This is a story about a father and son whose spaceships gets crashed and is now trapped in the Earth in a very remote place, which humans left very long ago to escape Cataclysm. Since Cypher got hurt in the crash, it’s Kitai responsibility to send an SOS. They both now need to figure out how to fight as their survival depends on it.
After a not very impressive crash sequence, the film settles into a running battle between young Master Smith and a series of CGI monsters, a schema that sounds tiresome, and is.
Like 'Oblivion' before it 'After' says, 'Humans messed up,' but offers meager entertainment, nothing in terms of solutions, and lots of intelligence-insulting pseudo-science.
Most disappointing is the film's lack of ambition, as what could have been a sparky mainstream space opera becomes just another tedious jungle chase movie.
A film in which the text and subtext-an effortlessly gifted father presses his less-talented son to follow in his footsteps-are in perfect alignment. Alas, only in one of the two does the story end happily.
The dialogue is as wooden as the acting, and the plot is just silly. Truly, the only thing the film has going for it are some occasionally cool special effects.
As drama, After Earth offers no surprises; as action, it's rarely stimulating; as a parenting manual, it seems that Will has thrown Jaden into water that's a little too deep.
