Rated
PG-13 (Sci-Fi Action Violence and Some Disturbing Images)
Running
Time: 1 Hour & 40 Minutes
Cast-
Will
Smith-Cypher Raige
Jaden
Smith-Kitai Raige
Sophie
Okonedo-Faia Raige
Zoë
Isabella Kravitz-Senshi Raige
Glenn
Morshower-Commander Velan
David
Denman-Private McQuarrie
Sacha
Dhawan-Hesper Pilot
Chris
Geere-Hesper Navigator
Directed
by M. Night Shyamalan
 |
| Jaden Smith stars in "After Earth," the first of summer 2013's box office flops. |
Note: I missed the advance screening so I'm making up for it now.
A
few days ago, fifteen-year-old Jaden Smith decided to go on a little anti-education
rant and encouraged his 4.6 million followers on Twitter to drop out of school because
according to him, it was a 'tool to brainwash the youth.' Considering how badly
"After Earth" flopped both critically and financially, the last thing
Jaden should be doing is give advice regarding one's educational pursuits. Released
back in May, the sci-fi action/adventure film was conceived from the ground up by
Jaden's father, megastar Will Smith, but why the hell did he pick M. Night Shyamalan
to direct?! Did the actor not see 2008's "The Happening" (the one
where Mark Wahlberg started talking to plastic trees) and 2010's horrid
adaptation of "The Last Airbender"? The sight of Shyamalan's name emblazoned
on a movie poster used to be a guaranteed sign of quality but then came 2004's
"The Village," a creepy yet ultimately misguided drama/psychological
thriller about a group of people who willingly sealed themselves off from the
modern world. Each successive film that followed grew progressively worse and it's
gotten to the point where Columbia Pictures has to deliberately hide the director's
name while marketing "After Earth." Given all the bad press that Shyamalan
has received in the past seven years, I'm frankly amazed that he's still getting
work on big-budget studio projects. For fans still holding out hope that
"The Sixth Sense" director will eventually regain his mojo, you might
as well move on because "After Earth" is a disaster from start to
finish, a tediously dull and plodding piece of science fiction that's let down by
unengaging performances and self-indulgent, soapbox sermonizing.
A
thousand years ago, an environmental cataclysm forced humanity to abandon their
home planet of Earth and take to the stars. The survivors eventually settled on
an arid world they dubbed 'Nova Prime' but a hostile alien species, the S'krell,
was in the process of conquering the planet. They unleashed a race of monstrous
predators called 'Ursas' to hunt the humans toward extinction, using their uncanny
ability to sense fear to locate their prey. Hope arrived in the form of the United
Ranger Corps, whose prime commander, Cypher Raige (Will Smith), developed the ability
to suppress his fear and literally become invisible to the Ursas. This technique
was called 'ghosting.' Cypher's thirteen-year-old son, Kitai (Jaden Smith) aspires
to be a ranger like his father but fails to advance to the next level when his
instructor reveals that he collapses under pressure. Encouraged by his wife Faia
(Sophie Okonedo), Cypher decides to take his son along on his last mission in an
effort to bond. However, their spacecraft runs into an asteroid shower and crash-lands
on a nearby planet. With both of his legs broken, Cypher instructs his son to
retrieve a distress beacon from the other half of the ship, 100 kilometers away.
He reveals to Kitai that the planet they're on is Earth, and that every animal
has evolved to kill humans.
