After Earth (DVD REVIEW)
After Earth
DVD
Review by Kam Williams
Will and
Jaden Smith Co-Star as Father and Son in Campy Sci-Fi Saga
In recent years, the name M. Night
Shyamalan has become synonymous with mediocre movies with a humdinger of a
twist tacked on at the very end. Meanwhile, Will Smith has been so successful
as the perennial star of a string of summer blockbusters, that he’s been
crowned “Mr. July.”
Thus, when the two former
Philadelphians decide to collaborate on a film project, something ostensibly
has to give. Will Shyamalan stem his decade-long decline or will Will’s winning
streak come to an abrupt end?
Looking a little more like a
Shyamalan than a Smith production, this cheapo, post-apocalyptic adventure
suffers from a combination of miscasting and cheesy special f/x (reminiscent of
Lost in Space, the Sixties TV series). Consequently, After Earth pales in
comparison with a couple of other sci-fi pictures presently in theaters,
specifically, Star Trek 12 and Iron Man 3.
At least this futuristic, Shyamalan
offering doesn’t turn on rabbit-out-a-hat resolution. In fact, quite to the
contrary, the predictable ending of this stranded and I want to go home saga is
an exercise in the obvious established by the premise.
As for the acting, Will Smith is
normally good for a little comic relief even in his dramatic outings. Here,
however, that trademark flair for the flamboyant he regularly exhibited on TV
as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is nowhere in sight.
Instead, he displays a sober
stoicism from start to finish as General Cypher Raige, the forbidding father of
Kitai (Jaden Smith), an aspiring ranger eager to prove his worth as a soldier.
He gets his chance when they are the only survivors of an intergalactic
expedition crash-landing on Earth, a planet abandoned by humanity a millennium
earlier.
With the General wounded and the
spaceship crippled, it is up to Kitai to embark on a hundred-kilometer trip
through the jungle alone to retrieve the emergency beacon from the detached
tail section. This proves to be no mean feat, since the forest is covered with
a variety of voracious, man-eating creatures.
Will Smith proceeds to spend the
balance of the movie sitting in the damaged fuselage surrounded by unspooled
reams of what looks like toilet paper. Unbudgeted scenery aside, this film is
really designed as a vehicle for his real-life son, Jaden, whose performance in
front of the blue screen is tarnished a tad by a high-pitched voice yet to
crack.
They say, there comes a time in
every black comedian’s career when he’s asked to put on a dress. Well, it seems
the same can be said about appearing in a campy sci-fi as demonstrated by Billy
Cosby in Leonard Part 6, Eddie Murphy in The Adventures of Pluto Nash and John
Witherspoon in Cosmic Slop.
A simplistic, father-son morality
play strictly for little kids and diehard Will and Jaden Smith fans. Destined
to be added to the pantheon of inadvertently-funny blaxploitation flicks with a
devoted cult following.
Good (2
stars)
PG-13 for action violence and disturbing images
Running time: 100
minutes
Distributor: Sony
Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: A
Father’s Legacy: Will and Jaden Smith on and off screen; 1,000 Years in 300
Seconds: On Location with the Cast; The Nature of the Future: A look at the
landscapes and creatures; and XPRIZE: After Earth Robotics Challenge winning
video.
To see a trailer for
After Earth, visit:
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