‘After Earth’ is an interesting film (interesting, not great) on several levels. Not the least of which is how they chose to market it. This is an M Knight Shyamalan film, but Columbia pictures made a conscious choice not to promote him as the Director. There was a time when M Knight Shymalan’s name would have been top billing like a Martin Scorcese, a Steven Spielberg, or a Quentin Tarantino. A series of box office flops have put into question M Knight’s bankability. It’s a shame, because I still view him as an inspired filmmaker despite his string of set backs. Unfortunately, this film will not help him with his box office credibility.
‘After Earth’ features the extremely likable (and bankable) father/son team of Will and Jaden Smith. They say nepotism is a bad thing, but in this case I can forgive as the two have a strong on screen chemistry that is a pleasure to watch. Still, their star power is not enough to save this well meaning and well intentioned film. It misses it’s mark even though there are several things I enjoyed about the movie. If I can be presumptuous, what made M Knight’s films memorable was not the movie themselves, but the payoffs at the end. Most of his films trudged along slowly, but the surprise twists at the end of ‘The Sixth Sense’, ‘Unbreakable’, or even to a lesser extent ‘The Village’ were so powerful and visceral that it left an impact that audiences long remembered. A long wind up that delivered a powerful punch. Unfortunately, ‘After Earth’ is all wind up with no knock out punch.
The story takes place 1000 years after the population of Earth, for reasons not fully explained, has abandoned the Earth and relocated to a planet called Nova Prime. The planet’s greatest military leader , Cypher Raige (Will Smith), is returning home from an extended tour of duty to spend more time with his 13 year old son Kitai (Jaden Smith). During a trip, their spacecraft is damaged by an astroid storm and they are forced to land on the quarantined planet Earth.
The two are the sole survivors of the crash, but Cypher is gravely injured. Their only hope for survival is for Kitai to cross over 100 kms of rough terrain to reach the broken tail section of the space craft that contains the distress beacon. This is where the film is turned over to Jaden who does a great job at playing a scared boy who is trying to prove himself worthy to be his father’s son. Thanks to the advanced technology of Kitai’s suit, Cypher is able to virtually travel with Kitai on his journey and offer his guidance, as well as share his fear. We’ve all seen dangerous landscape adventure movies before and this film offers nothing new. The Earth has evolved since humans departure to be a dangerous landscape (think Avatar) where all things are hostile to human survival. It’s not like there is anything wrong with the film, it’s just a ‘been there, done that’ feeling throughout.
The true foundation of this film is the father/son relationship between the stern and stoic Cypher and the emotional and guilt ridden Kitai (the movie explains the guilt ridden part). Jaden is not just Will Smith’s son. His turn in ‘The Karate Kid’ shows that he has the family talent and even though he possesses many of Will’s mannerisms, he definitely has his own presence. He has extremely expressive eyes and where Will excels at bravado, Jaden’s strong suit is introspection. You can feel his emotions through his expressions. It’s interesting to see that talent in someone his age. I hope he has a long career in front of him.
Like I stated earlier, this is not a bad film. It’s impressive on many levels and for M Knight Shymalan fans, you can see him employ some of his favorite film techniques on a Science Fiction palette. Great visuals and an intriguing human story of a father and son trying to connect. Unfortunately, as a Summer Blockbuster, it lacks the visceral excitement necessary to compete. This would have been much better off if it was released early in the Spring or during the Christmas holiday where these type of films tend to do better.
I like this film, but can only give it ** stars. (sorry M Knight, I still think you are the greatest).
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