After Earth - K

Tell me when Will Smith isn't a – okay, not sure thing – but at least a good bet in a movie?  And then with After Earth, a movie basically made to showcase his kid?  Well, in this case we went in knowing it was a crap shoot.  We were too late for the movie we wanted to see, the latest Fast and Furious installment, and too early for another interesting looking movie, Now You See Me.  I wouldn't say so we were “stuck” with After Earth, since we chose not to wait, but that’s what we went with, for better, for worse.  And it was….well, you’ll see.

I’m not exactly sure where to start here, acting or plot….so let me flip a coin really quickly.  Tails?  Okay, acting it is.

Acting: The acting was shoddy.  Jaden Smith playing Kitai came across as a whiny little boy and Will Smith as Cypher, Kitai’s father, was stiff as a board (probably intentionally trying to not outshine his kid).  Jaden had too many monologues that stretched his acting abilities past his limit.  While his character was given the chance to transform from the scared little kid into the bad ass that he became, it didn't work that way.  Instead of a gradual transformation, it was as if a switch was flipped.  Even as he was jumping off the cliff, he was playing the part of a boy who was defying his dad, instead of bravely moving forward and taking the responsible steps to become a man.  Will Smith just looked uncomfortable in his role the entire time.  While he did better in the flashback scenes with his daughter (played by Zoe Kravitz) those were also scenes he didn't need to stretch himself and be the “rigid commander”.  It’s quite sad, really.  After I Am Legend, I thought Will Smith had proven he could dominate the screen, without a human sidekick (the dog counts) and yet I come away from After Earth looking back at I Am Legend and realize that Will Smith had once again just been playing a cowboy trying to fix things à la Men In Black, Independence Day and Bad Boys.  Perhaps After Earth simply proves Will Smith is not good at waiting around for things to happen.

Plot: Heavy use of foreshadowing throughout had me less involved in the movie.  For me foreshadowing is fun, but not when I can literally tell you what will happen within the next few minutes because the scene has a volcano prominently in the background.  The rest of it wasn't horrible, albeit predictable.  I’m also sure it would have been better if Jaden had managed to gradually grow into his role and show us the transformation (or if Will Smith hadn't been so tense, or both).

Overall: If I had known beforehand that M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, The Village, Signs) had directed this movie, I would have definitely waited for Now You See Me, and potentially skipped After Earth in the theater altogether.  Is it worth a rent for a one time viewing?  Yeah, Red Box, Netflix or cable.  I won’t change the channel if it’s on but I won’t sit down and get engrossed in it either.  Next time I won’t be so eager to go see a Will Smith movie in the theatre, and I’ll give Jaden a few years to gain some acting experience and maturity.