After Earth review

AFTER EARTH:

WHAT A TWIST, ANOTHER BAD SHYAMALAN MOVIE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: * 1/2 out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Will Smith (left) and Jaden Smith (right) in After Earth

            Poor M. Night Shyamalan, he had a great start back in the 90s with The Sixth Sense, it was dark, twisted, entertaining, and people loved it. Then he went on to directing Unbreakable, which was also good but wasn’t quite the success Sixth Sense was.

Following that was the Mel Gibson movie, Signs which was okay, but there were a lot flaws in the story and the twists are absolutely hilarious. Pretty much after Signs he started taking steps backwards with films like The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening, and the Nickelodeon movie that shall not be named.

After countless box office bombs and four Razzie wins, he took a different approach with his latest movie, After Earth which stars Will Smith (Men in Black trilogy, Hancock, Bad Boys) and his son, Jaden Smith (The Karate Kid) and it definitely wasn’t like his movies from the past, it looked more like a James Cameron or Ridley Scott movie, at least from what I saw in the trailer.

Once the film came out and I started watching it, the film slowly began to reveal its ugly Shyamalan face. The story makes no sense, the acting is dull, Jaden’s performance is beyond annoying and whiny, and worst of all, Will Smith’s performance is so boring, and that’s quite an insult to his career, because usually he’s the one who makes a bad film more enjoyable like Independence Day.

An intense crash landing leaves teenager, Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his father, Cypher (Will Smith) stranded on Earth one thousand years after a catastrophic event that forced humanity to leave the planet (sounds like another movie that came out this year, doesn’t it?). Kitai’s dad is severely injured with a broken leg so he must embark on a life changing journey through “After Earth” to find a message transmitter located in the tail of their destroyed ship and send a signal through space for help.

During his adventure he encounters dangerous situations, evolved animal species, and a frightening and mysterious alien creature that has never been stopped and escaped during the crash.

You can tell I’m not a fan of M. Night Shyamalan, I enjoyed most of his earlier films like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, but after that he went downhill and After Earth certainly isn’t helping, much like his 2010 dud, The Last Airbender. It honestly felt like a “Shyamalanized” remake of Oblivion.

If you’re looking for an outstanding sci-fi movie with good storytelling, watch something else like Star Trek into Darkness, Iron Man 3, or Oblivion. Also if you’re looking for a movie with a great twist, watch The Sixth Sense again, it’s one of M. Night Shyamalan’s very few films that were great.

            Pray for Shyamalan folks, pray for him.