Featured Audience Ratings

• Nate Z

  
  Rare is the movie that just seems to fail at every level of filmmaking, from writing to direction to pacing to casting to production design to logic to, well, you name it (perhaps the craft services were the exception to the rule). Director M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth is one… More
  Rare is the movie that just seems to fail at every level of filmmaking, from writing to direction to pacing to casting to production design to logic to, well, you name it (perhaps the craft services were the exception to the rule). Director M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth is one of those exceptional, big-budget passion project failures that just mystify on every account, making you scratch your head and wonder who could possibly be passionate about something this utterly terrible? I'm reminded of John Travolta's 2000 sci-fi Scientology-ode, Battlefield Earth, for a comparison that comes close to approaching After Earth's star-powered ineptitude (this movie also has plenty of vague Scientology references as well). While I doubt this will kill anyone's careers associated, though it probably eliminates some good will for the Smith clan, it definitely piles more dirt on the grave that was Shyamalan's film career. Enough preface, let's get into the meat of why After Earth is one of the worst sci-fi films in years. In a sloppy bit of exposition, we're told that humans left planet Earth after we made it too unsustainable. The human race then colonized an alien world except that the indigenous aliens weren't too happy about this. The aliens made a space monster, known as an Ursa, which would track and kill human beings by sniffing out their fear pheromones. Cypher Raige (Will Smith) rises in the ranks of the Ranger corps because he has the unique ability to "ghost." Because the man does not register fear he is able to sneak around the Ursa as if invisible. His relationship with his teenage son, Kitai (Jaden Smith), is strained at best. Dad has been gone a long time and has high standards for his boy; the kid has to refer to him as "sir" even at the dinner table. Father and son are traveling through space when their ship crash-lands on good old Earth. Cypher's legs are broken and he entrusts his son to make the trek to send out the distress call. The dangers of Earth, we're told, have only magnified since humans left, and the Ursa onboard their ship has escaped. Oh boy, where to even start with this one? I've got a great idea, let's take one of the world's most charismatic actors and then turn him into a stone-faced hardass, terse with words of encouragement, and mostly sidelined so that his son can go on his stupid hero's journey. I suppose Smith deserves some credit for stepping outside his comfort zone to play against type, but that praise only matters when the portrayal works. Smith is arguably miscast in his own passion project. That's because this was really a $130 million dollar birthday present to his son, trying to use dad's star power to establish Jaden as a star. It's less a movie and more like a product launch. On its face, I don't really have an issue with this. Nepotism has been alive and well in Hollywood for over 100 years and those in power have been producing vanity vehicles for their beloved for even longer. What I chafe at is that the finished product is so lacking and unconvincing. Jaden was cute in 2010's The Karate Kid remake, a movie that was far better than it ever should have been. Unfortunately, After Earth came at that special time in his life known as puberty, so he gets his lanky, squeaky-voiced, awkward growth stage forever captured on film. Thus when he gets into a huff, squeals at his dad, and then become the world's most improbable super warrior by film's end, it mostly brings about snickers. You don't buy a second of this character's ascent to hero. Let's tackle the ultimate elephant in the room here, namely the involvement of Shyamalan. This is his first project he didn't conceive; Smith himself came up with the story and personally hired Shyamalan. Who deserves more of the blame? There's a reason why the marketing for After Earth has not breathed a word about Shyamalan's involvement. In my theater, when the end credits appeared and it opened with Shyamalan's director credit, the guy behind me remarked, "Well, that figures." His sense of dissatisfaction now had a tangible culprit. It's almost become a joke how much of a critical punching bag Shyamalan has become as a filmmaker. The man has genuine talent but it's five duds in a row (I am counting The Village) and not even the world's most bankable star could have saved this movie. As anyone who witnessed the atrocious Last Airbender can attest, Shyamalan is not a filmmaker who works well with a big special effects canvas. I'd suggest that Shyamalan, besides taking some time off, which may be a self-prescribed death sentence in Hollywood, find a smaller project to foster, perhaps something more personal and intimate. Nobody except the sadistic enjoys watching once-promising talents keep hitting a brick wall. Then again, people also dislike having to pay for terrible movies, especially when the director of said terrible movies keeps getting the opportunity to deliver more disappointment. The plot, which Shyamalan is credited as a co-writer for, is so dull that I found myself almost falling asleep. You would think father and son surviving crash on a hostile alien world would be packed with survival thrills and excitement. You'd be wrong. It's as if Shyamalan takes a page from Smith's ranger character, and just goes about its business in the most thankless, ho-hum, undeterred manner. When we have characters that don't react to the danger they're in it has the misfortune of feeling less real, less urgent, and less dangerous. This was a problem with The Matrix films when Neo became a super being because then the stakes evaporated. It's hard to sympathize with characters that don't reflect the reality of their setting. With that said, so much of this script is just Kitai running off and running into different animals. He meets monkeys. He meets a tiger. He meets an eagle. He meets a slug. Scintillating stuff. Such ambition. If this is what the execution was going to