After Earth
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 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.,Cypher warns his son about Earth: "Everything on this planet has evolved to kill humans". Except that, in the movie, humans had abandoned Earth one thousand years before, so it makes absolutely no sense that any predator would "evolve" to hunt a prey that has been absent from its ecosystem for a whole millennium. That's exactly the opposite of how evolution works.,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.,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.,Featured in ReelzChannel Specials: Richard Roeper's Red Hot Summer (2013),After Earth (2013)

* (out of 4)

M. Night Shyamalan's big-budget vanity project for father and son team Will and Jaden Smith turns out to be much worse than the trailer. In the film, the father and son crash land on the planet Earth a thousand years after the people were forced to leave it. With daddy's legs broke, the young kid must go out into the scary landscape to retrieve an item that will allow them to make contact with their own world. AFTER EARTH is without question one of the worst sci-fi summer blockbusters ever made. Part of the blame can go towards the director but his handful of haters can't put everything on him. The incredibly bad screenplay also deserves a lot of the blame but so do the Smith boys. I seem to say this after each of his films but it's clear young Jaden has yet to take an acting class and just keeps getting passes because of his dad. I'm sorry but he's just not got a talented bone in his body and he certainly can't show any type of emotion, which is something the story here called for. The fact that he can't act to save his life really kills every emotion that the film goes for and it turns these scenes into something rather laughable. Mr. Will Smith doesn't come in any better. Although I liked his more quiet, laid back style, it just doesn't work considering the screenplay has him sitting around simply talking to the kid. Where Will deserves a lot of blame is getting his son these type of roles, which he can't do and which will eventually make him one of the most laughable actors in Hollywood history. The first couple films he did were just embarrassing but no one has given him the word that he can't act and apparently no one has seen fit to get him into classes so it's really just getting worse. Still, Shyamalan didn't improve the film any as there's really no drama, no suspense and no tension. It also doesn't help that the screenplay is full of cliché moments as well as being 100% predictable. I will say that some of the visuals were good but certainly not good enough to sit through this thing.,