Apparently some of the American press were issued dossiers setting up the world before they sat down in the theatre. It’s difficult to discern exactly what the futuristic concept is behind After Earth despite 20 plodding minutes of exposition to set it all up. Nope, the movie is just a collection of all the dull, pretentious trappings of hard sci-fi without any of the intelligence or fun. There’s probably some sort of uncomfortable metaphor there for big daddy Will’s career shepherding and I suppose it’s nice that it’s there given that despite the overly somber tone of After Earth, it’s certainly not a serious think piece sci-fi flick hinging on any social commentary or metaphor. It’s been an awkward journey thus far and this is by far the most awkward chapter given that Will came up with the story himself and it allows him to play out a perverse fantasy in which he can see and comment on everything Jaden does without being there. For Smith, the film is the latest chapter in his quest to force the world to embrace his son Jaden with adoration and fame. Why the slow-creep specialist Shyamalan decided to transition into action movies is an absolute mystery, but with two under his belt now he’s proven that he is possibly the worst person in the world to take up the genre.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |