After Earth
DIRECTOR: M Night Shyamalan
CAST: Will Smith, Jaden Smith
CLASSIFICATION: 10 VPG
RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes
RATING: 2 stars (out of 5)
Helen Herimbi
After Earth… comes disappointment. If we’re all honest with ourselves, the idea of Will Smith as the last person on the planet, or the one tasked with saving us in a movie, was becoming rather old hat.
If we’re mean, we’ll say it’s M Night Shyalaman’s fault. There is some truth to even the meanest statements though. The man behind Lady In The Water sat in the director’s chair for this movie that was written by Smith and Gary Whitta and stars Will and his youngest son, Jaden.
Word is the whole story idea for this sci-fi drama was Will’s. Hmm.
Let’s break it down, shall we? It’s 1 000 years after humans have become so destructive towards the third planet from the sun that they’ve been forced to evacuate it.
Now living on Nova Prime, somewhere deep in the solar system, members of an organisation called The Ranger Corps are trained to keep the peace on theirs and surrounding planets and, more importantly, keep the S’krell – aliens and mortal enemies – off Nova Prime. This bootleg Men In Black squad, who swop the shades for super-tight outfits that resemble wetsuits, is headed by Ranger Cypher Raige (Will Smith).
Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) is a teenage cadet who wants to be just like his father, Cypher. The only problem is, Kitai pretends to not seek the approval of a man who was absent for most of his life and harbours some guilt and resentment towards Cypher for not saving his sister from death at the hands of a S’krell. Kitai gets to prove if he’s really his father’s son when, out on an expedition with Cypher and others, their spaceship is forced to crash-land on Earth and everyone dies. Everyone except the Raiges, of course. Confined to a desk that calls up images into the air and forced to communicate with his son via an earpiece radio, an injured Cypher gives Kitai the task of leaving the irreparable ship in search of a transmitter that will alert Nova Prime rangers to come and save them.
The story is bland but not bad, right? Until you see it play out on a big screen. Will Smith, who is on his way to proving that black can crack, wears a faux-hawk that is part police-cut in front. He looks like an escaped member of Joyous Celebration. Unlike their natural chemistry in Pursuit Of Happyness (when Jaden was admittedly much younger and probably more natural in his interactions with his dad), it’s like Jaden imagines “action” in his head about 10 seconds into the scene and then gets into character. He also has a peculiar accent. Like a cross between cockney and a – this is said in the same way that Alan from The Hangover says it – retard.
There’s a part in the film where Kitai has a near-death experience and exclaims to his dad: “That sucked!” To which Cypher dead-pans into Kitai’s earpiece, “Correct, cadet.” That pretty much sums up this Smith and Smith venture.
Some things about After Earth are smile-inducing or reassuring, albeit not enough to save the film. One is Sophie Okonedo’s elegant portrayal of Cypher’s wife, Faia.
There’s also that tender moment when father teaches son that: “Fear is not real. It is a product of the thoughts you create. Do not misunderstand me, danger is very real. But fear is a choice.”
And so is spending money to watch one of Will Smith’s least inspiring post-apocalypse offerings ever.
If you liked Avatar or I Am Legend, you might be sceptical about this.