When ‘After Earth’ is released to theatres worldwide few months ago, my sister did suggest this movie to watch that time but then I turned it down after looking at how bad it is reviewed by the critics. But then, there are also a small group of reviewers who find this movie quite enjoyable too and then my sister who had watched it later also said that it’s not bad. Hence, I had to watch it to know where do I stand. And my position is over at the minority. ‘After Earth’ tells the story of a crash landing that leaves Kitai and his father Cypher stranded on Earth, a millennium after events forced humanity’s escape. With Cypher injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help.
This science fiction action adventure film is not on par with something that ‘Avatar’ delivered, but it still had its own decent storytelling. I think the story in this ‘After Earth’ runs quite well and properly developed here rather than concentrating too much on just a plain adventure. It’s not messed up as what most people think. It deals with technology (it sets far in the future), it deals with survival in the threatening environment (sets for a perfect and challenging action), and it also involves traumatized father-and-son relationship for a solid and elaborated plot to keep us watching. I didn’t find anything wrong from the story development. But then, I find the scene in the beginning at the spaceship quite awkward for no clear reason.
Perhaps, the major problem here is the cast. Will Smith is a good actor. However, the limit of his character (more like a supporting role since it is his son that did the adventure) here put him to a situation to be ignored. Hence, all eyes are now on his son, Jaden Smith whom is no doubt an inexperienced actor yet. People don’t need to blame him for his poor acting in the film. He is still young and he tried his best. It is a mistake to let him take over 100% of the movie screen time of which he is incapable of. However, I try to focus more on the adventure and action rather than on acting. Hence, I am not really that offended by his acting here. I prefer him to try on supporting roles first in future films. It is not easy to be the one person to carry the whole story forward. And his failure on it is what brought this movie to misery to the critics. I’m still okay.
‘After Earth’ offers awesome visuals. Great and quite realistic looking CGI. The movie also delivers with some exciting adventure eventhough I am hoping for more. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘After Earth’ a total of 6.3. A mark much higher than what most movie reviewers given out there. I take it lightly and so I actually find this movie quite entertaining, enjoyable and successfully helped me to relax on a night after stressful and tiring work. Trust me; it’s really not that bad. Perhaps, some people may be consumed by how bad M. Night Shyamalan (movie’s director) performed on his previous movie like ‘The Last Airbender’. Don’t mix that up with this. ‘After Earth’ is better. Last but not least, I also find a quote from this movie quite interesting and meaningful; ‘danger is real, but fear is a choice’.
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
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