There are either two problems with “After Earth”, or two very good things. When dealing with Will Smith and M. Knight Shyamalan you are dealing with an unknown variable that can shine, or stink up the room. I had the odor eaters out, but found to my surprise this film was not as bad as the critics claimed, but then it wasn’t Magnolia either. It is the story of a boy and his, I’m not sure if troubled is the right word, maybe troubling, relationship with his father. It is a science fiction adaptation on a fine, coming of age short story about a father and son in the rural woods who have been in an accident, the boy, still too young for it, must venture into danger to save himself and his father. How you screw that up takes brilliance and the Shyamalan/Smith team does not disappoint in its disappointment. The father in this case is Will Smith and the son is his son, Jaden Smith, so there is no acting needed there. But the relationship seems off, strained, if not false somehow, in the film. One never gets the reason father Smith has to be so, well, harsh with his kid. There is no sense of, caring for one’s own, but a kind of drug-induced cardboard duty. One does not either get a real sense of why the boy is so, well, so much of an (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*) dealing with .everyone. There are some creepy flashbacks to a 70’s looking Afro-American kid, but it’s never really clear what that’s about until you really give up caring. It turns out the kid had to watch his sister get eaten by an alien monster and the guilt haunts him. For some reason in this time thousands of years in the future the Smith family has not figured out that a kid can have emotional scars or care either. But Smith and Shyamalan have moved the setting to several thousand years in the future, on a distant planet from Earth, which is now uninhabitable for some reason and infested with some kind of genetic mutation where “every being has evolved to eat humans”. And it only makes sense to place the story well into the future if you sense that the film story line is too weak and you need a lot of aliens and mutated animals and things that don’t even look scary and an Eagle that adopts the boy and….. You get the idea. Literary inventions to keep it interesting for single digit IQ’s. Had Shyamalan only have done his homework and caught a brilliant piece of work in “The Edge” with Anthony Hopkins and a very frightening grizzly bear to know that this whole tragedy need only have been set in Alaska, present day with an equally real grizzly bear, some real eagles, a mountain lion and glaciers; you wouldn’t needed to have killed trees for this empty, inane, typically Shyamalan dialogue. But, where various critics have dumped on Jaden, he is not that bad. Considering his age, the fact he’s never had a role before, and is carrying an entire picture pretty much by himself, he is fairly strong, impressive at times. But, not in those scenes where he’s showing intense emotion. He makes the same mistakes his father did, too much, too cute, and too actor. Father Smith is the problem. In the final analysis, his is a supporting role, just above bit part. And he fails. Badly. You do not believe will Smith, father, is at all concerned for his only son when he is watching said son being attacked by monstrous things. Instead he’s being a grouchy, disappointed, dad/actor, who seems to want off the set immediately so he can do whatever actors do while waiting around to say “Take a knee.” and other brilliantly motivational things a father says to his son. The story itself is typical M. Knight Shyamalan, but gone are the lovely video tricks he teased us with in “Signs” and “The Village”, gone is the intriguing dialogue of “Unbreakable” and that fascinating relationship between father and son, not to mention the strange and eerie relationship of man and boy in “I See Dead People”. Instead, we have the lame monster idea of “Lady in the Water” and a much better monster, but not at all as scary as the aliens that with which we are frightened in “Signs” because we don’t see them at all until the end. A lesson M. Knight should have re-learned here. What we have is simply another action/sci fi flick with a simple story line and the celebrity draw of an actor who phoned in the part and his son, who, hopefully will get better as time goes on. Jaden could be worse. Frankly there’s too much “I’m a star already” coming off him to be much more than a sci-fi metaphor let alone meteor. Two stars of five. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x4qNdSM4dA
I have not the seen the film because everyone who's opinion I respect gave it a rating pretty close to yours. I have not actually met anyone who considered even a reasonable film
I rented it at a red box and didn't think it was as bad as critics reviewed. Certainly worth the 2 dollars I invested in it if for no other reason than the decompression scene when the spaceship goes down.. Genuinely frightening....watching the ship disintegrate around Jaden Smith's character who was lucky enough to be strapped into a seat. On a side note, Jaden was in a remake of Karate Kid, so this isn't his first attempt at carrying a film.
I watched it specifically because of how bad the review were and I was not disappointed.......or should I say I was supremely disappointed in the movie but not the reviews. Jaden Smith cannot act worth a (*)(*)(*)(*). He was absolutely horrible in The Day the Earth Stood Still and he was as wooden as chopsticks in Karate Kid. Will Smith really needs to stop pushing his kid on everyone and I say this as someone who loves Will Smith movies. I will not see another movie with his kid in it. He sucks.
I didn't read your review because I wasn't sure if their were spoilers or not in them. But as a rule I pretty much figure that anything M. Night does isn't that great. Not really a fan of his to begin but especially not after The Last Airbender fiasco. p.s. I'll read your review if their's no spoilers. - - - Updated - - - The Day the Earth Stood Still wasn't that great. And the only thing I remember from Jaden's role in that film was a bratty little kid. I actually thought he did a pretty good job in Karate Kid but I guess that's a matter of opinion.
If that's what you enjoy then all the power to you. To each his own. I think that's what's wrong with the movie industry today, however. Emotions are expressed through special effects and action rather than the performance of the actors and quality storytelling. Psycho (1960) is the perfect demonstration of this. All they had was a mannequin and a lightbulb on a string - but that basement scene has stuck with me over time - it's one of my favorite moments in cinema. Exploding ships and James Bond style inaccuracy just serves to remove me from the film. It destroys my suspension of disbelief. Norman Bates didn't need a dozen AK mags, he used his knife 3 times - twice killing off characters central to the story. The third time comes around and you legitimately have no idea what's going to happen. That's suspense.
M.Night Shyamalan has made 1 good movie, and that was Devil. All of his other crap is just crap. He gets off selling tickets by showing kick ass previews, which in turn if you have seen the previews you have literally seen the only good parts of the movie. The Happening wasnt too bad, but then again i think the only thing that somewhat saved that movie from being totally terrible was Mark Wahlberg. His movies are ridiculous and usually the ending is down right stupid, once again with Devil actually being an awesome movie. I still havent seen After Earth because i heard it sucked, and this was my fear from the beginning. I truly cant believe Will Smith put himself and his son in Shyamalans hands, if the Cleveland Browns were a producer they would be M.Knight Shyamalan.