'What
is up with the weird accents?' That was the first thought running through my
mind during Kitai Raige's opening narration in "After Earth." Not
only is it distracting and off-putting to listen to, but it forces the actors
to awkwardly enunciate every word while sounding like HAL from "2001: A Space
Odyssey." The film immediately starts off on the wrong foot with a needless
flash-forward to an injured Kitai on Earth before it dives into a messy prologue
that dumps a huge amount of information on the audience's lap. In a matter of
minutes, we learn about humanity's flight from a polluted Earth, their eventual
settlement on Nova Prime, the rise of the Ursa, and the discovery of 'ghosting'
but the scenes feel poorly cobbled together, as if they were culled from the cutting
room floor at the very last minute. Developed by Will Smith and written by Shyamalan
(with an assist from Gary Whitta, whose previous credits include 2010's
"The Book of Eli"), "After Earth" contains a kernel of a good
idea. Unfortunately, the sci-fi world presented here raises more questions the
more you think about it. Despite the fact that humanity has mastered interstellar
travel, they're still fighting with metal sticks. Sure, the double-bladed 'cutlass'
looks cool on-screen yet it's mind-boggling why the Rangers don't just use a gun
to fight the Ursas. Also, if the creatures can track its prey through the
'scent' of fear, couldn't the Rangers wear special airtight suits or let advanced
robotic drones do the heavy-lifting since they're 'technically blind?' It doesn't
seem like Shyamalan thought the whole concept through. Sure, the 'Survival Manual'
or the 300-page bible that the writers created probably might've clear up all
these inconsistencies but I shouldn't have to read or buy a tie-in book in order
to make sense of a film.
Once
the ship crash-lands on Earth, the film devolves into tedium as it plods along,
unable to muster any palpable sense of danger or excitement due to the slack pacing.
The only notable set-piece is when Kitai skydives off a mountain cliff while being
chased by a giant condor. At least Shyamalan continues to have a good eye for visuals
with its vision of a wild Earth reclaimed by Mother Nature, which compensates
for the dated CG effects and derivative creature designs. Plot-wise,
"After Earth" runs into another roadblock as it turns a simple sci-fi
coming-of-age tale into a self-important and overly preachy soap opera. 'it feels less like father and son, and more like a young
boy listening to an inspirational audiobook.' The stories in many of Shyamalan's
films have always been allegorical in nature but he takes this to an extreme
degree here by being too literal with Kitai's personal journey. Just to hammer
the point home, the director has the condor inexplicably rescue him even though
the creature was trying to eat the boy before. It's obviously meant to
symbolize a parent protecting its offspring but its inclusion goes against what
the film established—that everything on Earth has evolved to kill humans. The
concept of having a boy struggling to live up to his father's expectations
while facing a sudden trial by fire is a sound idea. However, the execution is
all wrong and it's hard to emotionally invest in these characters when the
dialogue consists of banal platitudes like 'he doesn't need a commanding
officer; he needs a father.'
"After
Earth" is largely a two-person show as evidenced by the poster. While Jaden
Smith managed to do a fine job in 2010's "The Karate Kid," his
performance here leaves much to be desired. He just doesn't have the
physicality to pull off a lead role in a big-budget film like this and comes
across as a whiny brat whenever the scene calls for him to show emotion. Will
Smith doesn't fare any better either as the script completely strips the actor
of his trademark charisma and replaces it with a stodgy demeanor that's devoid
of any personality whatsoever. Worse, he's confined to a single location for
almost the entirety of the picture. Sophie Okonedo and Zoë Isabella Kravitz make
the most of their limited roles but it's clear the film was run through with a
chainsaw in the editing room as Isabelle Fuhrman, who was previously third
billed, is reduced to a wordless, one-second cameo.
Released
on May 31, 2013, "After Earth" has received overwhelmingly negative
reviews with a paltry 11% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics labeled it as a 'dull,
ploddingly paced exercise in sentimental sci-fi—and the latest setback for
director M. Night Shyamalan's once-promising career.' Despite the star power of
Will Smith, the film flopped at the domestic box office and grossed only $60.5
million. Foreign ticket sales, totaling $183.1 million, probably allowed Sony
to recoup its losses but I highly doubt the studio will move forward with a
sequel given its vitriolic reception from critics and moviegoers. "After
Earth" may not be quite the disaster that "The Last Airbender"
was but then again, that isn't saying much, is it?
Final
Rating: 1.5 out of 5
"Now
do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real, but fear is a choice."
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