AFTER EARTH

AFTER EARTH  

Jeri Jacquin, Movie Maven  

Opening in theatres this Friday from director M. Knight Shyamalan, writer Gary Whitta and Will Smith comes a tale of what happens AFTER EARTH.  

This film tells the story of Kitai (Jaden Smith), a young man who is a member of the Rangers. Living on Nova Prime for the last 1,000 years, Earth has become a place that is off limits to human habitation.  

Now, Kitai’s father, Cypher (Will Smith) has come home to a son that he doesn’t know. The family is still dealing with the loss of their daughter/sister Senshi (Zoe Kravitz) at the hands of the aliens of the planet. Now, father Cypher must reconnect with a son that who is trying to find himself.  

On what was to be a routine trip, the ship is hit by a storm in space and crash-lands in the last place they should be – Earth. Cypher is wounded and their only hope for survival is if Kati find the tale section of their craps to signal for help.  

To get there Kitai and his father must learn from each other to survive!  

FINAL WORD: Jaden Smith as Kitai spends too much time being a whiny kid. Sorry, but I cannot tolerate films that spend the first half of a film with a disrespectful, whiny kid. If I want to see that all I have to do is open my front door and hear it all around me.  

Once the character settles down the young Smith just snarls and by the time he gets some substance the movie is over. There is so much missing here with his character I’m actually quite stumped on how to describe it so I’m just going to move on.  

Will Smith as Cypher is a tough, emotionally restrained father – a trait he had to learn in order to ‘ghost’ with the aliens. I like the idea of the ‘ghosting’ and actually saw it as something very original. Smith is definitely a military man on a military mission and sometimes being a dad in the middle is just so hard to do.  

Now in the elder Smith’s case I understand the lack of emotion in some ways. He’s a well-respected military man and he didn’t get that way by (are you listening Jaden/Kitai?) whining and not listening! Trying to keep his family save and doing a very harrowing job – Cypher gets to be as tough as he needs to be to get the job done.  

Sophie Okonedo as Faia is endearing and lovely wanting father and son to find a happy middle ground. Kravitz as Senshi is the story within the story just like the layers in a family’s history.  

Other cast include: Glen Morshower as Commander Velan, Sacha Dhawan and Chris Geere as Hesper Pilots, and David Denman as Private McQuarrie.  

TUBS OF POPCORN: I give AFTER EARTH three tubs of popcorn out of five. This is a family film in that the biggest part of the story is the father-son dynamic with the lesson of fear under pressure. The concept is actually a good one and the storyline is interesting but to be honest there isn’t a lot of action one would expect from this kind of film.  

I’m not sure but something is up with both Smith’s and their ‘accents’? Was that on purpose? I just wasn’t sure if it was just my hearing until I heard someone next to me say, “What’s wrong with their speech?”  

I’m a tad partial to the special effects in this film, which are really well done. The animals are amazing and my personal favorite is the bird and that’s all I’m saying about that. This was a great opportunity to see what the world would look like without the hindrance of human beings.  

If you want to see more of what the world will look like in 1,000 years go to www.afterearthdecay.com and take a look for yourself!   

In the end – danger is real but fear is a choice.