be like, why didn't Smith and Shyamalan just make the planet an actual alien world? It would certainly open up the storytelling options. Or they could have gone in the opposite direction, setting this survival tale on a modern Earth. That would probably have made it much more relatable and resonant and also far cheaper. The character back-story is also woefully familiar and just as ineffective. Before it even happened, I knew that there would have to be some tragic personal history so that Kitai could overcome his past. We're given some cringe-worthy moments of flashbacks to the family's happier times, when Kitai's older sister Senshi (Zoe Kravitz) was still alive. It's a plodding and contrived plot device for the father to preposterously blame his son for, who was like seven years old at the time. I kid you not, during one of these oh-so-necessary flashbacks, Senshi tells dad she got a copy of Moby Dick and a boy let her hold it. Dad doesn't get it, though I don't know if this is meant to be some lame sex joke. This back-story is ladled in with no real logical connection to events. All of a sudden, Cypher will be thinking about his broken leg and then, whoosh, we're thinking about Moby Dick. There's also the issue of its tenuous grasp on reality. I know this quality is a give-and-take depending upon the tone of the sci-fi film, but After Earth is so drearily self-serious that it becomes even more unbearable when it so clearly conflicts with credulity. This movie's big message that it pounds into your head repeatedly is that fear is a choice, fear is not real, and that fear is a hindrance for mankind's progress. This is nonsense. Fear is what kept our ancestors alive rather than trying to play with larger predators. Fearlessness is a great way for your species to end. You know an animal without fear? Lemmings. The fact that the movie has to literalize this conflict in the form of a fear-smelling alien monster is just beyond absurd. Let's keep this literalizing-of-theme going; maybe next the aliens will fashion a monster that smells intolerance or illiteracy. Why are these aliens even genetically creating a monster to do their dirty work? If they have the superior scientific prowess to create a gnarly beast, I'm pretty sure they can take care of mankind. On top of this assertion, why would you make a beast that is effectively blind and only reliant upon one sense and then you limit that one sense to "fear"? Why not just have the alien monster smell human beings? That seems to make a lot more sense. What also buggers my mind is the fact that, according to After Earth, everything on the planet has evolved to kill humans. First, I don't think substantial leaps in evolution work in meager thousand-year spans; secondly, these evolved creatures are really just slightly larger versions of familiar animals, which doesn't really make much sense either; and lastly, if humans have been off planet for a thousand years, how did these animals evolve to kill something they no longer have any interaction with? Then there's the fact that the Earth drops rapidly into freezing temperatures overnight, for no good reason. How do all those plants survive? As an extension, Kitai's super suit is just a prime example of a poorly developed idea that just as easily could have been abandoned. He has a special leotard that changes to his environment. We'll watch it change colors though we're never given any worthwhile reason why this is happening. However, Kitai's suit will not shield him from Earth's sudden temperature drops. So he's wearing this super suit that adjusts to his environment... except temperature? If you're going to present something all super scientific and then give it such obvious limitations, then you never should have introduced it in the first place. This is an ongoing theme with the film. Then there are just nit-picky things like my total distaste for the production design of this movie. The spaceships look so chintzy. They have plastic flaps separating sections, like what you'd see in an office building when there's construction. The spaceship interiors, as well as home interiors, also look like some bizarre mix of honeycomb and bamboo. I'm all for thinking outside the box when it comes to futuristic design, but this is just stupid. One of the great possibilities of sci-fi is to capture our imagination with out-of-this-world visuals, the unfamiliar, the spectacle of the alien. If your spectacle is good enough, it can even save a so-so movie, like last year's Prometheus. Being stuck on Earth, only slightly different, emphasis on slightly, fails to deliver anything visually that will captivate an audience too often settling into boredom. Apparently After Earth looks pretty much like Earth except for Mount Doom popping up. The special effects are also lackluster and the score by James Newton Howard will try and trick you at every turn into thinking what's happening onscreen is a lot more interesting than it is. If you value your entertainment, please ignore After Earth. It doesn't even work from a derisive enjoyment angle. The movie is lethargic and unimaginative to its core. It's predictable at every turn and underwhelming throughout. The plot consists of the most boring father-son team in recent memory and a hero's journey that feels false at every step. This big-budget star vehicle doesn't work when its star doesn't have the intangibles to be a star, nor does it help when the story is so poorly developed. The science feels boneheaded, the characters are dreary, the pacing sluggish, the spectacle clipped, and the world building to be bland. The shame is that this premise, even this exact same premise on a future Earth, could have easily worked as a suspense thriller. Smith seemed more interested in building an After Earth enterprise, since companion books were commissioned, and extending the reach of the Smith family empire. Making a good movie, it seems, was secondary. Being fearless also has its disadvantages. Nate's Grade: D

• danny d

  
  some of the most fun ive ever had watching a film that amounts to little more than a train wreck. the list of problems here is extensive, the plot was misused and underdeveloped. i couldnt hate it, but i cant say there is much about it i like either. a strong disappointment.

