M. Night Shyamalan is back… for better or worse.
The H-Bomb: 1,000 years from now, long after humanity was forced to evacuate Earth and relocate to a new planet, teenage Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) is accompanying his father, General Cypher Raige (Will Smith), a decorated war hero, on an off world training exercise. Cypher has been away from home for quite some time, and his relationship with his son is strained over a family tragedy in the past, a tragedy he blames Kitai for. While en route to the training exercise, the space ship is severely damaged by an asteroid. Moments away from breaking apart completely, the ship has no choice but to set down on the closest possible planet . . . Earth.
The ship is torn to shreds right after entering the atmosphere, with bits and pieces of it being scattered all over creation. By the time the dust has settled from the crash, Kitai and Cypher are the only survivors, with both of Cypher’s legs being busted to shit, rendering him completely immobile. That leaves it up to Kitai to get to the tail of the ship, find the distress beacon that’s inside of it, and turn it on. The only trouble is, the tail end of the ship is about 100 kilometers away . . . 100 kilometers of hostile forest terrain and even more hostile animals which have, as the trailer tells us, evolved to kill human beings.
There is; however, a threat out there that’s far more dangerous than the giant birds and the angry monkeys . . . an alien creature that was designed to hunt humans by smelling their fear. Cypher, who has no sense of fear, is famous for being able to sneak up on these creatures and kill them. But, again, Cypher ain’t exactly in fightin’ shape, which means Kitai will have to face down this beast himself, and Kitai most definitely does feel fear. Cypher will be able to guide his son over the radio, but when contact is lost, Kitai will be left entirely on his own to survive the elements and retrieve the beacon. Will he be able to live up to his father’s heroic name? Or will he be overcome by his inexperience and . . . his fear?
After Earth is co-written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, a fact that has been hidden from us in the marketing, as his name is nowhere to be found on any of the posters or trailers. It’s kind of fascinating to see how, over the course of the last decade, his name has gone from box office gold to box office poison, as his films became sillier and sillier, made less and less sense, to the point where he finally vanished up his own ass with The Happening, and studios have figured out that they’re better off just not mentioning his name. It’s kind of sad, really.
Instead, After Earth is being sold as a Will and Jaden Smith vehicle, and it certainly is that, in that Will Smith is credited with writing the story, and that this is very much a father/son tale, with Will playing the old, wise mentor, and passing the “action hero” torch to Jaden. This is certainly a Smith family production through and through. It’s also an M. Night Shyamalan film, and as such, it inherits all the good and bad things that come with most of M. Night Shyamalan’s films.
For the good, like any Shyamalan flick, it is beautifully photographed (this time by Peter Suschitzky), and since this is his first full blown science fiction flick, the images are awesomely epic and breathtaking on the big screen. Shyamalan also has a talent for staging some incredible suspense sequences, and two that stand out here are when Kitai is being chased mid-air by a giant hawk, and later when he’s being stalked through the inside of a cave. There are also some clever sci-fi elements here and there, like the notion of the “smart suit” which changes colors to alert whoever is wearing it to certain impending dangers.
Unfortunately, like I said, After Earth also comes with much of the bad that has tainted much of Shyamaln’s more recent work, like some laughably stilted dialogue, wooden performances (more on that in a moment), nonsensical story turns (a person can survive freezing temperatures by being placed in a shallow hole and covered with some leaves and twigs . . . what?!), and ultimately, tremendously piss poor pacing. This is a survival story, one that should be brimming with thrills and suspense (like last year’s The Grey), but the pace is lethargic, lumbering, and the tension, aside from some moments here and there, is lacking completely. While this didn’t kill the movie for me entirely, there were stretches that were pretty damn boring, to be perfectly honest.
As for the performances, I was quite impressed with Jaden. I liked him in the Karate Kid remake, and I thought he was excellent here. He has inherited his father’s presence and charisma, and he handles the physical aspect of the role convincingly, as well. He does have a big emotional “break down” scene that doesn’t quite work, but that’s more the fault of awkward scripting than anything he did. Overall, I think it will be interesting to see him develop and come into his own as an actor over the next ten years, as he shows real potential here.
Then there’s his dad, and… oh dear… let me preface what’s about to follow by stating that I am a fan of Will Smith. I find him very charismatic, and I believe he has real chops as an actor. That said, if you ever wanted to see a Will Smith performance in which he’s stripped of all his charisma, and charm, and energy, then, by all means, see this movie! Again, this is more the fault of the writing, and Will is supposed to be playing an aloof, taciturn military type, but he comes across so shockingly stiff, like he’s playing a wooden robot. He is distressingly lifeless here, and I’m fairly certain I have M. Night to thank for that.
Anyhow, for as much guff as I’ve given After Earth, it’s not all that bad a film. Hell, this is easily Shyamalan’s best film since Signs, and it’s certainly not the train wreck that was Lady in the Water, though I acknowledge that both statements are less than ringing endorsements. For all of its cool, sci-fi elements, it’s overall rather sluggish and bland, which is probably why Columbia is not releasing it in July, despite it starring Will Smith. It’s a rather “meh” summer movie that’s worth seeing After Theaters, when it crash lands in a Redbox near you. Goodnight, Mr. Shyamalan, goodnight.
