Dustin: 2.5/5 stars Nick: 2/5 stars Average: 2.25/5 stars (Canary on life support)
Nick: After Earth is a science fiction/drama that crash lands a father and son with a strained relationship onto a deadly, uninhabited world once known as Earth.
Dustin: Welcome to Earf!
In this movie, Jaden Smith wants to be exactly like his father, while Will Smith pulls all the strings.
Nick: There’s a lot to like here. Many shots are wonderfully captured, and the idea of a son needing to conquer fear, in general, in order to save his emotionally constipated father is an exciting concept.
Dustin: I thought the movie was visually fantastic. M. Night Shamalamadingdong is a very talented director technically, even if he is an egotistical, incompetent storyteller. The worlds looked great. You could hardly tell Nova Prime, humanity’s new home, was CGI. There were also some nice set pieces, such as when Kitai (Jaden Smith), leapt off a high waterfall.
Nick: While I agree that the worlds were both fantastically done, I thought the beasts that inhabited the earth and the Ursa (from Nova Prime) were poorly brought to life.
Dustin: I thought the Ursa were well done, but I could have used more. I didn't like the beasts on earth either. The baboons were clearly CGI. The movie takes places 1000 years or so in the future, but the animals on earth seem to have evolved much further than 1000 years would have taken them, which made it hard for me to suspend disbelief.
Nick: Well if you knew Latin, then you would think that the Ursa was CGI because it means “bear.” So that definitely evolved quite a bit.
Dustin: I don’t know Latin. I have enough trouble keeping up with living languages, so...
Nick: There were certainly too many scenes of Kitai against a new threat from earth while I think we both would have preferred that threat being an ever increasing one from the dreaded Ursa who can sense fear.
Dustin: Exactly. The movie would have been more suspenseful if the Ursa had been tracking him the entire time, instead of being more like the boss at the end of a video game level.
Nick: So someone thought it was a good idea to have the actors over enunciate their words and to purse their lips whenever they felt like it.
Dustin: That was the first thing I noticed. It was clearly an artistic decision to establish something of the culture in the future. But it certainly made the performances less naturalistic, which was the main drawback of this movie.
Nick: Yes, while it might make sense that this is how we may talk in the future, it immediately takes me, at least, out of the film.
One thing I did appreciate was how the flashback scenes were utilized, although sometimes they didn't add anything to the story.
Dustin: I thought the flashbacks were overused too. Less would have been more. Or the same, at least.
One thing I couldn't help but notice about the future world is that racism still evidently exists, even if it was never mentioned. From an anthropological perspective, it is very strange for ethnic groups to occupy the same area without completely intermixing. The U.S. is a unique country in that regard as blacks and whites have lived together for 400 years, but have never really mixed. That would be baffling to future archaeologists, but we obviously know there are social issues at work. That obviously hasn't changed in the future as seen in After Earth.
Nick: I didn't notice. You’re saying that blacks and whites were together but separate on Nova Prime?
Dustin: The fact that blacks and whites and Indians, apparently, were still separate ethnic groups implied social prejudices, yes.
THE FOLLOWING SECTION CONTAINS SPOILERS
Dustin: I found the script corny and predictable. One example that sums this up was at the beginning when the guy missing his leg asked to be stood up so he could salute Will Smith. Then at the end, Will Smith, whose own leg is injured, asks to be stood up so he can salute his son. I didn't find that callback particularly clever, and it was just one of the weaknesses of the script.
Nick: I think that both of those moments should have been omitted. The first one was used to show Kitai how heralded his father was, but I’m sure they could have come up with a better way to show this such as an awards ceremony for his father, which would have built up Nova Prime more as a society and would have shown Kitai how important his father is to that society.
END OF SPOILERS
Nick: I thought the world of Nova Prime could have been explored more while cutting a lot of the pointless action scenes while on earth.
Dustin: I completely agree. The movie only spent a few minutes at the beginning explaining the setup, and I spent a lot time just trying to catch up. A few more minutes introducing us to the world would have saved me a lot of frustration. Peter Jackson spent ample time in The Lord of the Rings just setting up Middle Earth, which not only eased us into the setting, but also showed the audience what was at stake. M. Night Shamalamadingdong didn't attempt to do that here. Or the movie could have used an everyman through whom we could experience this world. Someone like a Luke Skywalker or Jack from Jack the Giant Slayer. The characters here acted like weird space aliens, and I couldn't connect with them.
Nick: It feels that way because we spend most of our time watching two characters, one called a “ghoster” for his impressive ability of not feeling fear, and the other wanting to be just like that character. The father and son have also hardly spent any time together, so it feels like they don’t know how to connect with each other. I think we were supposed to understand Nova Prime’s humanity through the scenes that showed the rest of their family.
Dustin: There was a similar father-son dynamic in October Sky. But Chris Cooper’s character showed a much more complete range of human emotions, and the audience was able to connect with him, even if they didn't agree with his manner. So at the end when he finally accepts his son on his son’s terms, it is much more satisfying. I felt nothing at the end of After Earth.
Nick: Did you feel anything during After Earth?
Dustin: No. There’s a scene halfway through that is supposed to be Kitai’s turning point as he realizes he has to go out on his own. He cries and shows emotion, but I just thought, Why would he even care to seek approval from an emotionally distant father who has hardly been present in his life? Again, Jake Gyllenhaal in October Sky was more believable.
Nick: I was actually setting you up to just say “fear,” then the review would be over. But I like the point you bring up. This is another part of the movie that could have benefited by showing more of their home world and how much Kitai’s father means to its survival. I’m sure they wanted to convey that, but they never explored it.
Dustin: In preparation for this review, I watched The Pursuit of Happyness. It was a little corny too, like this movie, but the performances were much better. I know Will Smith is capable of more which is what disappointed me here.
Nick: It’s very kind of you to call PoH a little corny. That movie was eazy cheeze on cheese. It’s an abomination.
Dustin: Would you recommend After Earth?
Nick: No. While an interesting idea with what I’ll politely call an “interesting” director, After Earth doesn't live up to the large scope it creates.
Dustin: Well, maybe they can more fully explore its scope in the proposed sequel for 2015.
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Nick: Well, I’m seeing The Purge with a friend of mine. If you want to do The Internship I can see that with you if you want. I really want to review something I can give a good rating to one of these days.
Dustin: Yeah, The Internship doesn't look too promising. It looks like a tame, by-the-numbers comedy. The Purge has an interesting premise, and I’m hoping they make the most of it.
Nick: The Internship looks exactly like Wedding Crashers. You have two guys in a situation where they don’t belong, with Owen Wilson being charming and getting the girl, while Vince Vaughn is loud and obtrusive. But The Purge also looks like its going to be silly fun.
Dustin: I was gonna say The Internship looks like The Pursuit of Happyness because it’s about some guys doing an internship and hoping it will lead to a job, but whatever.
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