• Mike S

  
  Will Smith and his son Jaden do their second film together after 2006's heart-tugger <i>The Pursuit of Happyness</i>. This time in direction by M. Night Shyamalan, whose name has come to be associated with disappointment and a growing case of hubris. <i>After… More
  Will Smith and his son Jaden do their second film together after 2006's heart-tugger <i>The Pursuit of Happyness</i>. This time in direction by M. Night Shyamalan, whose name has come to be associated with disappointment and a growing case of hubris. <i>After Earth</i>, in spite of all the goodwill I harbor towards Will Smith, is sadly no exception. At the outset, the synopsis of the film sounded relatively interesting. The tale of Cypher and Kitai, a father and son estranged by the father's extensive war service, long years away from his family. All against the backdrop of a subsistence where mandkind, thousand years into the future, have left Earth behind and taken lock, stock and barrel into space. Striking images of a visually exhilarating, post-apocalyptic adventure, piqued and colored my gullible fantasies. Could it possibly be Shyamalan's great comeback, after a decade characterized by ludicrous blunders? We should be so lucky. Instead of, like any proper director, harnessing the charisma of Smith the older, he has assigned him with a thanklessly passive role when Cypher and Kitai, by a disastrous event, crash-lands on Earth. Injured in the accident, dad sends out his not-so-gifted son to recover a rescue beacon, while he sits back looking miserable for the remainder of the film. Any potential the story had for meaningful father-son-bonding, is soon overwhelmed by CGI baboons and a wooden script. Watchable (with narrow margin) only with credit to its eye-pleasing mise-en-scène and the Smiths' serviceable interplay. Earlier this week I caught the re-release of Steven Spielberg's timeless masterpiece <i>Jurassic Park</i>. To make the jump from that to this is like trading the champagne for warm Dr. Pepper. A contemporary antithesis, if not to say sobering lesson in how not to set up a sci-fi-outing. What if Shyamalan, in his next endeavor, delivered a film with engaging acting and natural-sounding dialogue? Wouldn't that be his best twist yet? http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mikes-Movie-Reviews/281824101875153?ref=hl

• Everett J

  
  This is a odd movie. Not odd like "man that was so different!" But odd in like "what the heck were they thinking?" Will Smith is one of the most charismatic actors alive, but here he is so boring. He is dull, lifeless, and looks like he would rather be asleep… More
  This is a odd movie. Not odd like "man that was so different!" But odd in like "what the heck were they thinking?" Will Smith is one of the most charismatic actors alive, but here he is so boring. He is dull, lifeless, and looks like he would rather be asleep the entire movie. The plot is very basic, and could have been good, but I just think they went about it the wrong way. Anyway, this is about a future where all of humanity has left Earth after some cataclysmic events. Kitai(Jaden Smith) wants to be a ranger like his father(Will Smith), but isn't cutting it like he hoped he would. They then go on a ship together that is transporting a dangerous alien that feeds off of peoples fear. The ship crashes and lands on Earth. Cypher is badly hurt and must guide his son from the ship wreckage to a way to signal for help, while avoiding that alien and all the life form on Earth that wants to kill humans. It's a father/son survival movie, but the problem is it's so slow and boring. There isn't a lot of action, and the acting of both Smith's just isn't very good. I dunno what it is, but I think if this were directed by someone other than M. Night Shyamalan, this could have been better. M. Night used to be one of my favorite directors("Unbreakable" is amazing!), but has last 3-4 movies have all been pretty bad, and this continues that trend. This feels like a big opportunity missed. Just skip it til it's available at redbox or netflix.

• Liam G

  
  Sadly, there isn't even any entertainent value to be had with Shyamalan's latest failure, he's just lost all the belief in himself he once had.

