About Me
On Sunday 18 May 2014
Oh yes, I've ignored this blog yet again! And I can't even remember when and why I forgot. It's semester break again (The only time when I really remember this blog) and so, yet again, I've decided to update it. This time I'm a little bit ambitious; setting a goal of when and what to write for weeks to come. Since my new year's movie reviews kept me disciplined enough; I'll follow the basic guidelines of what I did then. I'll write one to three movie reviews then ending with an article label under 'Inspiration'. I'm in my movie frenzy zone; abandoning video games for the moment just to make room for my brain to critically process the films I've watched. I'm such in a good mood that it causes me to think more actively on films. It's been a long time since I felt this way.
Moving on to the actual review, After Earth caught my attention as I was watching a harsh review of it. I didn't finish watching it though as the review hyped me enough to watch this Syfy flick for myself. Despite the overwhelming negative comments, I do have some amount of sympathy towards it. Heck, that's why I chose the poster above because the line "Danger is real, fear is a choice" was the best aspect of the film.
Fatherhood
This theme always get to me. It's very relatable thus leading me to forget my critical comments. It's safe to say that this is one of the strength of the story; complimenting the above tag line just enough. I've recently been personally attracted to the concept of chemistry in storytelling--more on the writing aspect--and Will Smith and his son's relationship did interest me. However, Will Smith carried all the burden of the relationship and even the story itself; giving a strong performance that made it all bearable. Unfortunately, he wasn't the hero.
Bad acting
Jaden Smith played the son of a legendary general within the story's universe. It's funny because that's what he, sort of, actually is; receiving big expectations from audiences as he is grows older. Jaden's emotional performances with his father was superb as it is a familiar theme. But it is the massive science fiction background that weigh him down...hard. He's suppose to have this accent that's unique to the story but it was inconsistent; especially in those strong emotional scenes. The story, to my surprise, is actually a survival genre; focusing on one event of a character's life. This leaves not much room for character development in terms of dialogues, events and other character interactions. All of that is executed in forms of action which can act as metaphors. Jaden Smith was definitely unfamiliar with the premise and sadly, it affected the overall movie. Perhaps, if his father was the main actor, things could get better?
Undeveloped Universe
This time, I did some background research of the production and I've seen a few aspects that affected the outcome. Well, at least to me. Will Smith was the producer and he pitched the story in the first place. From the beginning, the movie was meant to push Jaden to stardom or, at least, to help his own son. So, there's this fairly good premise of mankind moving on to another planet, an interpretation of fear as a ruthless alien together with a grounded story of fatherhood; sounds promising, doesn't it? I couldn't agree more that even a huge spectacle needs a grounded theme. The problem is that the premise wasn't carefully thought off; leaving so many undeveloped concepts. There was also this oddly put jump scare...what the heck?
Verdict
In summary, the movie wasn't that bad. Maybe, I'm being generous but this is just what I think. However, I wouldn't be watching or even thinking about it in the next few months. It's incredibly slow for a one hour and forty minute movie. So, I give After Earth a 2.5/5 for an awesome tag line that's fairy highlighted through fatherhood. But the bad acting and directing just weigh it down too much.
