‘Danger is Real. Fear is a Choice. This Movie Sucks.’
Smith plays Cypher Raige, a ruthlessly logical emotionless and fearless killing machine. These traits that make him a perfect soldier – because the alien enemy forces sense fear don’tcha know – also make him a pretty shitty dad to son Kitai (Big Willie’s kid Jaden).
Kitai doesn’t help matters, seeing he is a typical surly and opinionated young tyro who feels himself more mature and ready than he really is. Kitai’s mum thinks it a good idea to force some father/son bonding by sending them on a routine space mission…
…within hours the father/son bonding is fast tracked when the ship crash lands on a planet covered in thick jungle, leaving dad and son as the only survivors, but with dad badly injured and unable to move.
With dad laid up it is up to the young son to venture out and take care of business, something neither Kitai nor the real Jaden Smith seem capable of. Lil Will has neither the natural charisma or physical abilities required to make the action sequences believable, and his acting seems confided to using his eyebrows to make facial experiences that all end up looking confused.
Will Smith remains confined and immobile, incapable of both movement and emotion. If I really wanted to witness a limited and disinterested Will Smith I would have watched any one of his last five movies. The last time a black guy played remote control God with a vacuous vessel was when Denzel steered a young Angelina Jolie around in The Bone Collector.
Every parent wants to believe that their kid is the best at everything, even though most know deep down that it isn’t really true. After Earth is a multimillion dollar high profile parenting reality check for Will Smith – and a box office brick that has weighed down his career ever since.
After Earth sucks. The astonishing thing is that no-one seemed to have seen that coming before it was too late.
Final Rating – 5 / 10. Will Smith’s unwillingness to take a risk with his own career caught up with him in this blatant attempt to push his son into the spotlight.