• Markus R

  
  While "After Earth" contains a compelling enough plot to keep ones interest throughout, it was a compilation of minor underwhelming factors which worked to overshadow and make this a below average movie going experience. The Script: The dialogue here is pretty bad. Filled… More
  While "After Earth" contains a compelling enough plot to keep ones interest throughout, it was a compilation of minor underwhelming factors which worked to overshadow and make this a below average movie going experience. The Script: The dialogue here is pretty bad. Filled with cringe inducing back and forth's, which only serve to continuously bludgeon the audience over the head with paternal life lessons, writers Gary Whitta and the director who shall not be named, have done "After Earth" (and it's actors) no real favors. To the point where most (if not all) of the watchable moments during this film (and there are more than a few) occur when nobody is speaking. The Direction: As for the direction, he who shall not be named actually does a fairly decent job, for about half the movie. But at the point when "After Earth" exits the forest (you'll know it when you see it) the cinematography goes from striking, to overrun by cheap looking CGI, rivaling the likes of "Green Lantern". The Story: As I alluded to before, I was rather impressed with how the plot here wasn't as bad as everyone was proclaiming it to be. And aside from the fact that the main "bad guy" in all of this doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense, much of this storyline is entertaining enough to be deemed the foundation of a watchable sci-fi venture. But then comes the insertion of melodrama. Over and over again said melodramatic scenes come about, slowing the film to a screeching halt just when things are starting to pick up. I'll put it like this: "After Earth" was no "The Pursuit of Happyness", no matter how much it tried to be. The Acting: While this aspect is the least of the factors which worked against "After Earth", much will be made of Jaden Smith's bouts of goofy overacting. Some may go so far as to make claim that the younger Smith is a bad actor. To this I would argue that if not for those immensely awkward Cajun-like accents that each character was forced to use throughout "After Earth", Jaden's underrated acting abilities would have been given a proper chance to carry this story, with diction that wasn't so distracting. Final Thought: The people wanted another "The Sixth Sense", but got "Devil" instead. The root of the problem with "After Earth" really comes down to the fact that after train-wrecks like "The Village" and "Lady in the Water", and the negative backlash from anime dweebs everywhere after "The Last Airbender", he who shall not be named needed to redeem himself with something the caliber of "The Sixth Sense". So, while "After Earth" is a step in the right direction (I'm still not recommending it) the bias that comes with this director will undoubtedly have many audiences taking an all or nothing attitude. In other words, this director who shall not be named needed to come out with something that was damn near Oscar worthy in order to avoid getting his film ripped to shreds right out of the gate. So, in his defense, the strong negative overreactions to "After Earth" may not be all his fault. Furthermore, this story was credited as a Will Smith idea, so if there is any real blame to be passed around, one could make an argument that "After Earth" is more Will Smith's fault than he who shall not be named. Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole I. Ashland Follow me on Twitter @moviesmarkus

• Jeff "

  
  M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth is one of the most disappointing films of the year. Judging by the trailers, this film looked like it had the potential of a terrific Sci Fi movie. Will Smith is a good actor, and he has made many good films, but this simply doesn't deliver… More
  M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth is one of the most disappointing films of the year. Judging by the trailers, this film looked like it had the potential of a terrific Sci Fi movie. Will Smith is a good actor, and he has made many good films, but this simply doesn't deliver what it could have. Shyamalan was once a great filmmaker, but now he seems to focus more on directing movies that are underdeveloped and needed more work in terms of a great script. In the case of After Earth, it's a dull, mediocre to affair, that you will find yourself not enjoying because nothing really grabs your attention. This was a case where the ideas were good, but the filmmakers, in this case Will Smith, because it's his idea should have rewritten the script a few times before turning it in. Shyamalan makes another dud, however at least the film looks good, if only there could have been more substance to the material that the actors are working with. Everything here seems lazy and unimpressive. The idea is good, but they could have added more depth to the material. I think it's a great shame because After Earth is a good looking movie with great effects and a good lead actor. However the plot suffers from underdeveloped ideas, and dull performances and excessive slow scenes where nothing happens. The Grey had that, but the script was solid, and the acting was top notch, but we get a film here that fails to deliver any real feel of threat to the characters because I found them to be poorly thought out. At least with The Grey, what kept you interested from start to finish was that the characters were great, each had a good enough back-story and had enough thrills. After Earth just ends up using a good, interesting idea and peppering the script with a few clichés to create the film. I did not absolutely hate the film, but it's one that could have been much better and needed a few rewrites. I was more disappointed with this one, but I guess that's what we've come to expect from M. Night Shyamalan.

• Eugene B

  
  Though the film is somewhat a step higher than director M. Night Shyamalan's recent slumps, it still results in blockbuster blunder and failure. After Earth is a watered-down sad attempt at a sci-fi epic. The film's inconsistency and open-ended plot/story leaves the… More
  Though the film is somewhat a step higher than director M. Night Shyamalan's recent slumps, it still results in blockbuster blunder and failure. After Earth is a watered-down sad attempt at a sci-fi epic. The film's inconsistency and open-ended plot/story leaves the audiences hanging and confused. No doubt Will Smith & Jaden Smith's chemistry as father & son is there, but the acting could somewhat improved as it appeared flustered. Visually a remarkable film, but that's all it can give as the film disappoints. 2.5/5

