Title: After Earth
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Will Smith and Jaden Smith
What is there to say about M. Night Shyamalan’s “After Earth?” The follow up to Shyamalan’s horrendous The Last Airbender, “After Earth” takes its time with tone and mood. Starting off with a bang, but quickly devolving into something silly and middling, “After Earth” tries to reach new heights, but its lack of heart and emotion makes the film feel like it’s just going through the motions set piece after set piece.
How do you categorize a movie like “After Earth?” Is it a touching father/son story featuring a son coming into his own? Sort of. Is it a thrilling actioner that packs a visceral punch? Not really. Does it encompass what we look for in science fiction genre movies? Sure.
The story of a father named Cypher Raige (Will Smith) and his son Katai (Jaden Smith) who work together to survival harsh terrain after humanity left Earth after the world’s natural resources were depleted, works as a compelling premise on certain levels. But as the movie unfolds, it becomes a tedious slog, which feels like someone watching someone else playing a video game.
The video game analogy is apt, considering the film’s pacing. The film opens in the middle of the action and informs its viewers its broadly drawn characters. After a strangely calm crash-landing on the ruined Earth, Cypher gives Katai his mission, to recover the only surviving beacon in the tail end of the spaceship, which has broken off and is now about 62 miles away from where they are presently.
Katai is equipped with a survival kit that he has to take inventory of after he hits each checkpoint. Between checkpoints, Katai goes on smaller mini-missions as Cypher’s omnipresent voice guides him through the terrain. During each mini-mission, Katai goes through certain trials that either include evading killer animals by figuring out how to use his surroundings to his advantage. Once you hit the last level (or third act), there’s a big boss battle where you take everything you’ve learned throughout the missions to win the movie. There you have it; “After Earth” is plotted exactly like a video game.
Aside from the film’s plotting, “After Earth” suffers from its main star Jaden Smith. Let’s face it, Jaden Smith is the main lead in “After Earth” and he is not a good actor. When the film calls for him to reach emotional heights of anger, fear, or rage, Jaden Smith can’t pull it off. When the most dynamic of the pair, Will Smith, is trapped in one location throughout the entire film, that’s a problem the film can’t manage to fix. Jaden Smith does his best to reach those heights, but he’s simply not equipped to handle a mission like this.
“After Earth’s” visuals and world are the film’s greatest assets and strengths. While its creatures are obviously CGI-rendered beasts, they have a design to them that looks familiar, but at the same time alien. The film does a fine job creating 1,000 years of evolution on Earth. But unlike the video game tag, you can’t explore the strange new world. So many times as I was watching this film, I wanted to have a video game controller equipped with a 360-degree analog stick so I can look around a tree to see what this strange world has to offer. Unfortunately, we’re trapped with what M. Night Shyamalan and the film’s co-writer Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli) have to provide us as the film’s viewers.
“After Earth” is not a terrible film, but it is by no means a good one either. It rests in that middle ground of middling plotting and lackluster acting, but at the same time offers enough imaginative new worlds and ideas that will keep science fiction genre fans happy. The film has problems with conveying human emotion, which is strange to think because this film fully endorses human survival. I don’t know if it’s a question of bad directing or bad casting, and considering that “After Earth” is a Smith family production, it almost points to the latter.
Technical: B-
Story: B-
Acting: D+
Overall: C
by @Rudie_Obias
