The story opens with a B-movie sci-fi prologue - kind of like a Starship Troopers without its tongue planted in its cheek. The story trajectory is so obvious that one of Shyamalan's cheesy surprises would have been welcome, but the director is stuck in Last Airbender mode and that's not a good thing. The characters are emotionally neutered the average viewer won't care about them. This time around, Shyamalan's trademark third-act twist is missing in action - as is anything resembling competent storytelling. Night Shyamalan has fallen so far from grace that Columbia Pictures elected not to use his name in the marketing of After Earth. If the lions and eagles in After Earth had looked remotely believable, maybe I wouldn't have occasionally entertained the idea that this big budget misfire was intended to be a parody. When it comes to bringing animals to life on a computer, someone should have consulted Ang Lee. Outside of some nice visuals, it's impossible to find a reason to recommend the film, which feels overlong at 100 minutes as it plods through a tiresome adventure quest that sends a boy out into the wilderness on his own in a hostile environment prowled by bad CGI animals and stupid plot contrivances. The sad truth about After Earth is that not only is it difficult to find things it does well, but there are numerous examples of outright incompetence dotting the landscape.
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