After Earth

Jaden Smith is a supremely unlikeable brat who happens to have a charismatic dad who’s burying him a successful career by pushing him hard into production and acting. And the film itself? An embezzlement of a 130 million budget, though better than Shayamalan's last three flicks, but that’s nothing to be proud of. (09/18/2013)

The darker moments are adorned with pointed monologues, unknown beings appear photographed at unusual angles, and family values ​overwhelm trump everything around them. Despite its mild austerity, After Earth is ultimately a pure dose of M. Night Shyamalan, and it disappoints me that Night probably won't have a chance to climb out of the incomprehensible box of an underestimated artist. Because, aside from a few harsh basic lessons about the laws of nature, I would follow this path to salvation to the highest level. 85% and a great desire to ge that chance at least one more time. (09/21/2013)

This movie has such a precise filmmaking that it’s almost a shame that it’s ruined by individual moments that I simply can’t look past. After Earth is a great movie with an interesting premise and a directing that Shyamalan really nailed. But the really decent overall quality is ruined by, for example, the relationship between the father and the son, thus between Will and Jaden. I thought that it was all too serious and over-the-top. Actually, I didn’t manage to form any kind of relationship with them throughout the entire movie. It felt as if two human robots were on screen. A father with a broken leg talking all sorts of nonsense due to a delirium and a son with a mission that not even the best SAS unit could take on. I was also bothered by some of the individual scenes, like the one in which Jaden jumps off a mountain. I was getting over that for quite some time. But hats off! Shyamalan can still shoot the movies he himself believes in, even with a compromised career. And then the entire movie ends up looking really great, but after about twenty minutes of a “wow” atmosphere comes some sort of a nonsense that makes me sick to my stomach. (11/18/2013)

Not great, not terrible. The story could have taken place anywhere, let's say in British Columbia, from where (or to where) the central couple would be transporting, say, a grizzly bear... The science fiction presentation just bogs it down with unnecessary questions like "Why does the planet freeze overnight and how does nature deal with it?". Neither of the Smiths gives a particularly interesting performance, nor does the direction come up with any great ideas... Perhaps only Newton Howard's music is above average. (10/07/2014)

After Earth has basically one disadvantage, that it is relatively pathetic and quite predictable within the post-apocalyptic genre, which it down to average. Otherwise, it is a solid film in every respect, even the acting wasn’t bad. Of course, the father is better than the son, but that was expected. Visually very attractive, with interesting and atypical production design and surprisingly, it is often quite captivating. Shyamalan has kept to what he always does, Regardless of the quality of all key aspects, he is always original. (10/28/2013)