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| This poster's almost as bad as the movie. |
One and a Half Stars out of Four
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Zoe Kravitz, Sophie Okenedo
PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and some disturbing images.
Verdict: While better than much of Shyamalan's more recent works and boasting some truly spectacular visuals and even the occasional exciting moment, this Smith family sci-fi vehicle is disastrously crippled by its lack of interest in its characters, ham handed and cringe-worthy dialogue written like sermons, a video game concept and an uncharacteristically bland Will Smith.
You may enjoy AFTER EARTH if you enjoyed: OBLIVION, SILENT RUNNING, THE LAST AIRBENDER, I AM LEGEND
I've made no secret about my pre-release disdain for this film, so feel free to take that into consideration in regards to my opinions here; in my defense however, while I admit that what I misread as an undeserved audience interest in the film put me on edge (I know I shouldn't take it so seriously, but jeez...), following its embarrassing disappointment at the domestic box office on opening weekend, I was able to relax and be more subjective when I finally saw it. Even still, no one watches a movie with a completely blank slate, without any sort of pre-conceived notion; and after all, that is usually the purpose of the marketing, although, such as in this case, it can backfire, even if you downplay your infamous director's involvement.
M. Night Shyamalan's career began promisingly, and in 2002, Newsweek magazine even published a now infamous cover that called Shyamalan "The Next Spielberg". That was before his goodwill plummeted into non-existence with such howlers like LADY IN THE WATER and THE LAST AIRBENDER. When I was at presumably the only-ever packed screening of the criminally overlooked action-comedy-romance-fantasy SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, a trailer played for the then-upcoming thriller DEVIL, and when the words "Produced by M. Night Shyamalan" flashed on the screen, there was a loud and resounding "Boooo!" from the audience. I didn't boo, but at hearing everyone else, I sure laughed. Now, Shyamalan is little more than a steady hand at the helm of a film that must have a director onset, but is more prominently influenced by its star, who pitched the story. His name is no longer a marketing point; his name no longer appears above the title as his previous films had boasted. His name is merely slipped in at the end of the mandatory poster and advertising credits, as if hoping that a large enough audience will enter unsuspectingly, and that maybe without that bias of knowledge, they may be less discerning.
AFTER EARTH is about as bad as Shyamalan's involvement may suggest, but it's not as bad as Shyamalan's involvement can suggest.
Although to my regret, I have not yet seen Shyamalan's sole R-rated feature, THE HAPPENING, from what I know, the suggestion that AFTER EARTH is a 1,000+ years into the future follow-up is plausible. Briefly explained in a short prologue and mentioned occasionally in the dialogue, mankind was forced to evacuate Earth in a time of environmental catastrophe as humanity's careless pollution and ravaging of resources rendered the planet inhospitable. As Cypher Raige (Will Smith) explains, everything on the planet has evolved to kill humans. Humanity united to colonize on a new planet, Nova Prime, and the Ranger Corps were formed, but their purpose is never made clear, although it seems to involve intergalactic military defense purposes. Cypher Raige is the leader of the Rangers and is a master at killing the primary alien threat to humans, "Ursas" (ursa is Latin for bear, but these look like giant lizard-spiders), which are blind but can detect humans by "smelling" their fear. Cypher invented ghosting, literally having no fear, making himself invisible to the Ursas.
Unfortunately, his son, Kitai (Jaden Smith), is a whiny, crybaby bitch who keeps failing the Ranger qualification test and thus disappointing his legendary dad, Kitai's mother (Sophie Okenedo, in a very brief role) urges Cypher to take his son along on a routine mission as a bonding experience. When their spacecraft is damaged in an asteroid shower, they're forced to crash land on Earth, at which point, the Raiges are the only remaining survivors. Of course, their tail broke off a days-long journey from where they are, and their only good homing beacon to signal for help is in that tail! Cypher's legs a broken, so Kitai has to retrieve the beacon, with his father guiding him via a radio communicator.
At this point, it feels an awful lot like watching a video game, albeit through some very cool "Nega-Earth" scenery. Seriously, Kitai has these oxygen fuel capsules so he can breathe in Earth's now-toxic atmosphere, and these are kind of like a health bar, while Cypher can also watch him from a screen that shows his body stats and such. Cypher just tells him all the stuff to do to get to the ship tail while serviceable but unremarkable CG creatures occasionally try to eat him. That's basically it. Come to think of it though, co-screenwriter Gary Whitta is best known for writing video games outside of his one other script, THE BOOK OF ELI, so there you have it.
Will Smith is usually a bright spot of charisma in his lesser films, but few performances by big name actors come to mind that are as boring as Cypher Raige. He may have no fear, but he has even less personality, as he sits in a wrecked spaceship through most of the film, stoically spouting cornball lessons to Kitai, with hardly any vocal inflection and zero facial expression. As a side note, it was also problematic that while it's so deadly important for Kitai to take regular doses of oxygen fluid, Cypher sits in this wreckage that's been ripped wide open, and breathes just fine, although some arterial bleeding is causing him some distress.
Meanwhile, Kitai is so angsty and overwhelmingly foolish (his dad tells him to get away from the giant mutant baboon, so instead he throws a rock at its head) that it's tempting to cheer against him. So for the huge majority of this movie, you're stuck with Mr. Boring and Mr. Bitch, and obviously, neither is much fun to be around.
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| This poster is as bad as the movie. |
On the other hand, AFTER EARTH does have a few surprising strong points, I think most prominent of which is the scenery. I've always been a bigger fan of hand-crafted, studio set nature than of on-location "natural nature", so to speak, and while I'm not sure how much is real and what isn't (I suspect most of it is on-location), most of it looks meticulously crafted, which in my book, is a plus. Most of it was filmed in beautiful Costa Rica, and there are gorgeous waterfalls, rainforest greenery and a classic, fire-belching volcano. I don't know why I think that kind of thing is so awesome, but I just love the imagery of a lake of lava inside a cave which Kitai inspects.
There's also a few strong moments of action, most particularly the asteroid storm as space boulders collide with the ship, ripping it up and causing the whole interior to quake violently. That scene is intense and has a kind of old-fashioned excitement to it. Shyamalan-regular, James Newton Howard's musical score for the film works nicely as well, even if it sometimes leans more on "thriller" than on "adventure".
But other than what I had to saw in those past couple paragraphs, it generally sucks. Not including the credits and previews, AFTER EARTH is only a little longer than eighty minutes, but it feels like two. The plot is too thin, but worst of all is the astoundingly bland characters. It's a mix of a loose concept dreamed up by a leading man to showcase his kid, mixed with a traditional Shyamalan attempt to mold it into a sermon with little gloss and motivational poster mottoes.
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| Will Smith had initially hoped to cast Tim Tebow as his son, but Jada put her foot down. |
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