After Earth

This film has a promising start. With its interesting sci-fi vision, beautiful visuals and the theme of bringing a father together with his son, who is also undergoing a process of self-realisation process, After Earth has great blockbuster potential. Despite the pleasant charm of adventurousness, however, the result is a weak storyline that fails completely in terms of both emotion and message. It is like when you know what you are supposed to be experiencing as a viewer, but it just passes you by due to its naivety and half-baked nature. To a large extent, that is actually Jaden Smith’s fault, or perhaps we should blame Shyamalan’s directing. (15.05.2019)

Jaden Smith is a supremely unlikeable brat who happens to have a charismatic dad who’s burying him a successful career by pushing him hard into production and acting. And the film itself? An embezzlement of a 130 million budget, though better than Shayamalan's last three flicks, but that’s nothing to be proud of. (18.09.2013)

This movie has such a precise filmmaking that it’s almost a shame that it’s ruined by individual moments that I simply can’t look past. After Earth is a great movie with an interesting premise and a directing that Shyamalan really nailed. But the really decent overall quality is ruined by, for example, the relationship between the father and the son, thus between Will and Jaden. I thought that it was all too serious and over-the-top. Actually, I didn’t manage to form any kind of relationship with them throughout the entire movie. It felt as if two human robots were on screen. A father with a broken leg talking all sorts of nonsense due to a delirium and a son with a mission that not even the best SAS unit could take on. I was also bothered by some of the individual scenes, like the one in which Jaden jumps off a mountain. I was getting over that for quite some time. But hats off! Shyamalan can still shoot the movies he himself believes in, even with a compromised career. And then the entire movie ends up looking really great, but after about twenty minutes of a “wow” atmosphere comes some sort of a nonsense that makes me sick to my stomach. (17.11.2013)

Two stars, because unlike The Happening, sometimes something actually happens here. It doesn't make sense, but neither does the story itself. It was as if Will was inventing it half asleep over his son's bed. But what kind of bastard tells a child a similar sectarian and emotionless story of subordination? A Scientologist? Shyamalan films some of the scenes under sedation - otherwise, he wouldn't miss how the dad and son rubberized him. The icing on the cake is a kind of eco message grafted on Moby Dick for unknown reasons. Cruel for a fairy tale, naive for a drama, lame for an action film. I hope the idiot who once called Shyamalan the new Spielberg saw this film. He should kneel and tell us how he feels. And the Indian master should retire to sniff turmeric. Which, of course, will finally happen. Judging by the effects, this is a huge $130 million fraud. (12.06.2013)

The darker moments are adorned with pointed monologues, unknown beings appear photographed at unusual angles, and family values ​overwhelm trump everything around them. Despite its mild austerity, After Earth is ultimately a pure dose of M. Night Shyamalan, and it disappoints me that Night probably won't have a chance to climb out of the incomprehensible box of an underestimated artist. Because, aside from a few harsh basic lessons about the laws of nature, I would follow this path to salvation to the highest level. 85% and a great desire to ge that chance at least one more time. (21.09.2013)

An inoffensive drama (taking place in the future) about the relationship of a fearless general (strangely detached Will) and his lily-livered cadet son (lily-livered Jaden) and their attempt to get off the planet that they crash landed on. Shy stumbles into one disaster after another, but here he is on top of the direction and he even comes up with some bright ideas. A straightforward and simple story about dispelling fear is very flimsy and the transformation at the end was very forced. So only a fair amount of blood and killer animals keep it above water. Just right, really. And how the Earth started to flourish as soon as those parasites had rocketed off elsewhere... (20.09.2013)

After Earth has basically one disadvantage, that it is relatively pathetic and quite predictable within the post-apocalyptic genre, which it down to average. Otherwise, it is a solid film in every respect, even the acting wasn’t bad. Of course, the father is better than the son, but that was expected. Visually very attractive, with interesting and atypical production design and surprisingly, it is often quite captivating. Shyamalan has kept to what he always does, Regardless of the quality of all key aspects, he is always original. (28.10.2013)

Not great, not terrible. The story could have taken place anywhere, let's say in British Columbia, from where (or to where) the central couple would be transporting, say, a grizzly bear... The science fiction presentation just bogs it down with unnecessary questions like "Why does the planet freeze overnight and how does nature deal with it?". Neither of the Smiths gives a particularly interesting performance, nor does the direction come up with any great ideas... Perhaps only Newton Howard's music is above average. (07.10.2014)

Shyamalan once again showed that he is not that bad of a director, but also that he really should not write screenplays. The story is primitive, full of dementia and clichés. Smith Jr. in the lead role is also no money-maker. This interesting topic (from Will Smith's brain) could certainly have been more than an expensive-looking and story-free sci-fi about a father-son relationship. (05.06.2013)