• Aaron N

  
  Cypher Raige: Do you know where we are? This is earth. I have been fairly vocal about two films I have been looking forward to this year from filmmakers who have been written off by almost everyone. The first was Pain & Gain, which I found to be interesting, but director… More
  Cypher Raige: Do you know where we are? This is earth. I have been fairly vocal about two films I have been looking forward to this year from filmmakers who have been written off by almost everyone. The first was Pain & Gain, which I found to be interesting, but director Michael Bay's style was still a component that hurt the film overall. Now I have seen the second film I was surprised to find myself looking forward to, After Earth, the latest feature from director M. Night Shyamalan. I wish I could have found myself enjoying the film more, but there is a real lack of energy in this fairly somber coming-of-age/survival story about a father and son stranded on a foreign land (which happens to be Earth). The problem is pretty simple, for a movie that talks about fear being a choice, After Earth is afraid of doing anything truly radical, settling instead for minimalist concept that disregards being anything more than functional. read the whole review at thecodeiszeek.com

• KJ P

  
  Besides a few pleasing elements, from the acting to a few pieces of visual effects, "After Earth" is a bland and forgettable post-Earth? film that strives far too much to be like many sci-fi films of the past. As their shuttle crash lands on a quarantined Earth, Kitai must… More
  Besides a few pleasing elements, from the acting to a few pieces of visual effects, "After Earth" is a bland and forgettable post-Earth? film that strives far too much to be like many sci-fi films of the past. As their shuttle crash lands on a quarantined Earth, Kitai must leave his father who has broken both of his legs, while he ventures off to seek the tail end of the ship which has a beacon to rescue them. That being the entire plot does really nothing for me and is very very boring. There is nothing to this film. With terrible dialogue, a horrendous execution and laughable visual effects, "After Earth" is easily one of the worst films of 2013 by far. The idea has so much potential, but by the time the movie ends you are too pissed off to enjoy any of it. The movie starts and ends and things happen, that is all. This movie is pretty damn bad!

• Jason S

  
  There is an interesting story in here somewhere but unfortunately the filmmakers have decided to focus on a bland one. I liked the world that the movie is set in with the human race having to flee Earth and settle on a far away planet and their troubles with an alien race that has… More
  There is an interesting story in here somewhere but unfortunately the filmmakers have decided to focus on a bland one. I liked the world that the movie is set in with the human race having to flee Earth and settle on a far away planet and their troubles with an alien race that has caused them to form a brand of military specially equipped to handle them but the movie doesn't focus on this aspect of the story. Instead we get to watch Will Smith be gruff and bleed out while his emotionally damaged son runs around on a very hostile Earth. The effects and design of the future technology are hit and miss through the whole film with the crashed spaceship looking more like a busted up kite than something that could fly through the cosmos. The crazy amount of green screen work is obvious and took me out of the film a few times and some of the music cues were misplaced. I think M. Night played it safe with this one to avoid the slings and arrows of all who judge him for not hitting it out of the park with each film he releases. It's unfortunate because none of his identity comes out in this film and I think it would have helped it a little in the end. Overall I didn't think this was a terrible movie. It's just not a good one.

• Byron B

  
  The only praise I can muster up is for the Art Department. The futuristic buildings and interior of the spaceship have some originality. I thought it was noteworthy that none of the trailers mentioned that Shyamalan was the director. Will Smith and Shyamalan are both credited as… More
  The only praise I can muster up is for the Art Department. The futuristic buildings and interior of the spaceship have some originality. I thought it was noteworthy that none of the trailers mentioned that Shyamalan was the director. Will Smith and Shyamalan are both credited as producers and writers (amongst others) and there is evidence that Smith shares responsibility as director as well. I liked Will's and Jaden's previous co-starring effort in The Pursuit of Happyness. Here the father, playing a hero named Cypher, has lost that spark of charm that made him a star, and the son, playing a ranger trainee named Kitai who is thrust into a wilderness survival race against time, seems to be one-dimensional. The plot is formulaic and boring. It doesn't make sense how Kitai seems to read his authoritative father's mind. Whether they are in communication and keeping secrets from each other, or their communication system is being interrupted, there are too many instances of the plot being dishonest and overly complicated. The multiple references to Moby Dick and the tagline, "Danger is real. Fear is a choice.," which sums up the moral of the story, attempt and fail to give the movie some deep meaning that it simply doesn't possess. This gives me no confidence in Smith's plan to make this world a multiplatform franchise.

