by Matt Sernaker, Managing Editor
Jaden Smith (The Karate Kid) takes center stage in the new science fiction story After Earth, playing the role of Kitai Raige. Having failed his Ranger exam, Kitai is sent home to tell his parents of his failure. After some coercing, Kitai is invited to join his father, Cypher (Will Smith – Men In Black), on a trip to an off-planet facility. When a freak asteroid storm causes their ship to crash, Kitai and Cypher are faced with the reality that not only are they the only two survivors, but they are also stranded on a desolate Earth! Now Kitai must set out across a treaturous landscape to secure the key to their rescue. In addition to the perils of Earth, he must overcome his own fear and face the impending threat of an alien attack!
After Earth relies on the acting talents of both Will and Jaden Smith to keep audiences entertained, which is quite unfortunate for us as viewers. I can say that I am a big Will Smith fan, and have thoroughly enjoyed his acting skills over the years. The thing that comes to mind regarding Will in this specific movie was that every ounce of screen time was utterly phoned in. We are quickly told that his character (Cypher) is supposed to be a high ranking military leader due to his ability to overcome fear. There is a big difference between overcoming fear and not demonstrating any emotion at all. Due to events in the opening act of the film, Cypher is critically injured and he is required to stay behind while his son goes on a journey to the tail section of the ship. Having a stationary Will Smith is just boring. He truly has nothing to do, and his monotone portrayal of Cypher leaves a lot to be desired. This issue is especially prominent while he is recalling his first encounter with an “Ursa” alien and how he was able to overcome fear. This entire monologue came across as though he were reading the lines off the page for the first time. I’d also like to mention that Jaden seems to have only two facial expressions throughout the entire movie, focused and upset. While the story attempts to give the audience a chance to connect with the character as he overcomes his fears, it seems to be too little, too late.
The movie itself is predictable, poorly paced, and badly shot. Moments that should be vivid and impressive look flat on the screen. There is nothing special or interesting about the jungle setting other than being told that you are looking at a future Earth where “everything has evolved to kill humans”. Why have they SPECIFICALLY evolved to kill humans you might ask? This mystery was never answered. All we know is that after a thousand years without humans around, animals have gotten bigger and angrier. That’s about it. Also future animals have evolved to be overly CGI and badly rendered. The only creature in the entire movie that looked decent is the Ursa alien…and even that was just passable.
You might be wondering who directed this “masterpiece” of a film, and that would be our old friend, M. Night Shyamalan (The Last Airbender). Marketing did a good job to minimize the promotion of his involvement in the film, because it is sure to turn audience goers away after how bad his last series of films has been. Unfortunately, After Earth is no exception. The bigger question is how and why people are still letting this man be involved in movies? The Sixth Sense was a fantastic movie, but everything since then has been a severe let down (don’t even get me started on The Last Airbender).
It is impossible not to compare this movie to the recently released Oblivion, which was also set in Earth’s future. While this story is set in the more distant future, Oblivion gave us a compelling reason to care about the welfare of the characters, and even the overall plot of the film. After Earth is a mess and I was very happy that it only had a 100 minute running time…because I was honestly ready to be done with this story. If you want to enjoy a solid, post-apocalyptic Earth story, go find a copy of the animated movie Titan A.E. and watch that instead. After Earth unfortunately is not worth your time or money.
Rating: 
ComicsOnline gives After Earth 1.5 out of 5 movies that will not help you overcome fear of M. Night Shyamalan.
