‘Here’ Collapses Under Weight of Its Gimmick

Will CGI wonders never cease?

Last year, Harrison Ford looked like his old self in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” The de-aging effects weren’t perfect, but it still felt like Doc Brown’s DeLorean had taken us back to 1981.

Magical.

“Here,” based on the graphic novel by Richard McGuire, takes that visual approach to a new level. However, much like “Dial of Destiny” the film supporting it can’t measure up.

Director Robert Zemeckis reunites “Forrest Gump” alums Tom Hanks and Robin Wright for a cloying drama set in one expansive room.

Really. That’s both a spoiler alert and a warning.

“Here” literally spans millions of years. The story opens with dinosaurs rumbling over a green expanse of land. We fast forward through the centuries until we end up watching that very space taken up by 20th-century Americans.

Yes, Zemeckis and co. are needlessly flexing the production’s CGI budget here for no discernible effect.

We land on several overlapping stories, including the saga of Richard and Margaret (Hanks and Wright). We watch Richard, or Ricky as a boy, grows up before our eyes. The action plays out in the family’s living room, where a long, cozy sofa dominates the room.

Get used to that setup. It’s the only one you’ll see.

F/X gurus de-age both Hanks and Wright to convincingly show them as a young couple, a budding family and, years later, a duo struggling in their empty nest years. It helps that the static shot means few close-up shots.

The milestones come at us fast – life, death, marriage, job woes, health complications and more. It’s corny and lacking nuance, and it’s all shown in that very same living room.

Our leads are more than game, and their combined star power intermittently keeps our attention.

The single setting wears out its welcome early. The claustrophobia is palpable, and there’s still plenty of story left to be told.

Paul Bettany hams it up as Richard’s father, playing a character straight out of Central Casting.

Several other narratives vie for our attention, offering little in the way of humor or insight. An amorous couple dances across the screen while marveling at his furniture inventions. It’s breezy, no doubt, but why do we care again?

Another tale follows a black nuclear family just before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Yes, we get to watch masked-up characters to remind us of that awful period.

This clan gets precious little screen time, save for a scene where the parents instruct their teen son how to respond if a cop pulls him over. Did Black Lives Matter get a screenwriting credit?

Another story, discarded swiftly, involves an airplane owner and his worried spouse. Did we mention appearances by Native Americans and Benjamin Franklin?

“Here” didn’t need its signature gimmick. The story could have followed the main couple while allowing them the space to visually flesh out their evolution. Instead, we feel as cramped as Margaret, who longs to move out of a home she spends far too long in.

Robin Wright joins TODAY to discuss her upcoming film “Here,” and shares details about working with former “Forrest Gump” co-star Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis 30 years later.

“It’s like getting the band back together,” she says. pic.twitter.com/eOd8UTYgUu

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) October 28, 2024

Zemeckis, who co-wrote “Here” with Eric Roth, finds something of consequence in Richard and Margaret’s later years. They seem like the perfect couple, but something gnaws as Margaret that many women of her era can appreciate.

It’s too little, too late.

Zemeckis remains fascinated by Hollywood’s expanding tool kit. He delighted us with “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” broke new ground with “The Polar Express” and left us scratching our heads while watching “Death Becomes Her.”

He’s so enamored with the de-aging possibilities that he embraced a graphic novel’s gimmick without realizing the film medium made no sense for it.

HiT or Miss: “Here” dazzles us with its de-aging effects, but the main storylines are dramatically inert.

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