• Anthony L

  
  There is one thing you can say for M. Night Shyamalan....he's consistent. If you are stopping to say to yourself "HEY! I didn't know M. Night directed this movie". That's because the people at Sony pictures thought it best to not bring that up. As most of you… More
  There is one thing you can say for M. Night Shyamalan....he's consistent. If you are stopping to say to yourself "HEY! I didn't know M. Night directed this movie". That's because the people at Sony pictures thought it best to not bring that up. As most of you know M. Night started his career off strongly with "The Sixth Sense", "Unbreakable", and to a lesser degree "Signs". After that it all went downhill fast. Yes, The Last Airbender made a good crash grab, but outside of that? Bupkiss....... After Earth is a bad movie. Will Smith developed the story and M. Night co wrote the screenplay. Personally I don't think this is as bad as Airbender or even nearly as bad as Lady in the Water, but make no mistake......this movie is no good. Will Smith came up with the idea for this movie after watching an episode of "I Shouldn't Be Alive" (true story) and thought of a father/son story about being trapped in the mountains somewhere and the son must go find help, then he decided to place 1,000 years in the future thus exploding the budget. So this is the story in After Earth: An emotionally dysfunctional father and his overemotional nincompoop of a son crash-land on Earth, which has been quarantined for 1,000 years after we humans messed it up and left. Dad breaks both his legs, so son has to walk 100 km to the other half of the spaceship's wreckage to find a beacon. This is bad because, as Will Smith's dad says, everything on Earth has evolved to kill humans. I always found Will Smith likable, and the same went for his characters, until this movie. Cypher Raige is THE most unrelatable parental figure I have ever seen in a movie. And Jaden Smith (while cute in The Pursuit Of Happyness) just doesn't have the acting chops to do this role justice. Maybe he will develop that over time, but for the time being it very much feel like "Daddy just bought me my own 100 million dollar movie"! Plot holes are common in stories, there is no perfect movie but in After Earth I found myself asking questions every scene about why the characters were doing things that just seemed idiotic and not even in retrospect. Furthermore some of the dialog was laughably bad and I am almost certain that was not the intent of the writers when they were putting fingers to keyboard or pen to paper. There are some nice visual effect shots. And if you exclude every scene with a poorly done CGI animal in them then this movie has 100% excellent visuals. I guess the other plus is that for a big SciFi movie it runs under 100 minutes. But even there is a lot of padding, scenes of Will and Jaden trying to communicate with each other and failing, and we get to hear them repeat themselves A LOT. Seriously, there is not a lot in the way of redemption for this movie. In fact I was originally going to give After Earth 1 1/2 stars but just for making me remember this whole debacle of a movie it is going to lose the 1/2.

• The Movie W

  
  In the future, Earth is abandoned by humans, thus becoming inhospitable. Mankind establishes a new home on a world called Nova Prime but an alien race also has designs on conquering the planet. These aliens, known as the S'krell, use a species of aggressive beast, the Ursa, which… More
  In the future, Earth is abandoned by humans, thus becoming inhospitable. Mankind establishes a new home on a world called Nova Prime but an alien race also has designs on conquering the planet. These aliens, known as the S'krell, use a species of aggressive beast, the Ursa, which senses the pheromones released when a human feels fear. General Cypher Raige (Will Smith) is a "ghost", a soldier who has trained himself never to experience fear, thus making him an invaluable asset in the war against these beasts. Raige is disappointed in his son, Kitai (Jaden Smith), whose application to join his father's Rangers is turned down. Raige takes Kitai along on his final mission before retirement but an asteroid storm causes their ship to crash land, killing all on board except for the father and son. With Raige's leg broken, Kitai must journey 100km to employ a distress beacon in the tail of the ship, which separated during the crash. Along the way, he must evade an Ursa, set free by the crash. Followers of European soccer will be familiar with the plight of Fernando Torres. Once considered the continent's most exciting striker, a big money move to Chelsea reduced him to football's biggest joke. Despite the best efforts of several coaches, the player has been unable to replicate his early form, and the more he tries, the less likely it seems we'll ever see his best again. M Night Shyamalan is the film-making world's Fernando Torres. I've been somewhat of an apologist for the director but enough is enough. We can now safely say, 14 years on, 'The Sixth Sense' was very much a once off. He's still a decent director but his writing is embarrassingly bad. 'After Earth's dialogue makes James Cameron seem like a master wordsmith, packed with cod-philosophy nuggets like "Danger is real, fear is a choice". (Shyamalan also quotes 'Moby Dick', because no sci-fi movie has ever used that analogy before, right?) It's baffling how he keeps finding work, though the Scientology backers of 'After Earth' may have been impressed by his alien invasion movie 'Signs', which they possibly mistook for a documentary. Much has been made of the film's Scientology proselytizing, though in fairness it's no worse than the spiritual message crammed down our throats by Ang Lee in his 'Life of Pi', a film which, if crossed with 'Battlefield Earth', would probably end up pretty close to what we get here. 'After Earth' could be a sci-fi masterpiece and likely wouldn't be acknowledged as such due to the bizarre level of hatred that exists towards Scientology, a religion no more nonsensical than any other. I can tell you, without bias, this is a movie even Cruise and Travolta would struggle to make it through. Will Smith's relationship to the religion is unclear as he denies being a member yet donates millions to the organization. What is clear is that he needs to stop forcing his son to follow in his footsteps. Young Jaden simply can't act and possesses neither his father's movie-star charisma nor his everyman affability. Watching him plod his way through the film makes you wonder who is having less fun, the audience or the actor? If ever there was an argument against nepotism, this is it.

