After Earth

I must have missed the 'everyone say crap about this film' meeting, After Earth is quite simply NOT as bad as the majority of reviewers are implying?! I'm not biased, I don't worship any of the actors but I do know my films and can appreciate them even when they're not what I anticipated!

I sat and read about 15 reviews before deciding I wanted to go and see this film anyway, and happy I did. I'm a sci-fi fan so when films include the sounds of a spaceships engines... in umm... space, well that annoys me. But I could forgive After Earth for this and it's other negatives because it's not a hardcore sci-fi, even if it somewhat tried to be in places.

Will Smith is very monotone throughout, correct. Jaden Smith is probably a few years away from this role working fully for him, correct. There are some question marks over the uncomplicated and slightly predictable plot and cheap looking set design in places, correct. But it was good escapism fun for an hour and a half and worth seeing on the big screen.

I won't deny, there could have been improvements and big alterations in many places to the point that this could have been an 8/10 from me, but it works on the level it chose to be at. Considering Will Smith had near full control of this project - writing the script, coaching his son's performance, personally hiring M Night Shyamalan (but only for basic directing) - this film is good for what it is.

Had it come before Star Trek, Oblivion and Cloud Atlas this year and if M Night Shyamalan didn't have a bad rep then I think this film would be at the 6.5/10 rating that I think it deserves.

This film is about a space craft that crash-landed on a dangerous planet called Earth, and the only two survivors have to struggle to stay alive.

The first few minutes of "After Earth" already look not so promising, and it only goes downhill from there. Acting is consistently bad by Jaden Smith, he is so annoying as a teenager who constantly freaks out. Will Smith is supposed to be a fearless commander, but his supposed bravery makes him so wooden as if he was a wax statue.

The plot is simply ridiculous. There are so many plot holes that are so obvious, that they simply should not happen. For example, if Will Smith is such a great commander, how could he not command people to wear seat belts when they were about to hit a meteor shower. And the masks are not even connected to anything!? The whole story, from the macro level to the micro level is very poorly written and makes no sense. The supposed emotional climax is so weak, that I wonder if that scene is really supposed to make me feel proud of what is shown on the screen.

"After Earth" is a terrible mess. This time, believe the critics.

Today i seen this movie and i don't understand why this movie is receiving so many negative reviews and poor ratings.In my opinion its a more emotional driven movie than a sci-fi.It could be made more better but still its worth a watch and i enjoy watching this movie.Acting of Jaden Smith is okay.But i really wish Will Smith should have contribute major part in this movie.Art direction is not upto that mark, the interior design of space ship is really not that good as compare to those that we usually saw and expect from sci-fi movie but some scenes and cinematography of capturing earth's nature is spectacular.

In my opinion its 6.5 out of 10.

I do not know what I want to say, but I want to say something so people won't waste money on this piece of whatever one wants to call it.

I am a big SciFi fan, yet something like that I never experienced. Was it the effects that ruined it, was it the lame story, the extra-lame acting of the second Smith in the movie, the directing of someone who got after Signs too much credit and couldn't deliver since (with the exception of the low budget Devil). I really cant say. Its just very disappointing and I wished I would not have seen it, not spend the time nor the money. But I wanted to know it for myself if the critics are right, since they are so many times wrong (in my opinion).

Well, they are right, and yet they even gave the movie way too much credit. Probably because of Will Smith.

The year is not over, but I do not think that After earth will be topped in the category for "the worst movie of 2013"!

What is going on with M. Night Shyamalan lately? I used to like him in earlier films like Unbreakable and Signs, but he hasn't made the critics and audiences gifted as it would probably if his directing career is in serious jeopardy. One of the biggest and toughest question is that simple: Why is M. Night Shyamalan directing in a new post-apocalyptic adventure starring Will and Jaden Smith? Did he ever asked to direct After Earth or did Sony wanted to choose any director that Smith had previously worked for instead of Shyamalan? For those who don't know, this is the first lowest-rated movie for Will Smith since 1999's disappointing mess "Wild Wild West," one for Jaden since "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and another bomb for Shyamalan.

After Earth feels like a re-cut of "Battlefield Earth" (Ya know, the Travolta movie we don't even care anymore) and sometimes half-"I Am Legend" and half-"Hunger Games." But to me, maybe it's the whole Scientology thing that starts to ruin the whole story.

The story is ridiculous, poorly acted (Smith sounded like James Earl Jones), mediocre sci-fi elements. How can this movie be much worse? I wished the late Roger Ebert was here giving a harsh review on "After Earth." Bottom Line: It's not going to be a big summer success, but it's another letdown for fans of Will Smith. I'll just pass on the movie instead of renting it on DVD.

** 1/2 out of 5 stars