After Earth | Film Review
After dragging my Mrs to watch this, with the anticipation of a 5 year old in the queue for an ice cream van, just to see the charismatic star that is Will Smith, I doubt she will let me choose a film in the foreseeable future again. Not only because Will Smith isn’t even the lead role but because just like the film, he was bland and lifeless. This may seem harsh if your are reading this as one of the many lucky individuals who haven’t parted with their hard earned currency however I think I may be a little generous with the above description.
Lets pick apart the plot. After Earth is set in a new millennium, a thousand years to this day where humans have abandoned the Earth because it had become a polluted, catastrophic land full of deadly evolved animals. The new place of residents is a planet called Nova Prime, which is also inhabited by a dangerous breed of alien animal called the Ursa…
Cypher played by Will Smith is a ranger (sort of like a Power Ranger without the cheesy theme song) who has mastered the art of “Ghosting” (being immune to fear) which allows him to become the perfect weapon in the midst of danger. His son Kitai (Jaden Smith) is a trier, desperate to fill his dads shoes prematurely but has a problem controlling his fear because of a suppressed memory of his sister (played by Zoe Kravitz, Yes Lenny Kravitz hot daughter) being duppied by an Ursa. Still with me?
While on a routine mission to transport the Ursa to a different place, Cypher decides to bring his son Kitai for some bonding time however things go astray, when their spaceship is caught in a meteor storm and propelled to the abandoned planet Earth. With Cypher injured, he sends his son Kitai on a 3 day mission to retrieve a homing beacon which is located hundreds of miles away in the tail of their severed ship. Along the way Kitai must over come his fear which proves to be hard with the amount of ferocious animals and deadly toxins along the way.
Now I have never been too keen on sci-fi adventures anyway, believe me you are interacting with a guy who has never seen a Star Wars movie, however I thought the Fresh Prince could change my opinion on them. Alas, he reinforced my notion that even with fancy special effects and large scenery shots, sci-fi adventures are corny and unrealistic. They lack emotion and this was made even clearer with Jaden’s poor performance. The fact that these are the same two family members who gave stellar performances in the Oscar nominated The Pursuit Of Happiness is a mind boggle. Speaking of mind boggle, why was director M. Night Shyamalan granted this film when he hasn’t produced a winner since The Sixth Sense?
I could ask pointless questions about this pointless film all day, however I’m going to end this by saying that Will Smith is an individual who works best on energy and humor. Take that away, add a poor script and you my friends have a dud movie.
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