Though you may not know it from the marketing, there is a new M. Night Shyamalan film in town called After Earth and it stars the father/son combo of Will and Jayden Smith in a new, albeit generic, sci-fi adventure.
After Earth takes place 1000 years after the human race was forced to evacuate Earth if the species wanted to survive. Will Smith plays Cypher Raige, a general of the Ranger Corps, a group of peacekeeping officers who explore and protect the re-established human race on an exo-planet known as Nove Prime. His son, Katai (Jaden Smith), is eager to join the rangers but is very emotional, preventing him from successfully passing his test (he can’t obmit fear from his mind). After barely seeing his father throughout his childhood, Cypher invites Katai to join him on a mission but when their ship enters an asteroid field their ship crash lands on earth, a hostile environment where everything is out to kill humans. Upon landing, Cypher is injured and with him so is much of the aircraft. Unable to move, it is up to Katai to track down the rest of the ship so that he can send a distress signal that will identify their location so that they can be rescued before the monster they were transporting, known as Ursa, tracks them down and kills them.
Though not nearly as bad as his last four or five films, After Earth is another miss for M. Night Shyamalan. This father/son movie born out of a story by none other than Will Smith, doesn’t hit its mark. Visually it’s a nice piece of eye candy but when it comes to the substance there isn’t much there to digest. In fact, Will Smith is about the only human in the film you can tolerate and he isn’t even the focal point, his son Jayden is.
I was really hoping to avoid pointing out the issues in the film but some are just so in your face that it has to be done. My biggest pet peeves are the accents used in the film. It’s a little difficult to pinpoint but when the film opens we get a monologue from Jayden’s character, except that instead of it being English, it’s some hybrid form of a Boston accent mixed with a New Zealand accent (if you can imagine that). Actually, it sounds like a mentally challenged person reading a script and attempting to convey emotion while doing so.
Another issue the film finds itself facing is the inconsistency of mankind’s technological prowess. The technology humans have developed to preserve their species and travel looks quite impressive but there are lots of questions that remain unanswered. Why is it that the humans can’t breathe the air on earth? Why don’t the Ranger Corps have long range weapons like guns instead of just close combat weapons such as swords? If they are able to manage space travel and can build a colony elsewhere, why haven’t they found a weapon that can kill these Ursa beasts or any animal for that matter? Were guns completely obliterated? Does no one has the capability to build one?
As a character, the planet Earth that Shyamalan and his team created is quite cool. The animals have evolved, the temperature fluctuations are drastic and the former earth that we know is gone. Nature has returned to its proper order and it’s the only piece of the film that truly draws you in because of 
its beauty and the fact that it is one of two enemies that Kitai must battle if he wants to save his life and the life of his father.
Outside of the effects, cool weapons and the ship designs, the one thing I really enjoyed about the film was the idea that “danger is real, fear is a choice.” For some reason this was really the only aspect of the film that made complete philosophical sense. It was a point that was driven into the audiences mind a few times but I believe should resonate more deeply than anticipated, as I think that if people take it to heart they will be more daring and their lives will be more eventful and, hopefully, more fulfilling.
Overall, After Earth isn’t the huge pile of crap that we’ve come to expect from M. Night Shyamalan but it is by no means any form of redemption. As one of three big sci-fi films to be released this summer season, it is easily going to finish at the bottom in both box office and quality, the only thing it really has going for it are the visuals. If you’re looking for a film to kill some time and want something easy on the eyes then feel free to check out After Earth but, if you ask me, there are way better cinematic options out there for you to spend your money on.
Rating: A superficial film that relies on its visuals in an attempt to keep you engaged rather than a telling unique story (4/10)
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