After Earth is marketed as a Will Smith movie, so without hesitation I decided to go watch it.
You can imagine my disappointment when he sat in the back seat (literally) the whole time and let his son lead the way. Not only was it Smith’s worst performance to date … it was also possibly the worst movie he’s ever made.
I spent what I thought would be 100 minutes of brilliant acting, an interesting plot and great visuals, feeling like I was being dragged along on a low budget ride.
Even the Fresh Prince himself can’t save director M Night Shyamalan. He hasn’t made a good movie since 1999’s The Sixth Sense, but thank goodness he’s over his trademark twists at the end of his movies.
It isn’t his worst film to date, but it definitely ranks as one of his most disappointing.
What the movie can pride itself on though is the brief action scenes and the emotional depth. Even the death of the ugliest bird created a lump in my throat.
For some viewers it may be a satisfactory film with all the required essentials for a science-fiction adventure, but for others, like me, it will leave you wanting more of everything.
The film takes place 1,000 years after the human race was forced to abandon Earth and take shelter on a planet far away.
Cypher Raige (Will) and his son Kitai (Jaden) go on a trip through space to try to rekindle their lost relationship after the death of Cypher’s daughter.
Cypher is a member of the fearless Ranger Corps and has developed a way to ‘ghost’, an ability to move undetected by a hostile alien, Ursa, designed to hunt down and kill humans. Ursa’s are blind and can only detect humans by sensing fear in their pheromones.
After the groups of rangers warp through a meteor shower, they crash land on … you guessed it, Earth!
The only two to emerge from the crash alive are the father-son duo, but Cypher has broken both legs and is unable to move. That leaves them both with just one option; Kitai must set out into Earth’s jungle to locate a distress device capable of calling for rescue.
Earth has evolved over the years making it difficult for humans to survive so Kitai must face an unstable environment, highly-evolved animal life, toxic air and deadly Ursa!
Although Will Smith was the supporting actor, I couldn’t help but critique his performance whilst watching the film as if he was the front runner. Perhaps he produced such an awful performance so as not to steal his son’s thunder because there is no way that his acting skills could have deteriorated to this extent.
Jaden Smith on the other hand was actually pretty good as the young Kitai. He starts off a little shaky with some awkward scenes, especially when speaking to his ranger commander, which did make me chuckle, but his performance develops into something solid, a feat considering most of the movie takes place behind a green screen.
In conclusion, the 100 minutes dragged on for a lifetime. It was predictable and even the special effects looked tacky compared to recent blockbuster hits.
It’s such a shame, because now I will think twice about waiting in line to watch any Will Smith movie … to make things worse, there’s an After Earth 2 coming out in 2015.
