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Rating: 0.5 out of 5
I recently decided to watch After Earth. I know what you are thinking: why watch that film? I heard it was terrible, and why would you put yourself through watching that film? The reason is that A) I wanted to watch it to see how bad it was, and B) it is sad to say, but it was the only thing I could find at the time. As I watched it, it was terrible, and I started to not pay attention and the movie wasn’t that long. I don’t know what M. Night Shyamalan was thinking and see why he had a string of awful movies since his iconic Signs. Well, without further ado, here is the review of After Earth. I might as well make it a short read.
After Earth was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who co-wrote it with Gary Whitta. The idea for the film came from Will Smith about a father-and-son trip in the wilderness. Pretty much here is how the movie goes. Let me see if you heard this before. Humankind decides to leave Earth after a major catastrophe. The inhabitants of the former Earth travel around in space until they find a new home called Nova Prime. The humans are quickly attacked and wage war against the Ursas, who hunt by sensing fear. Humankind is getting their ass handed to them until Ranger’s Leader and Supreme Commander Cypher Raige (W. Smith) comes up with a technique called “ghosting” and not the dating kind. Ghosting is a fear-suppressing move that makes people invisible to the Ursas.
The story takes place with Kitai (J. Smith), an impressive teenager with emotional problems who is eager to follow in his father’s footsteps, aka Cypher, the legendary and Supreme commander. Cypher doesn’t see much hope in Kitai, and his first-born daughter was killed in a Ursas attack. Faia, Cypher’s wife, believes that Kitai should join Cypher on his next journey for connection. The pair are reluctant and travel until their ship is hit and crashes on Earth after 1000 years of no human interaction. Kitai must put all his training to use to survive the terrain from formidable adversaries and ferocious apex predators. With a survival beacon more than 100 km away, will Kitai put his fear aside to survive?
After Earth is one of the most boring films I have ever watched. Watching grass grow would’ve been far more entertaining than this boring movie. I heard how bad this film was, but I didn’t think it would’ve been this bad. This was almost a career-ender for many people involved, and sometimes a story shouldn’t be made.
Let’s talk about the story. It was a sorry-ass attempt at father-son bonding. You have a militaristic father in Cypher who is the superstar and savior of humanity. Then you have a son, Kitai, who desperately wants his attention and approval. You can tell Cypher loved his first-born and doesn’t think much of his Kitai. When they crash land on the planet, the film is ZERO father and son bonding but more of Kitai growing a pair of steel balls, finding courage, and having no fear to survive. The movie came off as bad as possible because they landed on Earth, but it had changed so much that you have baboons looking crazy, a sabretooth tiger, and big ass birds.
The film seemed to switch gears and be more about Kitai because all Cypher did was sit in his chair with a broken leg and say, “Ground yourself.” It felt like the story of survival was Kitai and him trying too hard. He had his own shit to deal with from watching his older sister die. Also, how the hell did that creature get into the house and didn’t see the boy in the first place? Kitai paid no attention to Cypher and seemed to mess up every single time. Cypher says, “Don’t mess with the baboons.” Kitai throws a rock at the baboons and must run for his life. Cypher says something, and Kitai does the opposite, and it is frustrating to watch and deal with. You hoped that Kitai would just get his ass handed to him and learn to LISTEN, but hey, in the end, he managed to save himself and his father.
The acting was so bad that it was almost laughable. How do two related people who are father and son in real life have absolutely ZERO chemistry on the big screen? It was hard to watch. Will Smith seemed to be emotionless throughout the entire film. I understand that he is a commander and must hold a certain standard, but damn, Will Smith seems to not like his son for real. It felt like this performance was so bad that Will Smith didn’t care after a while. I had no idea what he was doing.
I don’t know what the hell Jaden Smith was doing. What he did in this film wasn’t acting. It felt like he was all over the place. You know what, I am going to say he did okay. He did okay for being as confused as I was while watching this film. He had the “what the fuck am I doing here” look. I completely understand that look. He tried to overact with emotions sometimes, and it just fell flat.
You are also going to get some shit also, M. Night Shyamalan. What the hell have you been making lately? Good thing you had Split to somewhat revive your directing career because you had some sorry-ass films. The Happening and the Last Airbender, remember those? Yeah, maybe you should focus on making a high-quality film. Get back to the Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs days. Those films are the standard. Not this father-son bonding film shit you put out.
I’m done. After Earth is a boring ass film that can be skipped and moved on. No need to watch this film because you will lose many hours of your life. Please don’t waste your time because you will regret it and cry deeply when you watch this film.
