After Earth (2013), M. Night Shyamalan
3/5
This is a surprisingly good science fiction film by M. Night Shyamalan. While it seems to diverge from Shyamalan's recent interest in the horror genre (Devil, The Village) it does hold true to his monster elements which he contrasts with human journeys. The performances are great and Will Smith (playing Cypher Raige) and his real life son Jaden Smith (playing Cypher's son Kitai Raige) work great together both giving emotive and convincing performances. The story focuses mainly on these two characters and the strength of their performances together carry the plot well. For me, that is the strongest aspect of the plot focusing on the father-son relationship and their respective emotional and physical journeys in the film.
After Earth (2013) - Ursa
Starship Troopers (1997) - Alien
The futuristic elements leave something to be desired and feel somewhere between an episode of Star Trek and Starship Troopers (1997) especially in some of the shots of the "bug-like" monsters aka the "Ursa" attacking them. While the futuristic society does have some interesting elements, it also some silly elements that lack imaginative design like the futuristic cutlery which is basically a three stick chop-stick and the use of hammocks for beds. Usually science fiction films and stories set in the future tend to balance elements that are imaginative with things that are recognisable, but After Earth tends towards the later more often than not, unfortunately.
There are some interesting themes in the story, which are one of the films strong points, focusing on concepts of courage, fear, loss and death. The aspects about controlling fear reminded me both of mindfulness techniques and also from literature Frank Herbert's Dune novels (adapted into film by David Lynch) which centres around a race of desert people and characters that must learn to control their fear and bodies in order to control the giant "worms" and use the frequent saying "fear is the mind killer".
Dune (1984), David Lynch
In After Earth it is interesting that the ursa creatures feed directly off humans fear in order to hunt them, this is based on flimsy scientific assumptions at best i.e. "pheromones" or the smell of fear. The film also has many plot holes and logical problems and inconsistencies like the notion that Earth in the distant future would still have many animals similar to current (e.g. baboon like primates and large cats etc), which would really have evolved far beyond our current imaginations. The visual and CGI effects are pretty good especially of the animals and there are definitely some cool designs including the costuming, especially Kitai's chameleon like suit. Also the weapon design of the cutlass is brilliant with it's multi-purpose and changeable blades, a staff with two blades retractable and changeable blades. It's always nice to see a change from guns and lasers which are so overused in futuristic, scifi and action films, and this type of weapon is both technologically advanced and practical which makes sense for the close quarters combat with the ursa.
After Earth (2013) - Suit
After Earth (2013) - Suit
After Earth (2013) - Weapon: Cutlass
Another literary reference made explicit in the film is the reference to Moby Dick (novel by Herman Melville) and this lends to the film's heavy handed themes about the effects of climate change and environmental destruction. While thematically interesting, the message is a bit too obvious and tired, with the focus on humanity's desire to conquer and destroy nature and this is a weak point for the film. Furthermore the depiction of futuristic Earth is more fantasy than science fiction as it depicts it as an utopia devoid of humanity. Rather than evolving the fauna and flaura instead function as wish fulfilment for the audience, depicting a return to a past state of Earth's environment rather than a futuristic one. Overall a good Hollywood science fiction film, with solid performances, great character development and some interesting ideas and concepts, but not without it's flaws.
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