Movie review: After Earth

After Earth is the new special effects laden futuristic action movie starring Will and Jaden Smith. Set 1000 years in the future after humanity has abandoned Earth for… reasons… and found a new home on Nova Prime, the story revolves around the fractured relationship between father and son. Unfortunately, the lackluster plot and unbelievable characters are glaring issues that put the whole film well beyond my ability to just accept it and enjoy it for what it is. 

After Earth is a visual treat

The visual effects in After Earth are a feast for the senses. The lush jungles, soaring vistas, and ravenous creatures are artfully rendered. Even the subtlety of the morphing suit worn by Kitai (Jaden Smith) and the awesome cutlass weapon used by rangers in the film look believable. It’s exactly what you want from a blockbuster movie in that department.

Sadly, there were parts of the movie that the lush visuals just couldn’t compensate for. I don’t know if the character of Kitai was supposed to be overacted, if it was bad direction or poorly scripted, but his complete overreaction to everything was ridiculously distracting. His opening monologue sounded as if he were taking painkillers for a massive fat lip. I don’t know if that was supposed to be a forced accent or if his diction is just that bad.

For a movie about the reforging of a bond between father and son. long separated because of Cypher’s (Will Smith) military service, there was a considerable lack of warmth developed between the characters. They’re an actual father and son and I still couldn’t find it believable.

Fear is a choice

So is writing a solid plot for your movie. The plot was so poorly established that I had to give up thinking about it in the first 20 minutes. Perhaps if I had purchased the official prequel novel it would make more sense? Without going into spoilers, I don’t think it was made clear why Earth was abandoned specifically and why it’s surviving creatures have all evolved to kill the people that left 1000 years earlier. Why did an alien race capable of genetically engineering a creature that is specifically blind (for some reason) and tracks humans by their fear pheromones actually go through the trouble of doing so? Was that really the most efficient thing they could come up with to kill us? But most importantly, when something happens that is emotionally relevant to your main character, even if you want to keep that under wraps for a while to build suspense, don’t do it offscreen and leave it at a brief mention.

Don’t get me wrong, After Earth isn’t a terrible movie, but I was expecting a bit more story to help flesh out these characters. I feel more sympathy for the giant bird than I end up feeling for the protagonists. If you’re looking for a sci-fi movie to fill your afternoon and mostly care about it being pretty, then this should pretty much fit the bill. Just try not to think about it too much if you want to enjoy it. If anybody can clarify the reason why Moby Dick was made a specific focal point, I would be interested in hearing about it because the best I can come up with are thinly stretched metaphors.