After
films such as The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan was lauded
by critics as one of the most promising and exciting up-coming
directors. Disappointingly, his success didn't continue (Mark Kermode
calls him M. Night Shameaboutmylastfilm). With the box office name of
Will Smith, After Earth had the potential to re-establish
Shyamalan's reputation and make for a thrilling space opera.
Unfortunately, it does neither. After crash-landing on Earth, which
has been abandoned by mankind, an injured General Cypher Raige (Will
Smith) must entrust his son Kitai (Jaden Smith) to make a dangerous
journey to signal for help. Apart from all manner of human-eating
creatures which now inhabit the planet, Kitai must conquer his fears
to defeat the Ursa, a monster which attacks by detecting human fear.
The
potential for a good narrative existed (current issues such as
human-driven climate change could have been explored) but the film
ends up jumping through hoops which have been seen time and again and
quickly becomes rather dull. The film opens with more exposition than
in an IMDb plot synopsis, explaining why humans had to leave Earth
and establish other settlements in space. Even with its Star
Wars-like set-up, the exact reasons for which Earth becomes
uninhabitable remain rather vague, as does the plot contrivance which
results in Cypher and Kitai on board a space ship with an Ursa. Now,
these Ursa things were bred to kill humans so, of course, they're
blind (not a great example of genetic modification) and can only
detect prey by sensing pheromones released by fear. Even though the
aliens who bred the creatures are long-dead, humans have chosen to
keep the Ursa creatures alive as training tools for soldiers to learn
how to 'ghost' (conquering fear, therefore becoming invisible to the
Ursa). Of course, Cypher has mastered this but his son is
emotionally-immature and must eliminate his fear to save both himself
and his father.
What
you have, as a result, is a film which basically says: emotion is
bad, being a robot-like, inert person is much better. And boy, is
Will Smith flat in this film. Barking orders at his son, Smith's
character is dislikeable and alienating in equal measure. Jaden Smith
is an uninspiring lead with a limited range which seems to fluctuate
between anger and distress with not much in between. His action
scenes seem to have been constructed to within an inch of their life
and on an overall level, the set pieces just went through the
motions. It is an action film by numbers, if you will. Actually, to
use the word 'action' implies some sort of exciting energy and drive.
In reality, the film lurches from action sequence to action sequence
as if it were modelled on a bad video game narrative.
The
imagined future Earth resembles a Center Parcs forest and the concept
of civilisation collapse is avoided completely. Although the Ursa
monster showed some attempt at artistic imagination, the other
animals thirsty for human blood were disappointingly normal and
non-threatening. Superficial characterisation and nonsensical
dialogue did nothing to help the situation.
Fundamentally,
After Earth is neither inspiring, enthralling nor particularly
well-written. Will Smith may have some box office clout but has all
of his appeal sucked out of him. Jaden does his best but the film
feels tired and struggles to find something meaningful to say. The
cumulative effect of this is a disappointingly two-dimensional
experience with little merit and which leaves the audience with an
overwhelming apathy towards the whole thing. If this is what happens
when humans leave Earth, then we may as well not return at all.
Clapperboard Rating: * *
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