• Sol C

  
  The film wasn't as bad as every one is saying. I was expecting it to be much worse. I give M. Night Shyamalan credit. I thought he did a good job here. This was better than his last couple of films that he directed. The pacing was off. At times it was a little slow. They needed a… More
  The film wasn't as bad as every one is saying. I was expecting it to be much worse. I give M. Night Shyamalan credit. I thought he did a good job here. This was better than his last couple of films that he directed. The pacing was off. At times it was a little slow. They needed a rewrite. I think they should have had more backstory to Will's character and more about this future. Will is actually good in the film. However, his character is a supporting role. It is his son which is the lead character of the film. I thought Jaden was ok for the scenes that he did on Earth. However, I thought he wasn't good as the character in the beginning of the film. I honestly think that it would have been better had they cast some one else in Jaden's role. Will and Jaden were great together on screen in The Pursuit of Happyness. Zoe Kravitz is great in her supporting role. I would have loved to see more scenes with her in it. Overall, I will say check it out. The special effects are also good.

• Jeff B

  
  After The Happening and after The Last Airbender comes After Earth, M. Night Shyamalan's slightly improved but hardly stellar next notch on his H'Wood bedpost. Of course, this is more of a Will Smith movie than one sold on the once marketable director's name. As… More
  After The Happening and after The Last Airbender comes After Earth, M. Night Shyamalan's slightly improved but hardly stellar next notch on his H'Wood bedpost. Of course, this is more of a Will Smith movie than one sold on the once marketable director's name. As it's not a franchise with a pre-existing fanbase and pre-conceived expectations, however, the pudding is the proof. Unfortunately, the proof is not always in the pudding. Sometimes hot, sometimes warm, the design and effects prove to be a mixed bag of new dish and leftovers. Sometimes cool, sometimes cold, the acting (other than Will) and writing prove to be a mixed bag of one man's garbage and another man's treasure. After all, it's pop-corn culture and the heat here is definitely on medium. In this PG-13-rated sci-fi actioner, a young cadet (Jaden) embarks on a perilous journey to signal for help after a crash landing leaves him and his injured, veteran ranger father (Will) stranded on earth 1,000 years after humanity's escape. Acting-wise, Smith still has a factor known as It. Incapacitated with broken bones in the confines of a crashed vessel, he has the fortitude to realize a war-weary military father with all of the authenticity of The Great Santini. His son, however, kills it in some scenes and nearly kills his career in others. Shyamalan, meanwhile, still demonstrates a great gift for tactile aesthetics and in-the-moment close-ups in seemingly natural environs, despite the alien culture. While it doesn't dig a grave for all involved, it certainly doesn't warrant an Earth-y sequel either. Bottom line: Independence Meh.

• Jeffrey M

  
  Having ruined his once promising career with such duds as The Village, The Happening, Lady in the Water, and The Last Airbender (basically everything he's been involved with since 2002), no one was perhaps more disinterested in seeing another M. Night Shaymalan entry than me. His… More
  Having ruined his once promising career with such duds as The Village, The Happening, Lady in the Water, and The Last Airbender (basically everything he's been involved with since 2002), no one was perhaps more disinterested in seeing another M. Night Shaymalan entry than me. His voyage into the post-apocalyptic genre, very over-saturated as of late, does not do much to inspire confidence in a comeback. The premise of After Earth has Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith stranded on Earth, after a confusingly explained failed mission, with the two left to fend for themselves. In this time, Earth has evolved significantly to the point where seemingly every living organism is a threat to humanity's existence. First, the good. I may be in the minority, but I found After Earth to offer a fairly intriguing premise. The world building was mixed, but I appreciated the thought put in to how the creatures and the environment evolved. What I especially liked was the evolved nature of the humans, who have a very stylized way of speaking and a sort of new age approach to everything. The film incorporated this in a way that didn't go out of its way to point itself out, so much as actually be. In this sense, After Earth had a bit of an indie film vibe (an absurd thing to say because of its budget, I know), as it moved at its own pace, and was very assured of itself and its ideas. The elements of the film that didn't work, however, are plentiful. First off, the acting is not especially good. Jaden Smith is not a strong actor at this stage in his career, and simply did not belong in a leading role. He has neither the developed talent, charisma, or heft to carry such a role, and the film suffered for it. Will Smith was okay, but was restrained by a script that provided him with cheesy dialogue and marginalized his part later on. The narration throughout the film is routinely terrible, with Jaden Smith having the worst opening monologue in a film I have ever heard. The visuals of the film were a mixed bag. Some of the CGI seemed up to par, while others simply looked cheap and fake. This was particularly evident in a number of creatures, including the alien species. The script also leaves a lot to be desired. The relationship between Will and Jaden is never fleshed out to any real significance, and feels very contrived. We don't understand the inner workings of the culture, how the culture came to be that way, or what exactly the characters are doing. The filmmakers did not seem to care about informing or really engaging their audience, and were simply too self assured. The pace of the film was also a bit slow, even at only 90 minutes. The action was never very engaging, and was always proceeded by bad narration, clichéd dialogue, and familiar plot devices. After Earth is not a resoundingly bad film. Some of the elements worked, and the film always interests. There is definitely large ideas to be had, they just weren't realized well. But for poor execution and cast decisions, it may have been a very compelling film. As it is, an overall weak effort. 2.5/5 Stars

