After Earth

For some reason Hollywood is obsessed about an apocalyptic Earth, whereas doom and gloom overshadows any positive or half-positive effects that could happen instead. Are people that obsessed with this possibility or is Hollywood just attempting to cash in on society's obsession with it? The plethora of films run the gambit: "The Book of Eli", "The Omega Man" and its subsequent "I Am Legend", the most recent "Oblivion", "Reign of Fire", even the dark animated film, "9". There are too many more to even list, suffice it to say that now we have "After Earth" to add to that seemingly never ending list.

One thousand years after cataclysmic events forced humanity's escape from Earth, Nova Prime has become mankind's new home. Legendary General Cypher Raige (Will Smith) returns from an extended tour of duty to his estranged family, ready to be a father to his 13-year-old son, Kitai (Jaden Smith), so he takes him on one of his next routine missions, since Kitai has been to cadet training school. While in space, an asteroid storm damages Cypher and Katai's craft, forcing them to crash land on a now unfamiliar and dangerous Earth. As his father lies in the cockpit with two broken legs, Katai must trek across the hostile terrain to recover their rescue beacon which was housed in the tail of the craft . His whole life, Katai has wanted nothing more than to be a soldier like his father. Well, through his father's computer visual instructions, today, he will get his chance to prove himself.

Others to round out the cast are Sophie Okonedo as Faia Raige, wife of Cypher, Zoe Isabella Kravitz as Senshi Raige, daughter of Cypher, Glenn Morshower as Commander Velan, Kristofer Hivju as Security Chief, Sacha Dhawan as Hesper Pilot, Chris Geere as Hesper Navigator, Diego Klattenhoff as Veteran Ranger, David Denham as Private McQuarrie, Lincoln Lewis as Running Cadet, and Jaden Martin as Nine-Year-Old Katai.

This was intricately directed by M. Night Shyamalan ("Praying with Anger" '92, "Wide Awake" '98, "The Sixth Sense" '99, "Unbreakable" 2000, "Signs" '02, "The Village" '04, "Lady in the Water" '06, "The Happening" '08, "The Last Airbender" '10). It was effective and gritty, and the way he was able to get Will Smith to act in such a controlled way in conveying his instructions to his son being under such extreme situations was incredible. This was written by Gary Whitta and Shyamalan based on a story by Will Smith. As in the past, the majority of Shyamalan films have had bizarre premises, i.e. "The Lady in the Water", "The Happening", "The Village", but even though this is of the sci-fi genre, it's not quite as bizarre as its predecessors. And this proves that he doesn't need to be so over-the-top bizarre to get the audience's attention, for this to be an effective piece. No, this was a bit slow in places where it didn't need to be, but just because this is summer with all the big-budget, high adrenaline, explosive flicks out there, another big-budget film, this being one, doesn't have to have explosions cover to cover to be effective. It had action, but not clean clear through, and I believe this made this more effective considering what we all expect this time of year.

This film has predominantly two actors in it--Will and Jaden Smith (father and son), and this not being the first film together, "The Pursuit of Happyness" being the first and Will Smith producing his son in the remake "The Karate Kid", they work well together. And this is especially evident when most of the scenes are between them. This says a lot-- a father trying to connect with his son, survival when your options are extremely limited, all rolled up with a nifty sci-fi backdrop. If you plan on seeing this, best to see on the large screen to get the full effect especially with it being presented in IMAX.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                           Rated: PG-13                   100mins.