‘After Earth’ finds a father-son team taking on a brave new world

After Earth is not the worst M. Night Shyamalan movie of all time, but that’s not saying much.

The sci-fi flick, starring Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith, is a tame, almost childish look at the future. There are no deep concepts present or anything added to our belief about how humans fit into the larger universe.

Will Smith plays Cypher Raige, a well-respected soldier in a futuristic world where Earth has been abandoned to a toxic climate. Jaden Smith plays Cypher’s son, Kitai, a young up-and-comer who wants to follow in his father’s footsteps. The problem is that the young guy is unable to pass through his sci-fi soldier school (not its technical name, of course), and his father harbors some of that great cinematic fatherly disappointment. Cliches come a mile a minute in After Earth.

On one of Cypher’s final missions (another cliche!), Kitai tags along for no apparent reason. They are headed to Earth because it’s mostly convenient to the storyline. Bad things happen (read: crash landing), and amazingly Cypher/Kitai are the only ones to survive. This well-constructed tale becomes even more obvious: Cypher is injured and unable to complete the mission. He needs his son, who is looking for an opportunity to prove himself, to find a “beacon” on the other side of a mountain. Grab the beacon, bring it back to the ship, and there’s a chance at living to see another day. Atari video games had more complicated plots.

Along the way, Kitai encounters a number of malevolent beasties hellbent on CGI violence. Earth’s flora and fauna has grown out of control since the humans left, so this walk to the other side of the mountain is no walk in the park.

After Earth actually has several redeeming qualities. The CGI is impressive, and the bare-bones plot flies by without too much wasted time. Shyamalan, working off a script he wrote with Gary Whitta, jumps right into the action and never stops the energy. That’s commendable, although the quick running time and empty context behind Earth’s demise feels like a missed opportunity. After Earth plays more like an adventure-action film than a thoughtful sci-fi flick. Where is the dialogue about environmental conservation? Where are the heady debates about human’s space in the universe? Can I get an intergalactic battle of spaceships perhaps?

The end result of the film is that we have an elongated two-hander, featuring Will Smith’s voice (he offers help to his son via radio transmission) and Jaden Smith’s still developing acting ability. Who would have thought Will Smith, the father of the summer movie season, was capable of making such a boring blockbuster.

It should be noted: I’m not a Shyamalan hater. I enjoyed all of his films up to and including Lady in the Water. I fell off the bandwagon on The Happening.

After Earth needs a lot more oomph to make us believe (and care about) this blast from the future … or to believe in Shyamalan’s much-needed resurgence.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• After Earth

• 2013

• Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

• Written by Shyamalan and Gary Whitta; based on a story by Will Smith

• Starring Will Smith and Jaden Smith

• Running time: 100 minutes

• Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and some disturbing images

• Rating: