AFTER EARTH: FATHER AND SON

Movies have made some incredible science fiction films in the past. Everything from FANTASTIC VOYAGE to THE MATRIX  have displayed various worlds and dimensions that living in the real, normal world we never get to go to. Far off planets, microscopic worlds and the land of imagination are available on film. Movies have been done to warn us of the dangers we impose on our own world if we don't change our ways like SILENT RUNNING. While AFTER EARTH appears to be part of that sub-genre at first, it steers clear of heading down that path in exchange for another.

In the future the Earth has been so contaminated by man that survivors are placed in space ships and shuttled to a new universe to live in, hopefully not making the same mistakes. But a bigger problem follows when an inhospitable alien race tries to wipe man out by sending in bug like creatures called ursas that find humans by smelling the pheromones we emit when we fear something. A select group of soldiers known as Rangers develop a way to stop their fear thus making them invisible to these creatures so we stand a fighting chance against them. The leader of this group and most controlled is Cypher Raige (Will Smith).

Gone from home for some time and having lost his daughter to an ursa attack, Raige is ready to retire. At the same time his son Kitai (Jaden Smith) is in training at the academy, pushing himself as much as possible to live up to the legend that is his father. Both seem to have disconnected somewhere down the line. In an attempt to shore up that divide, Raige asks his son to accompany him on his last mission, a simple transport that includes a captured ursa.

But things don't go as planned and caught in an asteroid storm the ship is damaged and forced to land on a restricted planet. That planet is Earth. When Kitai wakes after the ship crashes he finds that he and his father are the only two survivors even though his father is severely wounded with 2 broken legs. Their ship was broken in two, their homing beacon damaged and now the only chance they have is for Kitai to reach the other half of the ship to turn on the homing beacon there.

While the adventure aspect of the film ties into what Kitai faces while making the near 100 mile trek to the other half of the ship, the film revolves more around the dynamic between father and son as they first come to terms with their problems and secondly must learn to trust one another as Cypher guides Kitai to the other half of the ship while trying to stay alive. This back and forth between father and son that must be solved for them both to make it, a slow process that sees them rebuild their connection is what makes up most of the film.

This is not to say that the film doesn't have several problems to overcome. To begin with the pacing is slow at times which makes it more a movie where we get to see images of a future redeveloped earth and its animal inhabitants instead of getting more story. Will Smith, confined to a seated position for the entire film, plays Cypher as an emotionally detached man who not only hides his fear but every other emotion as well which gets kind of boring after a time.

The person who will take most of the criticism for this film (and has from fans already) is Jaden Smith. A young actor with few parts to his credit already is bound to have those attacks, increased by some who scream nepotism on the part of his father. While Jaden's performance here isn't Oscar worthy he does turn in a decent performance and like his father in his early career has learned that being in fit form is one way to make an impression with audiences.

AFTER EARTH will not be a landmark when it comes to science fiction movies. It will offer a nice evening's entertainment though and should keep you interested from start to finish. Bypass the nitpicking of most on this film and give it a watch.

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