Rating of
1.5/4
A film with no soul
sreekirch - wrote on 10/26/13
Here is the first scum bag collection of mine in 2013. Night Shyamalan (who gave us a bold Sixth Sense) has given up. His world of futuristic earth lacks compulsion. Shyamalan’s work looks easily the worst here. Will Smith’s story is more like a charred up plastic. So what’s it all about ? A ship that gets damaged, and has two lonely survivors (hard to believe) Smith and Jade (father son) caught in earth. Jade (rusty performance) steps out to 100 km into deep forest to bring a back up device that will save them. His ambitious journey is not too easy. Shyamalan throws up creatures and a messy narrative. This is time testing. For an adventurous film, important thing is the thrill. After Earth lacks any. Do not believe to be screaming at the monkeys and the birds. Shyamalan lacks his sense touch in here. A film with no after effect. Even a great CGI monster (typical Shyamalan style of patching up sci-fi), fails to provoke me to sit back.
The big adventure as touted has a futuristic projection of a doomed earth. There are no surviving humans. Sorry I expected at least few apocalypto- like tribals. No instead we are in for a polished blunder. The artistic talent of Jade, Smith is rotten here. They are pronouncing their lines like a puppet. Sans emotions, sans gripping moments, after earth is a film that goes no where. The impulse : Flashback tragic incident. Look at that. Just keep waiting for the climax. In a world of well known creatures, the big one is just the perfect example of blandness. This is a pursuit of pain, and doom. Don’t be startled at the end. Intention is clear in Shyamalan’s head. Just keep throwing creature after creature. Wait for the Shyamalan blunder.
I thought of first giving it a mediocre statement. I was satisfied with the moody adventure, the flashback and the most unconvincing yet, acceptable performance of Jade. But I had to step back for its lazy narration, cheap gimmicks to drive a plot that goes haywire. But the big problem here is Smiths lack a chemistry they had in Pursuit of Happiness. So I finally throw it to my scum bag (My deep regret). Shyamalan needs a push now. Let’s hope that good time is nearing. But for now, After earth is a bland soulless film that is bereft of kinetic thrills and charm.
