After Earth

2013 Columbia Pictures
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan; Written by: Gary Whitta and M. Night Shyamalan (Based upon a story by: Will Smith)
Starring: Jaden and Will Smith
MPAA Rating: PG-13; Running Time: 100 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 4/10

Something has happened to Earth and humans have fled across the galaxy. Unfortunately, across the galaxy isn't too much better, as humans are now hunted by massive and deadly, fear-sensing beings called Ursas. Special human soldiers called rangers, who have learned to suppress their fear, fight back against the Ursas, ensuring mankind's survival. The greatest of these rangers is Cypher Raige, who lost one of his two children in an Ursa attack. His surviving child, angsty teenage boy, Kitai, wants nothing more than to be a great ranger like his father, but can't get into ranger school because he can't suppress his fear...however, he's going to have to learn how real quick. After an asteroid shower crashes their ship into a strange and dangerous planet, Kitai soon finds that he and his father are the only survivors. Cypher's legs are broken, so only Kitai can hike through the woods to reach a nearby mountain tall enough upon which to mount a distress beacon. Oh yeah, this strange and dangerous planet is Earth, and there was a captured Ursa onboard the ship that's now on the loose, along with Earth's highly dangerous fauna. Good luck, Kitai.
I generally don't like to criticize a child performance, but considering Jaden Smith is now in his mid-20's, the son of one of the most popular actors of all-time, and was born with more money in his bank account than I'll likely acquire throughout my entire lifetime, I don't feel badly saying that I'm not sure I've seen a worse and weirder central performance in a 100-plus million dollar-budgeted blockbuster than the one Smith gives as Kitai Raige in 2013's After Earth. It's front-and-center from the very start of the film, Smith's absolutely bizarre enunciations ramming full speed into his even more bizarrely charisma and emotion-free inflections, in an opening monologue. It gets worse from there. It's a wonder that writer/director, M Night Shyamalan, decided that even the best of Smith's takes here were fit to be projected on the big screen.
Perhaps Shyamalan felt he had no choice, as Jaden Smith's father not only wrote the lousy original story for this film, but co-stars as Kitai's father, Cypher. Will Smith has since voiced regret that he put his son in this position, and indeed, the worst thing he could have done was place his famously charismatic energy in the same frame as his son's. However, perhaps Will Smith owes a bigger apology to Shyamalan. The director once heralded as "the next Spielberg" finds himself at the tail end of a nearly decade-long career nadir with After Earth, which started with 2006's Lady in the Water, and thankfully ended with the fun and freaky The Visit in 2015. The saddest thing for Shyamalan here is that he's actually crafted a beautiful looking film. Even the veteran director's worst films look pretty great, and After Earth is no exception, with gorgeous shots of expansive forests, massive waterfalls, and scenic mountainous landscapes all earning the film's IMAX tag. It's a shame Shyamalan's script (co-written by Gary Whitta) is so silly (i.e., the Earth freezes over every night, yet its verdant forests are always green as ever the next morning), though it's tough to tell how much room was left for greatness within the frame of Smith's original story.
After Earth's greatest aspect, Shyamalan's visuals, are actually also its most disheartening aspect. Shyamalan will likely never again be entrusted with a budget this large, and indeed, it does seem that he flourishes best when he is operating on a smaller, more intimate scale. However, with a better script and solid acting, After Earth might have just heralded a different new age for the storied director. Maybe he could have been a successful big budget director? Thanks to After Earth, we'll never know.