In regards to summer
blockbusters, there’s a sense that we should grade on a curve. So count a
couple of wins in M. Night Shyamalan’s column: “After Earth” is not one of
those movies where you have to keep track of a million characters, each one
having some sort of individual, arcane plot significance. It is not reliant on
a pre-established property or mythology. At a brisk 100 minutes, the picture
certainly never overstays its welcome. It doesn’t have a half-hearted allusion
to 9/11 or current global politics, and isn’t scored like a composer with a
grudge is doling out revenge one booming crescendo at a time. And thank the
God for small favors that “After Earth” isn’t in 3D.
The start of “After Earth” does
seem like it’s trending in the way of modern blockbuster visual vocabulary. The
threadbare story, which ends up being something of a virtue, strands us in a
future where the Earth has been rendered uninhabitable by a series of events
(perhaps you could collectively call them… “The Happening”) that have forced
our civilization to desert planet Nova Prime. We fight for land against a race
of aliens with a generic war-bound classification that immediately escapes
memory once we learn that our protagonists are a bodaciously named father and son duo,
Cypher and Kitai Raige.
Cypher is played by Will Smith,
given the type of hero’s entrance Smith usually makes, walking up to an alien
in slow motion and slaying the beast as we’re told of his superior “ghosting”
ability. Turns out the beasts’ vision is activated by the pheromone released by
our fear, and Cypher’s own unmoved heroism allows him to move alongside the
creatures and slay them with ease. His son Kitai, an eager trainee for this
new-world military order, seeks to be a Ranger like his father, though we’re
told his hard work has not translated to in-the-field performance. His father
is as displeased as he is, though young Kitai is more vocally angry: the
casting of Smith’s son Jaden Smith suggests visual shorthand where we can see the
same emotions reflected through different generations of maturity without any
necessary exposition.
People who take movies
seriously really shouldn’t bring too much baggage into a film, but it’s
impossible to avoid the real world parallel with Smith and his son: Father
Fresh Prince has slowly moved away from the big screen in recent years, while
his son led a remake of “The Karate Kid” to massive worldwide grosses. Cypher
is a military father, prone to speaking in clipped, curt phrases that challenge
Kitai not to be discouraged, but to always do better, and given Will Smith’s
laser-like precision on being a massive global star since “Independence Day,”
there’s evidence to suggest the passing-of-the-torch elements of “After Earth”
are carried over from actual conversations in the Smith household.
Duty calls when Cypher
encounters yet another off-world mission that will take him away from the
family, but this time he opts to take Kitai along in order to bond. But a
malfunction forces the ship to land on a planet no longer safe for humans, one
that upon first glance seems more than a little familiar to viewers. The
landing is harsh and claims the lives of all on-board save for father and son,
who must band together to find the ship’s necessary tech miles away on this
savage land. Except for one curious development that leaves action hero Big
Willie Styles on the sidelines: both of Cypher’s legs are badly broken, and
he’s stuck to a chair, with the legwork now the responsibility of under-prepared
Kitai.
It’s during these moments when
fatherhood becomes a matter of coaching, with Cypher heard by radio as Kitai scrounges
over inhospitable lands following dad’s instructions. A ticking clock is
provided by Kitai clutching a finite amount of oxygen pills (Earth’s air is now
a danger despite the amount of animals still alive), with the bulk of “After
Earth” becoming a survivalist action picture not unlike something like “The
Naked Prey,” constant motion interrupted by periods of exhaustion and studied
recalibration of coordinates. It’s not necessarily a showcase for young Jaden
Smith as an actor as much as an athlete as he follows the map system programmed
into his “Tron”-like bodysuit. As Cypher, Will seems to be doing a Sidney
Poitier impersonation, not necessarily instructing his son as much as dispensing
motivational koans and non-controversial mantras. The film progresses to the
point where it feels less like father and son, and more like a young boy
listening to an inspirational audiobook.
As much flak as M. Night
Shyamalan has deservedly drawn over the years, few studio filmmakers understand
the use of silence as well as he does. “After Earth” is scored to the same
rising-falling action as any recent post-“The Dark Knight” blockbuster but
during select moments, Shyamalan keeps the aural action at a low boil, letting
the sound design and actors do most of the heavy lifting in suspense sequences.
The world of “After Earth” seems like a combination of practical and CGI
effects, though it’s impossible to determine where the line is drawn in regards
to the environment, creating a believable physical realm for Kitai to explore.
Sadly, this doesn’t carry over to the animals and aliens, all of whom are
generated through cartoon computer effects that stretch believability. Though a
moment following a clash between Kitai and Cypher is followed by a brief shot
of a bird attempting to gather the destroyed eggs of her offspring, wisely not commented on as the sort of collateral damage that made the planet hostile
in the first place.
Shyamalan seems enthused by the
opportunity to let young Jaden command the screen not as a personality (he’s
lacking in that department, still in the awkward phase for teenagers with
strong features from mother and father), but as a force of nature. Without much
dialogue, Shyamalan captures not necessarily an adventurous spirit (“After
Earth” tends towards the boring end of the spectrum more often than not), but
the idea of restless exploration, the idea that Kitai finds another gear simply
through having his own terrain to explore. It would be an intoxicating idea had
Shyamalan either committed towards Kitai finding a passionate enjoyment of
these exploits (poor Jaden doesn’t once smile during this film) or found a way
to embrace the plot elements that drag this sedentary film from act to act,
ending in a CGI monster brawl that reminds us exactly why we grade these types
of movies on a curve in the first place. [C]
