minutes such is the power of the setup and the opening section of the film. It is based around the infamous earthquake of 1976 where 240,000 people were killed, just think of the boxing day tsunami for the human scale of this disaster.Don't expect a disaster movie with buildings blowing up and skyscrapers falling down in million dollar effects set-pieces, it's not like that. What it is, is an extremely well made ten minute segment at the start of the film in which we see wholesale destruction on a truly 'real' scale. The fact that the special effects in this film were done by 'Weta' from New Zealand, who worked on the Lord of the Rings trilogy et al, proves how remarkable they are.There is one moment when one of the after shocks hit that really got to me. A mother finds her son in the rubble and holds onto his hands, as the aftershock hits, he slips down further into the darkness as more rubble falls onto him. She turns to the sky, uncontrollable tears rolling down her face, and screams 'God, you bastard'. From that point on - that was me done, I literally cried hard. Very rare for me to do that.From then on the clean up starts and the rescue operation begins, the mother is given a choice to choose between the life of her son or daughter such is the way that a concrete slab is resting on their dying bodies.Truly emotional and it doesn't stop for a good half hour until you get a chance to wipe away the tears. From then on, then drama begins. It is an hour of drama and watching everyone grow up separately that in places is very slow but you know is building to an emotional confrontation.This is where the English title really comes into play. An aftershock is not just the rumblings of the earthquake, it is the aftershock of decisions made on the cusp of emotion. The final song over the credits is titled, 21 seconds, 32 years. So much can change in so little a time and the drama is people's inability to understand or even cope with their decisions.The girl actually survives but blames her mother for choosing her brother to be rescued so she hides her true identity to rescuers and lives 32 years before finally finding her way back. The acting is immense, amazing even on behalf of the mother and the daughter at the end.The daughter discovers her brother by chance when they both separately decide to help in the rescue of the 2008 earthquake. Their meeting is muted and not really shown on film, which is a shame, I felt that there were some scenes missing from the international cut. Yet, they hold back the emotional punch for when the daughter is finally reunited with her mother 32 years later.I've given it 9/10 because it is a truly emotional film, probably the most emotional with the subject matter that I've ever seen. The only downside is in the completeness of the story, I do feel that some scenes may have been missing.Yet, the effects at the start, the acting, the music and the emotional punch truly hold this film above many others. I'm very surprised that it was not included in the Academy's best foreign picture film. Or maybe I am, because the films that win are never quite the ones that deserve to.Stunning, I can highly recommend this, just get a box tissues ready, no matter how hard a heart you have!

What is it, where is it, how will it affect me? A story told over a whole generation following members of a family separated as a result of the Great Tangshan Earthquake of 1976, some of which are unaware of the others' survival. Despite being the youngest, arguably least wise and time-tested film on the list, you'll find me using the first person a lot more than otherwise for this piece of reasoning, as it's devilishly easy to shout at the tip of one's lungs why Aftershock is as good as the position on the list it sits in. I've quite liked the last decade in film. Granted, it has only impressed me on a few momentous occasions; nevertheless it's the way that these select films impress me that makes me admire the era. The chief suspect among which is Aftershock, a modern day commercially orientated Chinese film depicting a piece of national devastating history with a mission statement that on face value seems as watertight as a colander, as sturdy as a chocolate fireguard. If by a twist of fate the blueprint for such a film ended up in the hands on a Hollywood director, it would have been a sure-fire disaster. Nonetheless, Aftershock is one of the greatest films of all time simply because it sweeps over every possible obstacle the sheer scale of the challenge undertaken presents to those making the film with unmatched ease. It's one of the greatest films of all time, although it appears drastically out of place amongst such a crowd, because it's overwhelmingly good at what it sets out to do: made with skill, thought, potency, confidence, structure, planning and a touch of the divine. To plot the course of a divided family as its members grow over a 25 year timeframe was a bar raised impossibly high. But when finished watching Aftershock, it's simply dumbfounding! At once, simultaneously, I'd seen everything like it before, yet I'd never seen anything like it before: an epic drama laced with national heritage that displays such perfected film-making in each and every scene, from the script that can pluck each and every heart string, to the flawless execution of character age and growth, both aesthetically and behaviourally. Did I mention that Aftershock is the only film that's ever made me cry like a baby? At the end of the day it's still an epic drama with a big budget, a formulaic canvas to paint on that's been done time and time before, but Aftershock has so much more power and attention to detail within it that, by the time the climax of the film comes around and one's tear ducts have ingested plenty ecstasy enough, remembering the petty flaws of the film or how such a concept for a film doesn't fit the stereotype of 'truly great' is forgotten and the film completely encases you in what it's trying to achieve. How many films succeed with that kind of intensity, throughout the cinema halls of fame? Realistically, I could count them on one hand. On my thumb we find rookie Feng's 2010 Aftershock, every bit worthy of being named the 13th greatest film of all time.

Okay, so I bought this thinking it was a disaster film – maybe like a modern-day EARTHQUAKE with a distinctly Asian slant. The box, showing a cover image of a little girl surrounded by rubble with the tag-line 'A Turbo-Charged Blockbuster Epic…Packs An Almighty Punch!', would lead you to believe that's exactly what this movie's about. Except it isn't. The earthquake happens briefly at the beginning of the film, and the subsequent devastation is of the emotional variety, taking place in a story that spans thirty years.Yes, this is melodrama, and not a disaster film at all (the earthquake scene, while good, is short and over too quickly). I could handle that if the subsequent family drama was interesting or engaging, but it left me utterly cold and untouched throughout. It's extremely overlong, featuring characters I either disliked or openly hated, and I didn't care anything about their upset or bereavement. I found the acting to be shrill and unrealistic. The film just goes on and on until a too-obvious outcome that I could have predicted a couple of hours previously with little story to sustain or indeed justify that bloated running time.