• Philip P

  
  It is odd to be so let-down by a project containing so many working parts that you can usually believe in and rely on or even possess a major part that you'd like to believe might start working to the best of its abilities again. Everything about the latest Will Smith sci-fi… More
  It is odd to be so let-down by a project containing so many working parts that you can usually believe in and rely on or even possess a major part that you'd like to believe might start working to the best of its abilities again. Everything about the latest Will Smith sci-fi film, After Earth, though feels lazy and re-hashed as if they were coming up with things to do, obstacles to overcome on the spot and relying on cheap special effects to fill in the rest come post production. What is most irritating about this entire project though is that it so effortlessly takes itself seriously yet could not come off as more immature. There is a spark at the very beginning where it drops us right into the middle of the action, where for a split second I thought this might have deserved more than the critical lashing it received gave it credit for, but just as that thought entered my mind we began getting voice over from one Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) that gave us the back story of who his father was, where we were at presently, why the human race was there and several other details of exposition that could have just as easily been explored and revealed in a more interesting movie. Also take note that this piece of dialogue and every other line no matter who it was delivered by is spoken in an accent that seems to evoke every impersonation I've ever heard of John F. Kennedy. Like much of the film, this idea of having every human offspring who lived past the days of calling earth our home adapt the same speaking patterns and dialect is interesting, but the execution proves more distracting than anything else (and this is coming from a guy who didn't mind the gibberish talk in Cloud Atlas). Thus this is only one of many complaints I began to log away as After Earth continued to play out in what ultimately feels very brief and more disappointingly, unaffecting. I've always liked Will Smith and thought of him as a charming, charismatic guy that was always fun to watch on screen, but his character here has none of those qualities and with that persona completely absent it leaves the film feeling equally as hollow as his Cypher Raige. read the whole review at www.reviewsfromabed.com

• Daniel D

  
  After Earth is actually not a half bad sci-fi. Starring Will and Jaden Smith, who I did have problems with the performances of, the film goes by the Hollywood formula. Admittedly though, I almost thought it would break cliches. It has a few surprisingly touching scenes. The special… More
  After Earth is actually not a half bad sci-fi. Starring Will and Jaden Smith, who I did have problems with the performances of, the film goes by the Hollywood formula. Admittedly though, I almost thought it would break cliches. It has a few surprisingly touching scenes. The special effects were great in my mind. I think this is a bit over criticized with only 12% with critics currently. Cliche but above average in entertainment, and while not inventive, strong in visuals.

• Christopher H

  
  Out of the gate, critics and general audiences will look down on Will Smith's latest feature, "After Earth". For starters, M. Night Shyamalan steps back into the director's chair since his widely criticized endeavor "The Last Airbender". Despite what the… More
  Out of the gate, critics and general audiences will look down on Will Smith's latest feature, "After Earth". For starters, M. Night Shyamalan steps back into the director's chair since his widely criticized endeavor "The Last Airbender". Despite what the marketing would have you believe by keeping his name completely off of it, M. Night writes, directs, and produces this film. Also, critics pan this film due to Will Smith acting next to his son, Jaden, committing that there are far better teen actors for this role. Having seen the film, I disagree with both points. M. Night has definitely gone down hill in his performance lately, but what I caught during the credits is that this concept actually came from Will Smith with a "Story By" credit attached to his name. That means M. Night wasn't in complete control of this film, with Will and Jada Pinkett Smith also credited as producers. So that means "After Earth" is just as much Smith's baby as it is M. Night's. With that, having Jaden in the film makes slightly more sense, as I am sure this concept came from Will in that he pictured himself with his son. Jaden is not the most seasoned actor and misses his mark on more than a few moments in this science fiction action film, but overall, he proves just fine and having him acting off his own father is likely what brings out those moments. Even down to the marketing this makes some sense. Look at the poster for "After Earth" where Jaden and Will both stare and you could almost mistake the two of them. There are times in the film where Jaden almost looks like his father from further away and I find that element of the film very strong. The father-son connection is what keeps this plot from falling through. The visual effects are dynamic and memorable, but its the growth between a distant father and son that will set it apart from any other post-apocalyptic Earth story. Had this come from anyone but M. Night and contained anyone but Jaden and the critics would have probably been on board with the semi-original, completely captivating thriller, but with so much to complain about before even sitting in their theater seats, this film was doomed the moment it came out of the can. Despite all that, "After Earth" is a strong family adventure and does reach further than I believed it could.

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