After Earth: Crash and Burn

After Earth is a movie than runs on a paper thin plot and with CGI animations that barely pass above average.

After Earth is a movie that takes place after the humans left the earth since it was deemed no longer fit for living. As the remaining of the human population venture into space, they find the planet suitable for existence and call it Nova Prime. The humans are not alone in the planet though. The humans find themselves against an alien species called the S'krell who wishes to conquer Nova Prime. The S'krell's secret weapons against the humans are beastly creatures called Ursas, blind and rabid creatures who hunt with the use of their sense of smell. They hunt by smelling their prey's fear and once they get hold of the scent, escape is almost inevitable. Enter the hero, General Cypher Raige (Will Smith) who was able to suppress his fear, a process called ghosting, which enabled him to save the world. His glory does not come free though since he loses his daughter to an Ursa after it attacked their home. A witness to his daughter's death is his son Kitai (Jaden Smith) whom his daughter chose to save and die for. Kitai, having witnessed her sister killed right before his very eyes is ridden with guilt and aims to be a Ranger like his father but fails to do so. Cypher is about to retire as a ranger and as he sets up for his last mission, his wife convinces him to take Kitai with him so they can bond like father and son. Aboard the ship, they encounter an asteroid shower which causes their ship to split into two and crash on the now evolved earth. With Cypher wounded,  his son must now go to the other half of the wrecked ship to retrieve the emergency beacon. Along the way, Kitai faces danger in the unfamiliar world and to make matters worse, the Ursa they carried on board the ship is set loose  and hunts down the remaining survivors.

This movie soared high but crashed and burned. Star Trek Into Darkness just came out less than a month ago and it definitely set the bar high for any upcoming sci-fi films to follow its lead. What After Earth lacked that Star Trek had was the grandeur of what a sci-fi film should look be. We expect to see futuristic gadgets, spacecrafts combined with an action pack adventure. After Earth was nothing more than just a boy running for his life in a jungle that was supposed to have evolved drastically but can be barely seen in the movie.

The story of After Earth was written by Will Smith after being inspired from a show he watched on tv about a father and son stuck on a mountain. Originally not a sci-fi, Smith thought it was a good idea to have the same concept in a movie set 1000 years into the future. Sadly this film might not even be remembered for the next five years, how much more a thousand. 

The entire movie is cold. From the story to the characters. It does not have an emotional attachment to its audience the way Avatar (James Cameron) or Star Trek has. From the beginning till the end, all we see is Jaden running for his life and fighting off animals. The characterization of Kitai and Cypher is poorly executed as well since it's not given much importance. A grave mistake such as this will only make the audience apathetic and distant. The story of your life can be playing right in front of you but you will wonder if it really is your life on the screen.

Don't get me started on the acting. Jaden's acting would not exactly be something to be proud of. I don't know what his father might think but I'm certainly not convinced. Such a pity considering the name his father made in the business. I cannot help myself from wincing every once in a while whenever Jaden has a big act to deliver. Nepotism really has its price. Will was the one who personally chose Jaden to act along side him. 

In terms of CGI animation, it was okay. More than satisfactory at most but not great. The newly evolved earth was promising but unexplored. It's actually fun thinking of what the earth will look like a thousand years from now and I'm sure that the writers of the script had fun thinking about it too.What I don't understand is by the time the movie is out, all I saw were bigger animals and moving plants. Lots of moments that you would actually forget that the story takes place on earth after a thousand years. A few effects were also a bit unrealistic. It was as if they were still under post-production.

Director M. Night Shyamalan is not doing well for his past few films. The Last Airbender was a complete failure and the only reason why I still watch his works are because of his previous films. The last film he made that was worth watching was probably the 2010 film 'Devil'. To be fair, After Earth can be considered as a good stepping stone. This was by far a bit...just a bit better than the others he made.

In conclusion, After Earth is a movie that fails to entertain. Cheap shocks, mediocre editing and poor characterizations is not really something to be proud of. To be clear, It wasn't a good movie but it wasn't all that bad. I've seen worst movies and After Earth can be the last on that list.


Rating: 1.5/5