Will and Jaden Smith have crash landed on a hostile planet; the only two survivors on a ship that looks like a set made of plastic and egg cartons. "Everything on this planet is evolved to kill humans", Will says. That planet is Earth, Will has broken both legs and is immobile. It has fallen to Jaden to retrieve a rescue beacon from the rear half of the ship which has broken off and is 100 km away.
The real star of the movie is the scenery. There is so much forest that this could just as easily have been another planet. Making it Earth adds nothing simply because Shyamalan has side stepped the decision to make this a film about environmental impact. Instead After Earth is constructed as a survival story meant to bring out the bond between father and son. At this, After Earth fails. The script is thin to the point of feeling non-existent, and both Jaden and Will fail to sell.
Will Smith, as the 'good soldier / poor father' gives the kind of bloodless, over composed, performance that recalls the cardboard acting style of the original Star Trek. He does not even attempt to find his humanity, but I can't say I blame him. With a script that gives him nothing to work from, why should be bother. The camera spends more time on Jaden, who has even less of a character to work from. He is a disoriented video game character in a game that lacks vision.
On this Earth, the temperature drops five degrees every ten minutes at the end of the day, and there are some neat shots of the green canopy fading to snow white. There is also a nifty but short sequence where Jaden dives off a cliff and into a cat and mouse chase with a Condor. Otherwise, the obstacle course is surprisingly boring. After Earth climaxes with a battle against a big CG creature, which looks like a George Lucas reject.
Shyamanlan fails as a writer and director to craft the elements needed to build tension. There is no feeling of a 'race against the clock', other than Jaden's limited supply of Oxygen tablets nor is there the feeling of terror lurking in the vegetation, recalling the Village and Signs.
James Newton Howard, has done some phenomenal scores but this is not one of them. The sound track has a very empty feeling, and is just as lazy as everything else in this picture.
The real star of the movie is the scenery. There is so much forest that this could just as easily have been another planet. Making it Earth adds nothing simply because Shyamalan has side stepped the decision to make this a film about environmental impact. Instead After Earth is constructed as a survival story meant to bring out the bond between father and son. At this, After Earth fails. The script is thin to the point of feeling non-existent, and both Jaden and Will fail to sell.
Will Smith, as the 'good soldier / poor father' gives the kind of bloodless, over composed, performance that recalls the cardboard acting style of the original Star Trek. He does not even attempt to find his humanity, but I can't say I blame him. With a script that gives him nothing to work from, why should be bother. The camera spends more time on Jaden, who has even less of a character to work from. He is a disoriented video game character in a game that lacks vision.
On this Earth, the temperature drops five degrees every ten minutes at the end of the day, and there are some neat shots of the green canopy fading to snow white. There is also a nifty but short sequence where Jaden dives off a cliff and into a cat and mouse chase with a Condor. Otherwise, the obstacle course is surprisingly boring. After Earth climaxes with a battle against a big CG creature, which looks like a George Lucas reject.
Shyamanlan fails as a writer and director to craft the elements needed to build tension. There is no feeling of a 'race against the clock', other than Jaden's limited supply of Oxygen tablets nor is there the feeling of terror lurking in the vegetation, recalling the Village and Signs.
James Newton Howard, has done some phenomenal scores but this is not one of them. The sound track has a very empty feeling, and is just as lazy as everything else in this picture.