Review of After Earth (2013) by Facu S — 21 Jul 2014

Imagine an action packed, sci-fi version of "The Great Santini" with a happy ending and you'll have this Will Smith Scientology themed travesty. Hundreds of years in the future, Earth has long been destroyed by pollution and was left unfit for human habitation and the surviving human population lives on a far off distant planet.

The usually good Smith plays a legendary general who's son feel he cannot live up to and Smith has never really been a caring father to. When they crash land on Earth, Smith is crippled and son Jaden Smith has to cross many miles to recover a gizmo from the other half of their wrecked ship, and from there the parade of survival story cliches begins! Jaden is chased by killer futuristic baboons, has to be talked through giving himself medical procedures (after being bitten by a futuristic leach), jumps off cliffs, and fights off all manner of CGI creatures,all of which helps make him become a "man" and bond with his macho father.

Creepy Scientologist themes aside (Smith, a Scientologist, wrote the story) this film is just absolutely boring. The film mostly follows Smith's son, Jaden Smith, while the elder Smith watches him on a monitor, which is a problem when the elder Smith is hardly in the film (and is also humorless and blandly serious) and the younger Smith is not exactly a commanding screen presence (which is being polite).

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, this film may be the final nail in the coffin of his once promising career. Absolutely no reason to watch this film unless you feel the need to see Smith's version of "Battlefield Earth".