After Earth
Before “After Earth” came out, if you told people it was an M. Night Shyamalan film, you got stunned looks. That’s how good of a job Sony has done in hiding that fact as the film came closer to release. Now that it’s out, however, it’s an unavoidable fact that will, no doubt, cloud people’s perceptions of the film.
After seeing the film, though, Shyamalan directing (and co-writing the script, based on an idea by Will Smith) is the least of this movie’s worries. The “story” has an intriguing thematic hook about self-actualization achieved by refusing to give in to fear; unfortunately, the way it’s played out when a father and son (Will Smith and son Jaden), part of an elite, futuristic ranger force, get stranded on a uninhabitable Earth, one feels like it could have been handled better, and more powerfully, in short film form. Why is overcoming fear an important thing for this future society? After man made Earth inhospitable for human life, they were forced to colonize a new world, which was inhabited by aliens that thrived on their fear. The ranger corp the two Smiths belong to are the best of the best in suppressing their fear, rendering themselves invisible to their alien foes, although the younger Smith has yet to master this in the way his father has. Again, an intriguing hook, but without any other storyline to drive the narrative, we’re left with something hollow, and a film that ends all-too-abruptly, and ridiculously for my taste.
I will give the film props in a couple of areas, though. This is one of the best-looking images of a post-apocalyptic Earth I’ve ever seen. Shot by Peter Suschitzky (“A History of Violence,” “The Empire Strikes Back”), the film presents Earth as a lush, beautiful, but dangerous place while avoiding many of the conventions we’re used to in sci-fi cinema. Honestly, I could just watch this film all day, especially if it’s backed by James Newton Howard, who continues to do strong, musically-interesting scores for Shyamalan. The dialogue, I could do without, but the rest of the sonic palette makes “After Earth” far more engaging than the story it’s telling does. And let’s face it, after the symphony of awful that was 2010’s “The Last Airbender,” I’ll take a film that treats the eyes, and for the most part, the ears, with a feast, even if it is lacking in the rich, emotional storytelling of “The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable,” and “Signs.”
