After: Para Siempre

No pun intended - I actually thought the one before this was going to be the last one. But they had another one in them. Although technically speaking only one of the two main stars/characters is really present in this - physically that is. Of course the presence of the other main character is felt.

While there are still many things that are at least borderline cringe (and Mimi tries her best to fill in the role of female anchor point as good as she can, I reckon being cast because of the show she had done and became famous for) ... there are also moments where you think: oh they actually "act" like adults ... ok not too many of those moments, but still way more "level headed thinking" than in the previous entries.

Since I have not read any novels, I have no idea how this fairs with anything this is based on ... just saying. It is not as "sizzling" (I assume) as 50 shades of Grey ... but they do get it on - even if not ... "really" ... no pun intended.

I am torn between a lot of things - we have quite the despicable character who seems to be self destructive ... but also tries to do amends ... should we give him a break? Unforgivable? You decide that. The father has a few good scenes ... almost philosophical ... who'd have thought .. definitely a step up from the previous entries ... even without (or because?) one of the stars is seemingly absent ...

So, basically for 1h,25 min out of 1h30 min, they are showing only what Hardin is doing, the struggles of one narcissist when he can't get enough supply haha They were trying to make it seem like he is struggling cos he loves Tessa so much but it was no convincing to me. Tessa told him she moved on, but as soon as she saw him, she is head over heels obsessed with him on the same second. Tessa on the other hand shows only at the end of the film, literally the last few min, just so they can add some suggestive not even very good s*x scene in there. And guess what - they will get married, but they don't show any of it, they just skip through time and show them years later when they have kids? Makes no sense.. so the whole film was so slow paced (as in the whole 5 films) and suddenly they skip through the most important part of their life story - the marriage, the emotions, the pregnancies.. they show nothing. So if you want to watch Hardin being a drunkard and having s*x with other women for hour and a half, be my guest, but if you expect to see their development as a couple, this won't happen. Such a lame film, seriously. And I don't get how they include Tessa only at the end of this film, so the whole film was about literally nothing. I think this one must be the worst of them all and the ending is just so rushed and not satisfying. It's just really, really bad and I do no recommend. Not to mention it gives a bad example of toxic relationships and makes women believe that the bad guy will turn good all of a sudden, just cos she is the one, she is the chosen hahah no unrealistic. Everyone who has been in a relationship with a narcissist know they never change and marrying the guy or giving birth to his kids won't change him. I hate this film so much actually.

I wanted an ending to this wonderful story, it's been a journey for me! There is a rushed version of it, ten minutes or so, with two epic songs of Amber Run and James Bay! That's the whole movie.

The rest is a Portuguese vacation for the movie makers and don't get me wrong, it's beautifully filmed. The problem is that it has no story and very little to do with After. The feeling of the books is completely lost to a filler that looks like youtube lounge chillout background.

I have many harsh words for the executive team, but in the end, what truly matters is that they learn from this mistake, so no other beloved stories get butchered like this.

The first thing to remember is that Hollywood will change stories. It's an inevitable part of the process and is always a divisive move for fans of the original work. If you've read the stories, you may feel cheated - Tessa features so little in the story of what was her life. It's so unlike the works that came before it, as though the producers knew that Hero was the star to rely on for one more round. Their golden ticket. But, it's important to remember that it's deviated from the original plot since it's inception. It's all part of the transition from novel to screen and until this point, it's still managed to pull in our heart strings and give us enough of the characters to keep us on the edge of our seats.

I loved that 'After Everything' felt like an homage to 'Before', giving an insight into who Hardin was and how he became the villain we grew to love. It's his redemption story and Hero played the character he's worked hard to build, fantastically. But ultimately, the final part of the story was too rushed and I couldn't help but feel like the soundtrack overplayed it's hand throughout. It took away from what could have been an important and fitting ending to the story.

Whether you're a fan of the books or not, as a romantic movie, it failed to deliver that satisfying closer that we all hope for. It forgot what it was trying to achieve in the previous films, which is what took away from what could have been a real happy ever after.

As a longtime fan following this franchise, it was obvious some stuff went down outside of filming. I guess the repercussions of that meant losing Josephine as our female lead. What's After without the source of the story? Don't get me wrong, Hero was great. But it didn't feel the same. He was incomplete. This movie served no purpose other than to promote Hero in a stand alone film. It was watchable but if you're watching it as part of the series, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Completely and utterly offensive to see Josephine only have about 15 minutes of legitimate screen time. And I'm not talking about flashbacks. What even was that? I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm glad the After era is over.