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After Earth

Westside Steve's Movie Reviews
9 5 756
  • After Earth
    Columbia
    PG 13 89 min
    Now I wouldn't put Will Smith in the same league as Robert De Niro Marlon Brando Jack Nicholson or Sir Laurence Olivier but I don't dislike the guy either. And, if this film is evidence at all, he certainly has a huge fan base and wields an enormous amount of power in the industry.
    Even with the notorious M Night Shyamalan in the director seat AFTER EARTH is definitely Smiths project.
    He put it into motion, wrote the story and even populated the cast with family members placing his son in the starring role.
    So Im leaning away from my first guess which was to place the blame for this film on one of my least favorite directors,Shyamalan.
    Yes I loved THE SIXTH SENSE but have barely been able to sit through most of his following works. The fact that he didn't write this one means, apparently, but it doesn't exactly fit his M O which is this: some poorly developed characters some bad acting even from the good actors some boring and convoluted action which all lead up to what I'm sure he considers a shocking twist ending.
    Well here we have everything except the twist ending.
    Smith is famous General who has returned from duty and needs to make amends with his son Kitae (Jaden Smith) who has fallen short of the requirements for being a ranger like dad. Here in the future the earth has become uninhabitable due to mankinds destruction of the environment. A fairly common premise these days.
    Humans were forced to flee and the place is now inhabited by genetically modified creatures whose only desire is to kill. These monsters find us by smelling the pheromones that fear creates. The General is a rough and tough son of a bitch and his fearlessness makes him invisible to the goons. The kid? Not so much. Got it? Good, because two wind up marooned back on that dangerous place. The badly injured general has no choice but to send his son on a mission to activate a homing signal. Thats a long way off and the movie is primarily his journey to fine the device and avoid being eaten.
    Will the kid rise to the challenge?
    Well try to stay awake long enough and youll see.
    Now I have been known to make sport of the environmental movement but I'll be among the first to admit that given scientific evidence there really is a cause for concern and many of the activists, including the films stars, are perfectly sincere in their efforts to avert what could be a disastrous outcome.
    But its still a really bad movie.
    D+

    WSS

  • i'm sorry but i can't think of one GOOD will smith movie. the bad boys series. flunk. the comedy with kevin james....D (just cuz they had some hot babes in it). terrible remake of a simple movie in I AM LEGEND. flunk. six separations. flunk. HANCOCK had to be one of the worse movies ever. flunk.

    he's awlful and he's trying to turn his kid into this young black all-around entertainer, but the kid sucks.

    i won't waste my time.

    thanks.

  • i'm sorry but i can't think of one GOOD will smith movie. the bad boys series. flunk. the comedy with kevin james....D (just cuz they had some hot babes in it). terrible remake of a simple movie in I AM LEGEND. flunk. six separations. flunk. HANCOCK had to be one of the worse movies ever. flunk.

    he's awlful and he's trying to turn his kid into this young black all-around entertainer, but the kid sucks.

    i won't waste my time.

    thanks.

    @miktoxic said:

    i'm sorry but i can't think of one GOOD will smith movie. the bad boys series. flunk. the comedy with kevin james....D (just cuz they had some hot babes in it). terrible remake of a simple movie in I AM LEGEND. flunk. six separations. flunk. HANCOCK had to be one of the worse movies ever. flunk.

    he's awlful and he's trying to turn his kid into this young black all-around entertainer, but the kid sucks.

    i won't waste my time.

    thanks.

    What about Independence Day? And the Men in Black movies?

  • @miktoxic said:

    i'm sorry but i can't think of one GOOD will smith movie. the bad boys series. flunk. the comedy with kevin james....D (just cuz they had some hot babes in it). terrible remake of a simple movie in I AM LEGEND. flunk. six separations. flunk. HANCOCK had to be one of the worse movies ever. flunk.

    he's awlful and he's trying to turn his kid into this young black all-around entertainer, but the kid sucks.

    i won't waste my time.

    thanks.

    What about Independence Day? And the Men in Black movies?

    @the-gipper said:

    What about Independence Day? And the Men in Black movies?

    ok, independence day he was ok, given the buddy role with goldblum the nerd character.

    men in black series just blows period.

    scientology has got a hold on him and he's out of his mind, as is his wife and kids.

  • I liked him in Hitch and the Bad Boys movies. He was good in Six Degrees of Separation. But most of the recent stuff ... meh.

    Zombo

  • I think he is pretty mediocre all together. Has done alright in some situations but hardly deserving the mega star classification.

    There are a lot of big stars that I don't understand the extraordinary marketability of.

    WSS

  • I think he is pretty mediocre all together. Has done alright in some situations but hardly deserving the mega star classification.

    There are a lot of big stars that I don't understand the extraordinary marketability of.

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    I think he is pretty mediocre all together. Has done alright in some situations but hardly deserving the mega star classification.

    There are a lot of big stars that I don't understand the extraordinary marketability of.

    WSS

    Bring back Bogey?

  • it was too blah for Me...the idea certainly was not originall...like Oblivion...Meh.

  • Meh=???