After Earth (2013) Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Starring: Jaden Smith, Will Smith, Sophie Okonedo. IMDB says: “A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige and his father Cypher stranded on Earth, 1,000 years after events forced humanity’s escape. With Cypher injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help.”
After Earth should have been the film that catapulted Jaden Smith into the realm of legitimate actors but unfortunately for the the Smith family legacy, it won’t cement that reputation. In fact, it falls short of that by a sizable difference. The film has a lot of elements working against it. For one, it is directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who doesn’t have the greatest track record. The most (read: only) seasoned actor with more than a line or two is Will Smith, and his son, Jaden controls more than 80% of the screen time. Also, Will Smith is the man behind this story and Shyamalan is billed as a co-writer.
The basis for the plot is a father and son become stranded and the son must venture out to save both their lives. By itself, it’s not a bad spark for a story. Then it was decided that this would take place 1000 years after the planet Earth was abandoned. And then a bunch of extra little things were added, like the idea that a species of aliens is trained to kill humans based solely on their ability to sense our fear, and then one of those creatures is accidentally let loose on Earth. And that is the plot in a nutshell. Here’s the thing though, I can’t say it was awful. It was a good idea with some creative elements but there were a few big detractors. The biggest one is the pacing. The film feels drawn out, several scenes feel forced and unnecessary, the result is a 91 minute film that could have been just as, if not more, effective as a 61 minute film. The other big issue is with exposition and character development, it feels as though the more we learn about these characters the less emotionally invested in them we become. They just aren’t very relatable, at least not in a good way, and at least not for me. All in all, it was a good idea with poor execution.
Other than the screenplay, my biggest gripe is with the acting. In addition to the scenes feeling forced, the acting is doubly so. I don’t understand how Will and Jaden can have a real life relationship but create such an unauthentic showing on screen. The visuals are well done, the sound editing and score seem fitting and polished, and honestly the directing is easily serviceable. However, the acting detracts from all of that throughout the entire film with the exception of the few times Will is on screen and even then you aren’t sure what emotion he is feeling, if any at all. The lines are just delivered so deadpan so often that you are left wondering whether either character truly cares whether they live or die. And on top of unconvincing acting is some sort of strange futuristic accent that only serves to further detract from the dialogue.
This film isn’t for everyone, in fact anyone that wants to be able to understand and relate to the characters on screen will be disappointed. Anyone who thinks this is an action film will be disappointed. Anyone who wants a fast-paced father-son drama will be disappointed. This film is just mostly a disappointment with some decent visuals.
At its core, After Earth is a decent movie, but there are many things that get in the way, first of which is the way the movie is marketed. When watching the trailer for AE you get the impression that this film is a bad ass sci-fi blockbuster; those elements exist in here but aren’t necessarily delivered on. Yes, the movie is based in science fiction; the premise is that 1000 years ago, humans abandoned the earth because it could no longer support us. On a standard mission, a spacecraft suffers damage and is forced to crash land on the now evolved earth. The only surviving crew members, a father and son, must now find a way to survive and get rescued. The movie has some nice action sequences, however none of them were spectacular and all of them were shown in the trailer. The movie passes itself off as sci-fi/action fare, when it really has the heart of a drama, and while that isn’t a bad thing, it’s just not what people are expecting from this movie.
There are smaller things that don’t work for After Earth as well. Namely this affected, West-Indian/Jamaican accent that the characters are using. It didn’t make the characters hard to understand (i.e. Cloud Atlas), but you could tell it was a clear choice of the director to have them talk this way but what was unclear was the reason why. Did only Jamaicans make it off of Earth? Adding to the confusion was the fact that Will Smith kept on fading in and out of the accent making it even more annoying. Another thing that hindered the film was Jaden Smith’s acting, this boy is terrible. Now I understand that a little nepotism goes a long way, but it Jaden is serious about this acting thing he needs acting lessons like yesterday. Some of his lines sounded so forced and sometimes knocked you out of the whole experience.
What works for AE is the drama element of the story, the strained relationship between Will Smith’s character, a high-ranking official in the military who missed out on many milestones in his children’s life, and Jaden’s character, a young boy who desperately wants to be like his father and feels guilty about an accident in his past. Both characters embark on this journey and deal with their own demons and become closer to each other. I drew a lot of parallels between the character’s relationship and the relationship between me and my father, and I think many who see this movie might do the same. With Father’s Day right around the corner, this would be a great movie to take your father to see.
All in all, After Earth is a film that breaks no new ground, but it has heart. As mentioned earlier, this is not a summer blockbuster; so if that is what you are looking for then you may want to look elsewhere. But if you’re looking to spend some time with a male figure in your life I suggest giving After Earth a try.
