#SpoilerAlert After Earth...Hold on to your wallets
Imagine it. Will Smith, M. Night Shyamalan, and Gary Whitta conceptualizing a script based on a story Will himself either wrote or heard, (that part is still pretty vauge). Add to the fact that this would be the first project between Will Smith and M. Night and it would seem this would be the makings of an extremely well written, action filled, blockbuster hitâŠright?? Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the inevitable has happenedâŠMr. Smithâs âSummer Streak of Decadesâ has been broken, and After Earth is the culprit.
The story begins on Nova Prime 1,000 years in the future, this is our new home we which have had to go to war to keep with beings called Ursaâs, which looked like the mutant offspring of âThe Blobâ and that thing from Prometheus, the quirky thing about these beings is that they can kill you by smelling the pheromones produced by your fear. Canât lie, that does make for an interesting adversary.
 Cypher Raige, the best General in the galaxy has perfected the art of âghostingâ if you can ghost, then the Ursaâs canât smell you and therefore canât kill you. Cypherâs son, Kitai of course wants to be just like his Dad. He is stunted by his own fears however, after seeing his sister (played by Zoe Kravitz) being killed by one of the Ursaâs when he was a boy. He of course blames himself for her death, and suspects that his father does too. In an attempt to build a stronger bond with his son, he takes him on a mission, and wouldnât you know it, the spaceship gets hit by an asteroid and crash lands on Earth with Cypher and Kitai being the only survivors. With both of his legs broken (seriously it had to be both of his legs) Cypher has to guide Kitai across the dangerous terrain of Earth to find the emergency beacon that would get them home.
The problem with this film isnât necessarily the terrible acting, or the mundane storyline, or even the elementary CG effects that most of the world learned in Middle School. The problem with this film is itâs lack of feeling, donât get me wrong there were emotionally heavy moments and we saw Jaden Smith (to the best of his ability) have the traditional Arc of the Hero, he learned how to be a man, he learned how to ghost and him and his father finally respect one another and they have a bond and blah blah. But for them to be actual Father and Son, it seemed to this viewer that they really had to ACT like they were father and son. The chemistry was just not there and at times it was hard to watch.
Maybe it was the directing, we are all too aware that M.Night can put out some snoozers. Maybe Will over-reached and didnât put enough time into developing the story before he brought it to the writers. Maybe the writers should have had an extra set of writers writing with them. Maybe Jadenâs acting is like watching a cat scratch on a postâŠor a chalkboard. Maybe those accents they were faking could have been left on Nova Prime where they found them. Whatever the reason, this movie shouldnât have been as bad as it was. Given more time and a little more effort on every party involved this could have been a summer blockbuster, but instead the outcome is a seemingly rushed movie, with a spotty storyline and weak execution. Fear IS a choice, this writer says choose to read a book, written by Dr. Seuss because heâs awesome and at the very least you'll enjoy yourself for an hour or so.
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