After Earth, Why Did it Bomb? #MovieReview

One thousand years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape from Earth, Nova Prime has become mankind’s new home. Legendary General Cypher Raige returns from an extended tour of duty to his estranged family, ready to be a father to his 13-year-old son, Kitai. When an asteroid storm damages Cypher and Kitai’s craft, they crash-land on a now unfamiliar and dangerous Earth. As his father lies dying in the cockpit, Kitai must trek across the hostile terrain to recover their rescue beacon. His whole life, Kitai has wanted nothing more than to be a soldier like his father. Today, he gets his chance. Written by Columbia Pictures

Last weekend, I went with the family to go see After Earth. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t read the critic reviews on the movie before I went to see it.

And I’m glad I didn’t.

From watching the trailers alone, I expected to get nothing less than a good action/sci-fi/thriller movie. To my delight, that’s exactly what I got.

There was a heartfelt message in this movie that was difficult to miss. I cried, smiled and giggled at some parts. I had the perfect movie-going experience. In short, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Okay, I’ll do my best to explain this without giving away too much of the movie.

The thing I liked most about this film was the development of the father and son relationship. In the beginning, there was an obvious disconnect between Cypher—the father, and his family, more so with his son, Katai. Throughout the movie, flashes of the tragic backstory explained his emotionless demeanor and disconnect. He wanted to reconnect with his family again, and to do that he had to start with Katai. So he took Katai on an excursion, which turned out to be disastrous.

They crashed landed on earth. Now keep in mind, this is 1000 years later. The air was different. There were no buildings and roads, or subways and such. Nature had completely taken over, and animals, who were inferior to humans, ruled the planet. Some had even grown to massive sizes.

After gaining consciousness, Katai found his father alive, but fatally injured. That wasn’t the just of their dilemma though. The beacon to contact their home station had been damaged, and the other beacon was on the tail of the ship, which was torn off during the fall, and was more than a few miles away from them. On top of that, an alien creature known to torment and kill humans, crash landed with them. This creature feeds off fear. In addition to fighting and fleeing from all the other threats on earth, Katai had to cast aside his fears and battle this creature.

It gave a new meaning to the term, ‘Man up!’

I was literally on the edge of my seat during many parts of this movie. There were some powerful and scary scenes that pulled all kinds of emotions out of me. 😀 I walked out of the theater glad I saw the movie. And YES, I will be purchasing it when it releases in bluray. I have to add it to my sci-fi collection.

When I got home, I looked up the critic reviews and was shocked at what I found. The critics totally ripped the movie apart. I couldn’t help but think to myself, they couldn’t have seen the same movie I saw.

I had the same experience with John Carter. The critics panned that movie and I absolutely loved it. I only wished I would’ve seen it in the theater. After I
saw it and enjoyed it, I decided not to listen to the critics anymore.

Look, I understand the movie world is pissed at M. Night Shyamalan for what he did to The Last Airbender. I agree wholeheartedly that that flick was an epic fail, and I too was highly displeased because I’m a huge Avatar, the Last Airbender fan. But come on, let’s not stay mad at the man. After Earth was a great comeback. It was a fabulous storyline and it played out very well. In addition to that, Will Smith and his son, Jaden were a dynamic duo.

Instead of listening to the critics, I suggest you go see the movie yourself and make your own judgment.