After We Collided is the sequel to After, and it does not improve on the original. If the first film was a slow-motion car crash, this one is the crash itself. It is a film about two people who cannot stop circling each other, and it refuses to let them move forward.
The movie follows Hardin Scott and Tessa Young as they try to rebuild their relationship after a breakup that tore them apart. The story is built on lies, jealousy, and a fear of commitment that never gets resolved. It is also built on a premise that the filmmakers seem to have forgotten: these two people are toxic for each other, and the film spends two hours pretending otherwise.
Trailer, via Voltage Pictures.
Hardin’s Problem
Hardin Scott is the problem in this movie, and he is played with a sneer that never lifts. He is supposed to be a tortured artist, a man who is too sensitive for the world, but the film never bothers to make his sensitivity feel real. Instead, it treats him as a prize to be fought over, a possession rather than a person.
Tessa Young is the other half of the equation, and she is better served by the script. She is desperate to hold onto Hardin, even as he pushes her away, and the film captures that desperation with a kind of sad-eyed earnestness that is the closest thing to acting here. But even her performance cannot save a story that keeps asking her to forgive the same behavior again and again.
Lies, Jealousy, and a Breakup That Never Ends
The plot is simple. Hardin and Tessa split up. They get back together. Hardin cheats. Tessa finds out. They fight. They make up. Then the cycle starts over. The film never moves past this loop. It just repeats it with different locations and slightly different stakes.
There is a subplot involving Hardin’s father, but it is barely developed. There is a side character named Amanda who shows up to complicate things, but she is a cipher. The film is not interested in any of this. It is only interested in the two leads, and even there it fails to dig deeper than surface tension.
A Romance Without Romance
The film wants to sell itself as a romance, but it never earns that label. There is no tenderness, no warmth, no sense that these two people actually like each other. There is only need, and need is not love. The scenes between Hardin and Tessa are meant to be electric, but they play as forced, and the chemistry that the first film hinted at has been replaced by a mutual manipulation that feels exhausting to watch.
The film also tries to add a sexual edge, with scenes of Hardin and Tessa being intimate in ways that are meant to be shocking. But the shock value wears off fast, because the film never takes the time to make these characters feel like actual people. They are just bodies on screen, performing a script that tells them to act jealous or angry or hurt.
The Sequel That Forgets Its Own Story
One of the strangest things about After We Collided is that it seems to have forgotten why it exists. The first film had a clear arc, a beginning, a middle, and an end. This one has none of that. It opens with a flashback, then jumps forward, then loops back, and the timeline is so loose that it stops making sense halfway through.
The film also introduces a new character named Amanda, who is meant to be a threat to Hardin and Tessa’s relationship. But Amanda is given almost nothing to say, and her scenes feel like filler. She exists to create conflict, but the conflict is never resolved, and she disappears from the story as quickly as she appeared.
The Music Problem
The music is a constant presence in After We Collided, and it is mostly forgettable. The songs are generic pop ballads that exist to fill space between dialogue. There is no standout track, no moment where the music and the scene come together to make something greater than the sum of its parts. It is just background noise.
The sound design is similarly flat. There is no sense of place, no feeling of being in a real world. The film is shot on sets that look cheap, and the lighting is often too bright, flattening everything it touches. The cinematography tries for a dreamlike quality, but it only succeeds in making the whole thing look amateur.
A Film That Refuses to End
The ending of After We Collided is a disaster. It tries to wrap up the story with a bow, but the bow is loose, and the ribbon falls off. The film ends on a note of uncertainty, with Hardin and Tessa left to wonder what comes next. But the wonder is hollow, because the film has spent two hours telling us that nothing good can come from this pairing.
There is also a twist involving Hardin’s father, but it is delivered so badly that it feels like a throwaway. The film does not care enough to make it land. It is just another thing to pile onto the pile of unresolved plot threads.
The Verdict
After We Collided is a failure on almost every level. It is poorly written, poorly directed, poorly acted, and poorly edited. It is a film that knows exactly what it wants to be—a glossy, emotional teen drama—and it fails to deliver even that.
The film’s defenders might argue that it is escapist fun, but escapism requires a destination. This film offers only a loop. It is a movie that asks you to sit through two hours of misery and then pretend it was cathartic.
Here is how the film’s elements rank, from worst to least worst:
- The writing, which is thin, repetitive, and never rises above the level of a bad romance novel.
- The direction, which is unimaginative and content to let the actors do the heavy lifting.
- The acting, which is competent in patches but hampered by a script that gives the actors nothing to work with.
- The editing, which is choppy and disorienting, cutting between flashbacks and present-day scenes without warning.
What Worked
There is one thing that After We Collided does well, and it is worth mentioning because it is rare. The film knows how to stage a breakup scene. When Hardin and Tessa finally fight, the tension is real, and the performances crack under the strain. It is the only moment in the film where the actors are allowed to breathe, and it is a reminder of what the film could have been if it had trusted its own material.
But that moment is gone as soon as it arrives. The film picks up the pieces and starts the cycle over, and the energy dissipates.
A Score That Matches the Verdict
After We Collided is a mess. It is a sequel that should have been a prequel, a film that should have been a single feature. It is a film that earns a 1.4 out of 10, and it gets exactly that.
The film is available on digital platforms, and it should be avoided. It is a waste of time, a waste of talent, and a waste of the franchise it represents. If you loved the first After, this will not ease that pain. It will deepen it.
There is no saving grace here, no single element that redeems the whole. The film is a failure from start to finish, and it should be left behind.
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