Film Review: After Earth

The reviews for this film were awful. Most critics thought After Earth was a waste of time and energy. I understand why they didn't like it, but to be honest, I did not think it was that bad.

Yes, there were two characters in the story, very little action than what the trailer suggested, and a cop-out storyline of us careless humans destroying the planet (an idea that has been done to death, I know.)

That being said, I sort of liked the film because the two characters are worth knowing; it wasn't so bad trying to understand the relationship between parent and child in stressing times.
Also, the film did not need that much action, I was content with knowing more about this planet that my species destroyed and what was going to happen next. And as for the cop-out storyline, I have no legitimate defence except that all ideas have been done before to some extent.

It is obvious that Will Smith used this film as a sales pitch for showing off his son's talent. With any other character, this would have been a problem, but I think this role was absolutely perfect for Jaden. It hits home; the kid is not talented enough to do his job but he does it anyway, he is often compared to his famous father, and feels less significant in his presence. He questions his own accomplishments especially so because of his parentage. The role hits home and Jaden wrapped it up quite well.

I would say that it's definitely not worth spending money on in theaters, but if it's on Netflix and you're sick of binging on TV shows, give this film a try. If anything, you can laugh at how bad you think it is.