After Earth
2013
**
Director: M.Night Shyamalan
Cast: Jaden Smith, Will Smith, Sophie Okonedo, Zoë Kravitz, Glenn Morshower, Jaden Martin, Sincere L. Bobb, Kristofer Hivju, Sacha Dhawan
1,000 years from now, a military ship crash-lands on the uninhabitable Earth. General Raige, his estranged teenage son Kitai and the monster that was on board survive the crash. Kitai must prove his mettle by retrieving the distress beacon from the tail section of the ship. In M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, the plants exacted their revenge on the human population. This time the entire planet has become hostile. This is a fascinating idea but never properly explored. The jungle set-up feels like a mix of Lost and Avatar, but Will Smith's (un)original story is solely interested in its two main characters, not in the world around them. The film is not quite as bad as its reputation, but it is definitely one dull affair. Scenes of extremely slow and clunky dialogue alternate with CGI action set pieces which look like the levels of a computer game. Will Smith and his son Jaden give contrasting but equally terrible performances.
