After Earth

This film is not recommended. Father doesn't always know best, the latest result being After Earth, a vanity project that Will Smith has concocted for his son, Jaden. This wobbly sci-fi tale of survival will certainly test both Mr. and Mr. Smith's star power. Director M. Night Shyamalan, the man who continually keeps falling from grace, one film after the next, is still tumbling further from his talented beginnings, although here the director crashes and burns. This is not to say that After Earth is hopelessly clichéd, it's just hopeless. Shymalan's well- made film has some striking imagery, mostly of panoramic vistas, but his ill-conceived screenplay (co-written with Gary Whitta) keeps this exercise in filmmaking rather earthbound. Adding to that, his main star and one of the film's producers, Papa Smith, pushes nepotism to its limits with this unoriginal dreck. (He is also given story credit for this silliness.) It's not just that this film has no Will power, it just has too much of it, both on screen and off. Will Smith plays the fearless Cypher Raige, a no-nonsense military commando sent on a mission with his newt of a son, Kitai, played by Jaden Smith. Cypher is disappointed with his son's lack of achievement as a cadet and their relationship is a bit strained, just like the acting. The Smiths obviously look the part and act the part with the same stilted delivery. Like father, like son. Unfortunately (for us), they crash land on the apocalyptic Planet Earth. Cypher is injured with two broken legs, but pain is not an option. However a better script would have helped matters. Kitai must now go into rescue mode, wearing his amazing technicolor space suit, fighting beasts and creatures along the way to becoming a man. On his journey of self-awareness, Kitai contends with imminent peril: giant baboons, poisonous leeches, carnivorous tigers, and such. He needs to deal with the fluctuating below-freezing temperatures and an active volcano too. Life is hard. Kitai even battles a monster called the Ursa, a predator that hunts by sensing fear. (If the creature could instead sense the smorgasbord of bad acting on its plate, the Ursa would never go hungry again.) The elder Smith underacts and speaks in annoying solemn platitudes while the younger Smith overacts in a squeaky nasal voice that only a teenager can tolerate. The art direction is mind-numbing. The futuristic sets are bargain basement knockoffs of Disney World's Tomorrowland, circa 1960...very unimaginative with an overabundance of Rubbermaid-influenced interiors and enough flowing linen sheets to make one think that Bed, Bath, and Beyond had given the filmmakers a cut-rate deal for some product endorsements. All of the special effects are barely adequate and not the least bit compelling. After Earth has a strange lethargic listlessness throughout its short length. The film never builds any real tension or suspense. It's just so dull and unrelenting in its stupidity. After Earth is the type of film that gives the sci-fi genre a bad name. Shyamalan and the Smiths might want to use other aliases after creating this debacle. Let's hope they refine their own survival skills when making another film. After Earth is strictly Ursa Minor. So dear moviegoers, heed the film's tag-line: "Danger is real, Fear is a choice". You have been sufficiently warned about the real dangers in viewing After Earth...Fear not, it's still in your control. GRADE: C-

What is going on with M. Night Shyamalan lately? I used to like him in earlier films like Unbreakable and Signs, but he hasn't made the critics and audiences gifted as it would probably if his directing career is in serious jeopardy. One of the biggest and toughest question is that simple: Why is M. Night Shyamalan directing in a new post-apocalyptic adventure starring Will and Jaden Smith? Did he ever asked to direct After Earth or did Sony wanted to choose any director that Smith had previously worked for instead of Shyamalan? For those who don't know, this is the first lowest-rated movie for Will Smith since 1999's disappointing mess "Wild Wild West," one for Jaden since "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and another bomb for Shyamalan.

After Earth feels like a re-cut of "Battlefield Earth" (Ya know, the Travolta movie we don't even care anymore) and sometimes half-"I Am Legend" and half-"Hunger Games." But to me, maybe it's the whole Scientology thing that starts to ruin the whole story.

