Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Blistering performances.

I don't like the Smiths. I didn't want to like this film and I did.There are plot holes (its sci-fi - go figure!) The characters are emotionally leaden (they play a career army Dad and his emotionally repressed son - shock!). And, this isn't Shakespeare.You're not getting an Oscar winner here, but as far as action films go it's fair. Neither Smith is required to provide much emotion - the point is that Smith Snr has sadly drilled his son to an inch of his life in order to meet expectations. He yearns for acceptance, but is denied it by his cold father, doubly tragic due to the family being devastingly killed by ruthless aliens. Being stranded on Earth gives Smith Jnr the opportunities to change this narrative and finally be accepted.The premise is a bit dodgy, but the film is well presented. I can't say that Jayden is a bad actor, but the nepotism has never looked good.

NEPOTISM DOESN'T MAKE GOOD MOVIES jaden smith shouldnt be an actor but cuz his daddy is a megalomaniac whose rich he gets choice roles that should go to other people. ones with actual talent

Not a great film but not a bad one either. So let's deal with the negative stuff first. It is a Sci-Fi film with some major plot holes, but I cam live with that, since I feel that Sci-Fi is mostly glorified fairy stories anyway. The main problem is structural and was brought about from the onset of making this movie. It is based on a 'story' by Will Smith, with him and his son playing the main characters and that is where the main problem lies, this is obviously a film driven by Will Smith's star power to enable his son to get a leg up into movie stardom. So the main roles has the 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air' trying to be an extreme iceman and a rather whiny, weedy boy playing an iceman in waiting. This was a tough ask for me. Will was doing best to be all stoic and militaristic which left Jaden Smith to do most of the acting, and to be the emotional centre of the film. And although Jaden is acting his little socks off, I can't help feeling of the thousands of young actors who would have much more believable in this role. So this film had a weak centre simply due to casting, but then this was always going to be the case here.OK so now to the good points. This is one of those films that looks like it's giving us that old movie cliché where a hero is created out of extreme adversity and it does that, but it is being deliberately undercut by the effect this macho individualistic behaviour has upon a family dynamic. This gave the film it's heart and kept me watching it and caring about the characters right to the end.Another key moment that kept the impetus going for me was the incident with the condor which echoed the main theme of 'family' in this film. It was a lovely moment, but I could see it might be difficult for others, because it seemed thematically and ecologically it didn't belong in this film. The back drop scenario of this film follows the depressing trope of - Space as a war zone for empires, being populated with rather extreme creatures. Space is a wonderful blank canvas of ignorance where you can create good old fashioned monsters, and although I enjoy watching a good monster, I don't believe in these movie space monsters. I find it hard to imagine a clear ecology for them and I personally have problems with Hollywood's desire to pedal these rather dubious Darwinist scenarios. So this film was also saved for me by the life affirming message that the condor's behaviour symbolised and which undercut the 'brutal universe' trope. This film also had a hint of mysticism which suited me. Oh, and all those M Night Shyamalan shouters and haters....Get a life !

Continuing my plan to watch every Will Smith movie in order, I come to After Earth (2013)After returning to our screens with a Men In Black sequel, after a 4 year hiatus, Smith continues what he was doing during the four years, and helps promote one of his kids. Plot In A Paragraph: A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his father Cypher (Will Smith) stranded on Earth, a millennium after events forced humanity's escape. With Cypher injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help.I forgot how bad this movie was. Even though he is hardly in the movie, Smith must take the lions share of the blame this mess. Which I think is the worst movie in his filmography I have watched this far. It was he who read a magazine piece about a father and son surviving after a plane crash, re-imagined it as a space fantasy, he was a producer, co wrote the story and personally picked the director. This is the wrong movie at the wrong time for M Night Shyamalan. He usually writes, directs and acts in his own movies. After the critical maulings and box office flops of The Village, Lady In The Water, The Happening and The Lady Airbender, this made it 5 misfired in a row,,some would have said he was finished as an A-list filmmaker. Shyamalan didn't originate this project. He rewrote the script based on a story by Smith. So he's a gun-for-hire on After Earth, and rumour has it Smith ghost directed it. While Shyamalan was primarily in charge of the blocking and the visual aspects of the film, it was Smith who personally coached his son Jaden in his performance and dictated the development of the story and the on screen action. Corny, poorly acted (Smith really needs to stop convincing us his son can act. He is awful.) and dull all round, I actually forgot how bad this movie was. After Earth grossed $60 million at the domestic box office, to end the year the 59th highest grossing movie of 2013.