After Earth

2013
12A
1h 40m

IMDb RATING

4.8/10

212K

YOUR RATING

Will Smith and Jaden Smith in After Earth (2013)

After Earth After a crash landing, a father and son explore a planet that was evacuated by humans 1,000 years earlier.

Play trailer2:30

14 Videos

99+ Photos

Action Epic Adventure Epic Quest Space Sci-Fi Survival Action Adventure Sci-Fi

A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige and his father Cypher stranded on Earth, a millennium after events forced humanity's escape. With Cypher injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey t... Read allA crash landing leaves Kitai Raige and his father Cypher 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.A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige and his father Cypher 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.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

4.8/10

212K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 wins & 8 nominations

Videos14

Trailer 2:30

International Version

Trailer 2:31

U.S. Version #1

Trailer 2:31

U.S. Version #1

Trailer 2:32

International Version

After Earth: Bird Fight

Photos152

+ 148

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Although not credited on the finished film, co-writer/producer Will Smith was responsible for much of the movie's direction. M. Night Shyamalan was primarily in charge of the blocking (composition of shots, placement of the camera) and the visual aspects of the film (color and design), and had actually suggested Smith for the supporting role as the father, but it was Smith who dictated the development of the story (which he originally conceived) and the on-screen action, and personally coached his own son Jaden Smith in his performance. Although both the story and acting were heavily criticized and Shyamalan decided to take the blame, Smith later shared his deep regret for involving his son in the movie: the press had released a vicious barrage of negative commentary aimed at Jayden, which hit the boy hard since he had only followed his father's instructions. Will added that Jayden understandably felt betrayed and misled for a while, and once even requested to be emancipated from his parents at age 15. He eventually decided against it.

Goofs
Everything about the Ursa is nonsensical. It's a bio-engineered organism created by an alien race to kill humans, whom he can sense by its ability to perceive fear. However, aside from that, the Ursa is blind (and also apparently deaf and unable to perceive body odors unrelated to fear), which makes it an incredibly inefficient predator, in spite of its strength and speed. How is the Ursa even going to navigate a terrain? How can it find humans who are not aware of its presence and therefore not afraid of it, which would be the perfect moment for any predator to attack its preys? Giving the Ursa a sense of sight alone would have completely invalidated the main strategy against it, "ghosting".

Quotes
Cypher Raige: Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist. That is near insanity Kitai. Do not misunderstand me, danger is very real, but fear is a choice. We are all telling ourselves a story and that day mine changed.

Crazy credits
The first part of the closing credits show a CGI globe view of the future altered Earth. There have been massive tectonic movements; South America is split in half and North Africa is connected to the East Coast of North America.

Connections
Featured in ReelzChannel Specials: Richard Roeper's Red Hot Summer (2013)

User reviews954

Review

Featured review

6/10

This isn't THAT bad, why the hate?!

I must have missed the 'everyone say crap about this film' meeting, After Earth is quite simply NOT as bad as the majority of reviewers are implying?! I'm not biased, I don't worship any of the actors but I do know my films and can appreciate them even when they're not what I anticipated!

I sat and read about 15 reviews before deciding I wanted to go and see this film anyway, and happy I did. I'm a sci-fi fan so when films include the sounds of a spaceships engines... in umm... space, well that annoys me. But I could forgive After Earth for this and it's other negatives because it's not a hardcore sci-fi, even if it somewhat tried to be in places.

Will Smith is very monotone throughout, correct. Jaden Smith is probably a few years away from this role working fully for him, correct. There are some question marks over the uncomplicated and slightly predictable plot and cheap looking set design in places, correct. But it was good escapism fun for an hour and a half and worth seeing on the big screen.

I won't deny, there could have been improvements and big alterations in many places to the point that this could have been an 8/10 from me, but it works on the level it chose to be at. Considering Will Smith had near full control of this project - writing the script, coaching his son's performance, personally hiring M Night Shyamalan (but only for basic directing) - this film is good for what it is.

Had it come before Star Trek, Oblivion and Cloud Atlas this year and if M Night Shyamalan didn't have a bad rep then I think this film would be at the 6.5/10 rating that I think it deserves.