The story is ridiculous, poorly acted (Smith sounded like James Earl Jones), mediocre sci-fi elements. How can this movie be much worse? I wished the late Roger Ebert was here giving a harsh review on "After Earth." Bottom Line: It's not going to be a big summer success, but it's another letdown for fans of Will Smith. I'll just pass on the movie instead of renting it on DVD.

** 1/2 out of 5 stars

I must have missed the 'everyone say crap about this film' meeting, After Earth is quite simply NOT as bad as the majority of reviewers are implying?! I'm not biased, I don't worship any of the actors but I do know my films and can appreciate them even when they're not what I anticipated!

I sat and read about 15 reviews before deciding I wanted to go and see this film anyway, and happy I did. I'm a sci-fi fan so when films include the sounds of a spaceships engines... in umm... space, well that annoys me. But I could forgive After Earth for this and it's other negatives because it's not a hardcore sci-fi, even if it somewhat tried to be in places.

Will Smith is very monotone throughout, correct. Jaden Smith is probably a few years away from this role working fully for him, correct. There are some question marks over the uncomplicated and slightly predictable plot and cheap looking set design in places, correct. But it was good escapism fun for an hour and a half and worth seeing on the big screen.

I won't deny, there could have been improvements and big alterations in many places to the point that this could have been an 8/10 from me, but it works on the level it chose to be at. Considering Will Smith had near full control of this project - writing the script, coaching his son's performance, personally hiring M Night Shyamalan (but only for basic directing) - this film is good for what it is.

Had it come before Star Trek, Oblivion and Cloud Atlas this year and if M Night Shyamalan didn't have a bad rep then I think this film would be at the 6.5/10 rating that I think it deserves.

After Earth (2013)

* (out of 4)

M. Night Shyamalan's big-budget vanity project for father and son team Will and Jaden Smith turns out to be much worse than the trailer. In the film, the father and son crash land on the planet Earth a thousand years after the people were forced to leave it. With daddy's legs broke, the young kid must go out into the scary landscape to retrieve an item that will allow them to make contact with their own world. AFTER EARTH is without question one of the worst sci-fi summer blockbusters ever made. Part of the blame can go towards the director but his handful of haters can't put everything on him. The incredibly bad screenplay also deserves a lot of the blame but so do the Smith boys. I seem to say this after each of his films but it's clear young Jaden has yet to take an acting class and just keeps getting passes because of his dad. I'm sorry but he's just not got a talented bone in his body and he certainly can't show any type of emotion, which is something the story here called for. The fact that he can't act to save his life really kills every emotion that the film goes for and it turns these scenes into something rather laughable. Mr. Will Smith doesn't come in any better. Although I liked his more quiet, laid back style, it just doesn't work considering the screenplay has him sitting around simply talking to the kid. Where Will deserves a lot of blame is getting his son these type of roles, which he can't do and which will eventually make him one of the most laughable actors in Hollywood history. The first couple films he did were just embarrassing but no one has given him the word that he can't act and apparently no one has seen fit to get him into classes so it's really just getting worse. Still, Shyamalan didn't improve the film any as there's really no drama, no suspense and no tension. It also doesn't help that the screenplay is full of cliché moments as well as being 100% predictable. I will say that some of the visuals were good but certainly not good enough to sit through this thing.

This film is about a space craft that crash-landed on a dangerous planet called Earth, and the only two survivors have to struggle to stay alive.

The first few minutes of "After Earth" already look not so promising, and it only goes downhill from there. Acting is consistently bad by Jaden Smith, he is so annoying as a teenager who constantly freaks out. Will Smith is supposed to be a fearless commander, but his supposed bravery makes him so wooden as if he was a wax statue.

The plot is simply ridiculous. There are so many plot holes that are so obvious, that they simply should not happen. For example, if Will Smith is such a great commander, how could he not command people to wear seat belts when they were about to hit a meteor shower. And the masks are not even connected to anything!? The whole story, from the macro level to the micro level is very poorly written and makes no sense. The supposed emotional climax is so weak, that I wonder if that scene is really supposed to make me feel proud of what is shown on the screen.

"After Earth" is a terrible mess. This time, believe the critics.