User blog:Matt Hadick/After Earth Review Roundup



Of all the possible science fiction scenarios, we're sure the one you've been clamoring for is the one central to M. Night Shamalayn's latest blockbuster, After Earth: 100 years in the future a father and son duo arrive on a deserted Earth and well, explore and fight mysterious creatures. Or maybe you haven't been clamoring for it at all. Regardless, it's here, and if reviews are to be trusted, it turns out the Jaden Smith vehicle (the idea for which was purportedly conceived by his co-star dad, Will Smith) is another flop in a series of disappointing train wrecks from the much-maligned, plot-twisting director of The Sixth Sense.

We've collected some choice reviews that sum up the consensus here.



Ignatiy Vishnevetsky - AV Club
C+

Excerpt: "Shyamalan’s sensibility may not be enough to turn After Earth into a great (or even very good) film, but it does yield interesting--and at times strikingly realized--results."

Michael Phillips - Chicago Tribune
2 and 1/2 Stars

Excerpt: "Director and screenwriter M. Night Shyamalan has gone from being Mr. Twist, thanks to "The Sixth Sense," to the most doggedly straightforward storyteller on the planet, judging from the modestly entertaining "After Earth."

Mark Jenkins - NPR
No Rating

Excerpt: "A disastrous father-son endeavor about a calamitous father-son expedition, After Earth doesn't play to the strengths of any of its major participants."

Manohla Dargis - The New York Times
1 of 4 Stars

Excerpt: "It’s a calamitously one-note, unpersuasive performance that’s a match to that of Jaden, a pretty teenager with jumpy eyebrows whose character remains an insufferable brat."

Peter Travers - Rolling Stone
One Stars

Excerpt: "After Earth merits comparison with 2000's Battlefield Earth, John Travolta's godawful film tribute to the sci-fi novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Yes, it's that bad."

Laremey Legel - Film.com
1.2/10

Excerpt: "The level to which 'After Earth' is a catastrophe is amazing."

Wikian Opinions
What did you think of After Earth? Loved it! Thought it was okay. Hated it! Haven't seen it yet, but I would. I would never go see that movie! Do you think Jaden Smith has the same star potential as his father? Definitely! No way! Who knows?!