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Will Smith is the very embodiment of movie star charisma and Jaden might be a chip off the old block, but here, they're obliged to be po-faced and just plain un-cool. Kitai and Cypher must both find inner strength, but Shyamalan saps their energy. The conservationist undertones, like the lush rainforest backdrop, are mere set dressing for a soggy melodrama. Instead he strays into Disney territory when Kitai - rather than working himself out of trouble - is scooped up by a friendly bird.
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Inevitably, there comes a time when the lines are cut and Kitai is on his own, but even then, Shyamalan fails to conjure a real sense of dread. It's not the alien but dad who is always breathing down Kitai's neck noting his every mistake and just generally, being a bore.
After earth movie reviews series#
It's merely assumed the alien POW is out there, somewhere, but that's quickly forgotten in a dull series of endurance tests and dully choreographed clashes between Kitai and Earth's indigenous species (which, along with the abundant plant-life, somehow flourish in the nasty air). It cannot see its prey, only smell the fear, so Kitai is under pressure to 'man up' and more importantly, make daddy proud.Ĭypher offers Kitai frequent reminders that the situation is life or death, but the feeling isn't palpable. Then there's the matter of that bloodthirsty alien, running loose in the woods. Cypher must stay put, having broken both his legs, but they do have audiovisual communication allowing him to bark orders at a distance and occasionally throw in a pep talk.Īlong the way, Kitai must face angry baboons, negotiate sheer drops, endure freezing nighttime temperatures and conserve enough oxygen to survive the polluted air. The mission is simple: Kitai must retrieve a rescue beacon from a part of the ship that has broken off and fallen to Earth some miles away. In the present, father and son are trying to bond over an errand to transport one of those alien beasties when the ship goes down.Īfter a mildly exciting crash scene, the story begins in earnest. On Earth as a little boy, Kitai witnessed the murder of his sister by invading aliens (the screeching giant insect kind, as opposed to the grey, egg-headed kind) and the guilt weighs heavy. In flashbacks, the cause of so much emotional dysfunction becomes apparent. Instead, he's cowed by his father, a high-ranking Space Ranger who goes by the name Cypher (presumably, to excuse his utter lack of personality) and insists his son address him as 'Sir'. Three years after remaking The Karate Kid, Jaden Smith is taller and broader as teenage military cadet Kitai, but he's lost the too-cool attitude that made him so much fun to watch in that movie. This sets the stage for another spacey, pseudo-spiritual fable from writer/director M Night Shyamalan where man and boy are forced to explore the deep, dark places, within and without - and it's quite the ramble. A thousand years into the future and Earth has become a hostile environment, but even frostier is the relationship between Will Smith and son Jaden who crash land there.