I recognize that I hardly ever write negative reviews, which is because I watch movies I think I will like and my predictions are usually true to my taste. Once in a while, however, I will see one that I am not too fond of. “John Carter,” “A Bullet to the Head,” “Sucker Punch,” and “The Last Airbender” are a handful of regrets I have. I would not necessarily say that “After Earth” falls into that category of regrets, but it definitely has its shortcomings.
M. Night Shyamalan, once one of my favorite cinematic storytellers, never seemed to progress like he should, as if he chose to keep the same “few-characters, seperated-from-the-rest-of-the-world” sort of system. It worked better when the movie world did not know him, however, now, as he has moved farther into bigger budget films, it would seem appropriate, not to abandon his signature traits, yet to move past those things that have become his cliches.
Though the director has gone more of an action adventure route in his two latest outings, “After Earth,” the second of the two, has made a reversion to that signature style, probably much more overdoing it this time around, too. After the opening sequences, which conclude with the crash landing on earth, Will Smith’s Cypher Raige, a legendary general, known for literally having no fear, and Jaden Smith’s Kitai Raige, an aspiring ranger, neither of which are very memorable, are the only two characters in the entire movie. (A flashback or more are thrown in, which include Zoë Kravitz of X Men: First Class, but otherwise it is just the father and son duo on-screen.) I think a lot of opportunity was missed with Kitai’s character. He doesn’t show much of the personality you see in the trailers, him being free-spirited and fun-loving, but rather being more scared of everything on the earth he is on.
The pace of the story, which sees Kitai traveling to the tail end of the ship to retrieve a beacon that can fire a distress signal, has a very linear concept. Maybe more appropriately, like I heard one source put it, the film plays out more like watching someone play a video game; there is Kitai as the main character, Cypher is there for support, and there is much peril around every corner. Sit and watch someone play a game for 2 hours, and you might have an idea of what its like to watch this movie.
In terms of whether “After Earth” is good at what it does, I find it decent at best. M. Knight is more a suspenseful storyteller, but the action genre does not see him at his best. Some direction choices leave me wondering why, most notably why in year 3XXX is Kitai’s only weapon a sword rather than a gun, the latter of which would have made his journey much easier.
Though I like Will & Jaden Smith, I cannot really recommend seeing it. It is not either of them at their best.
