Rating of
2/4
Two Smiths Aren't Better Than One
Chris Kavan - wrote on 06/01/13
The problem with films that become a "passion project" is that while it may be the greatest thing ever in the eyes of the creator(s) but when the final product is released, the audience will probably not be as invested. For Will Smith, I think this is what happened - he had a vision and maybe that vision was even realized, but in the end, while After Earth is far from a disaster, it's also not going to be one of those films you're going to want to watch more than once and, ultimately, is a bit forgettable.
The film is pretty much in the hands of two Smiths: Will and his son, Jaden. The father/son thing was explored in The Pursuit of Happyness - but that was a drama and Jaden was younger. Now that he is older, you need more range, but the problem with the film is that I didn't get that much range. The elder Smith still has that charisma and he gets a lot across despite the fact that for most of the film he is pretty much either drugged up or reeling from his horrific injuries. It's tough, because he's supposedly one of the greatest military minds of the future.
Speaking of the the future - the film takes place 1000 years after Earth has been abandoned due to mankind being dumb and pretty much making the planet uninhabitable. Luckily, things advanced enough that they could launch huge spaceships and settle on a new planet. Unfortunately, that new planet already had some residents - and they created a violent race of mutants who hunted humans not by sight or sound - but by literally sensing their fear and feeding off it. But then we discovered "ghosting" - literally being unable to become fearful and therefore becoming invisible to the mutants.
As we open - Kitai (Jaden) has just failed to become a Ranger - those few who have mastered their fear and become the front lines against the creatures. His father Cypher Raige (Will) is coming back from a long tour looking to reconnect with his family. Through flashbacks we learn that when he was younger, Kitai witnessed his sister being killed by one of the beasts - and he hasn't been able to shake that vision. In order to become closer with his son, Cypher takes him on a trip to deliver one of the beasts to another planet for training purposes. But because that's boring, the ship hits an asteroid burst, becomes damaged and the closest inhabitable planet turns out to be the long-abandoned Earth.
The ship breaks apart and after the crash only Cypher and his son are still alive. Cypher has to deal with two broken legs and the only hope of escape lies in a beacon located on the back of the ship - 100 kilometers away. Kitai must retrieve the beacon and, because Earth's atmosphere is still damaged, only has limited time and supplies to achieve the goal. Thus we follow him on a standard heroes journey.
The main issue is that Jaden Smith is just not polished enough for taking on such a critical role. His emotional range doesn't go far enough and his delivery just feels a bit flat. He handles the action scenes well, but it's the feeling that just isn't there. Dad does much better in a much smaller role in conveying that emotion - and that comes with experience - which Jaden just needs more of. I think in time he will be a more well-rounded actor, but it's just too much too soon here.
That being said, the movie does look good - the only thing I saw on Earth that looked like humans once inhabited it was a dam - but the creature design was interesting from herds of buffalo (or buffalo-like animals), a giant hawk, a poisonous slug and, of course, our ultimate nightmare beast (known as Ursa) all look really good. Likewise, the now-wild planet is conveyed pretty good as well.
While this does not mean M. Night Shyamalan is back - at least it left a better taste in my mouth than The Last Airbender and The Happening. He's probably not going to win over many fans, though. While not his worst film in recent memory - it's still a far cry from the man who gave us The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.
I don't know enough about Scientology to make a comment over whether this was Smith trying to do his own version of Battlefield Earth - so I'll leave more vocal people to argue over that little chestnut. As for me - the main problem is that on a visual level, the film works, but on an emotional level, it goes nowhere. As long as there's some kind of action going on, at least the film is interesting - but it can't save a mediocre effort.
