Review of After Earth (2013) by Denis M — 26 Sep 2014

After Earth, like most M. Night Shyamalan films, had much potential but it was sadly wasted. The story and concept of the film is great. Shyamalan is great at coming up with interesting ideas. However, when it comes to execution he is sorely lacking. This is especially bad here because we have two great actors starring in this; Will Smith and Jaden Smith, and they never get to shine much.

The concept is easily the best thing about the movie. The concept of the film is that humanity has rendered Earth uninhabitable for humans. Earth was evacuated to a distant planet called Nova Prime. There they encounter aliens that sense your fear. Cypher (Will Smith) is a ghost soldier that has no fear. This makes him invisible to the aliens. The main story revolves around Cypher and his son Kitai (Jaden Smith) crash-landing on the lost planet Earth that has evolved since then. Kitai must overcome his fear to survive. The story and concept is great on paper, but does not reach its full potential due to bad direction.

The characters are very wooden, particularly Will Smith. Will Smith looks like he is sleepwalking throughout the entire picture. He only shows emotion three times in the whole film. Most of the other characters are no better. Hardly anybody acts like a real person. As usual Shyamalan does not know how to direct actors. In all of his films past Signs the acting has been of one of two ways; very over-the-top or very wooden. This movie is of the latter. What is worse is that the movie is trying to justify the characters having no emotion. The movie sets up that having no emotion or fear is the key to defeating the aliens. The movie also says that fear is a choice when it definitely is not. Shyamalan is actually trying to justify his poor direction, which I find funny.

The only character that comes close to a real human being is Jaden Smith. He is definitely the best character in the film, but that is not saying that much. He plays off of Will Smith so poorly here that it kind of made me like him less, which is unfortunate considering Jaden is Will Smith's actual son. This movie could have been a great father-son bonding story and a good coming-of-age story if a better director was behind it.

The effects are great I have to say. The technology employed, the creature effects, the space effects, and the look of Earth were all dazzling. However, I have seen effects just as breathtaking in other Sci-Fi films from this year alone like Oblivion.

Overall, After Earth I will say is M. Night Shyamalan's best film for a while. I would say that it is definitely better than films like the Village or the Happening. However, it is not on the level of Unbreakable or Signs. If you are a fan of Shyamalan's latest works then you might enjoy this movie. Otherwise I would skip it or at least wait till it comes out on DVD. If you want to see a good Sci-Fi film there are many better choices like Oblivion or Star Trek Into Darkness.