AFTER EARTH

After Earth (2013)

Grade: B-

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Starring: Jaden Smith, Will Smith, Sophie Okonedo and Zoe Kravitz

Premise: A famous war hero’s son must prove himself to his father after their spaceship crashes on an abandoned, deadly planet

Rated PG-13 for intense action and gory images, intense emotional content and some scary moments

As I was walking out of After Earth, the new post-apocalyptic dramatic thriller starring Will Smith and his 14-year-old son, Jaden, the two friends with whom I saw the movie uttered a pair of quotes that perfectly encapsulate what I’m feeling in the aftermath of seeing it. “Oblivion was better,” one said. “He (Smith) did it for his son,” said the other. Believe it or not, that’s all you need to know about After Earth.

For the former, remember that Oblivion was another post-apocalyptic thriller set on an abandoned Earth—released in the middle of last month starring Tom Cruise, it delivered on a spiffy-looking trailer with dazzling visuals, electrifying action sequences, a rollercoaster storyline, and a throwback, this-is-why-I’m-a-star performance by Cruise. That two-hour-and-twenty-minute film, while more sophisticated than your average action-Jackson summer popcorn flick, was nonetheless a whopping, unforgettable piece of entertainment. It certainly had a more vivid and lasting impact than After Earth will.

*NOTE: For various reasons, I never wrote an official review of Oblivion, but I would have given it a B verging on a B+ for its acting, visuals, slight brain teasing plot elements and its better-than-just- straightforward storyline*

Secondly, After Earth boasts one of the most recognizable and reliable entertainers of the past two-and- a-half decades in Will Smith (who originally conceived the story), but it then watches as Smith takes an unquestioned backseat to his son, who previously starred with his father in 2006’s famously emotional true story drama, The Pursuit of Happyness. This passing-the-torch gesture probably went over very well in the Smith household, but it might not go ever well with audiences, watching the endlessly appealing and charismatic older Smith relegated to a droning bobble head literally watching from the sidelines in a 100-minute two-character film.

The story’s pretty basic. After fires, wars, pollution and various other human misdeeds rendered Earth uninhabitable, the human race was forced to leave and look for another home. They did so, led by a special breed of highly-trained, no-nonsense warriors called Rangers. However, when humanity’s new desert planet home world turned out to be infested with aliens who preyed (literally) on human fear, the need for a special, Ender-Wiggin-like leader who could defy the odds and save humanity arose. Enter Cypher Raige (Will Smith), a man of strength, courage, laser-like focus and the ability to drain himself of all fear, making him invisible to the aliens. Years later, the new home world is secure, but the Raige household is in turmoil—the celebrated Cypher simply has more important things to do then raise his son, Kitai (Jaden Smith), leaving the boy feeling angry and inadequate and wondering if his father blames him for the horrific death of his older sister (Zoe Kravitz) years before. The boy is crushed when he flunks out of Ranger training, believing he now has nothing with which to please or impress his father, but, with some convincing from Kitai’s mother (Sophie Okonedo), Cypher brings his son along on a deep-space mission.

Whatever the mission was, it doesn’t happen. Damaged in an asteroid storm, the Raige’s spaceship breaks apart and crash lands on earth, killing all but the father and the son.  The cockpit, in which Kitai and Cypher remained during the plunge to earth, is damaged and nearly faulty, but there is an emergency beacon in the tail section of the ship, which ended up some 100 kilometers away. With Cypher immobilized by devastating leg injuries, it’s up to Kitai to retrieve the beacon. But Earth is no longer a very happy place for humans—the oxygen level in the air has dangerously decreased, the weather fluctuates randomly, and pretty much every living thing would love Kitai for dinner. But with his father’s meticulous, level-headed radio guidance, the boy might just have a chance, even if he can’t manage to imitate his father and rid himself of fear.

Yep, all that was in the trailer, and that’s about all there is to it. Oh, and you might have heard, but one-time suspense-film wunderkind M. Night Shyamalan directs. I had forgotten the man behind a pair of the last three decades’ most inspired and original suspense/horror flicks (The Sixth Sense and Signs)—as well as some of the same time period’s most laughably awful movies (The Village, Lady in the Water, The Last Airbender)—was helming this, but serious movie people need not worry: the director hasn’t drenched this film in his usual quasi-mysterious randomness. After Earth actually looks great, and contains some exhilarating moments and intense action sequences (a standout is a scene in which the son panics after inhaling a paralyzing toxin, and struggles to comply with his father’s direct orders on how to self-administer an antidote while his face swells and his body goes limp); for a surprisingly-short would-be epic blockbuster, it does at least lack the air of carelessness and hollowness of shoddy sci-fi adventures like last year’s Lockout.

Despite its surface quality, though, After Earth lacks any real spark. Jaden’s a nimble actor able to convincingly convey emotion, but we’re here to see his father, one of the most accomplished movie stars of the last 20 years, and Will’s grumbling automaton is a huge disappointment, and, even before the movie's over, proves to be possibly his least-memorable performance ever. Now, it’s true Smith-the-elder has nothing to prove to anyone, but at least Oblivion was headlined by a big name (Cruise) who delivered one of his best performances in years. Also unlike Oblivion, After Earth suffers in that there’s absolutely nothing here not in the trailer. No surprises, no twists, no extra characters—nothing. It’s more than a tad monotonous.

Ultimately underwhelming, After Earth left me very curious, and my friend’s “(Smith) did it for his son” quote answered a lot of my questions. Naturally, a father who loves his son and sees him with a future in show business came up with an idea that could be his son’s first big starring vehicle, and even consented to step aside and let his son take center stage.  The movie's well made, but there’s nothing else to it, and for a movie whose trailer seemed to promise Avatar-level grand adventure, that’s a letdown.

After Earth (2013)

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Screenplay by M. Night Shyamalan and Gary Whitta; based on a story by Will Smith

Rated PG-13

Length: 100 minutes