After Earth - 3 stars

Even though this movie is set in the future, it's basically a simple survival story.  Will Smith supposedly got the idea from watching a news story about a man and his son surviving after a plane crash. 

It's 1,000 years in the future.  Since we polluted the heck out of it, humans have left Earth and settled a new planet, Nova Prime.  Will Smith plays Cypher Raige, a respected colonel in the ranger corps, and his son is Kitai (Jaden Smith), a cadet who just failed to advance to the rangers.  The two are on a ship traveling through space when they hit an asteroid field.  They crash land on Earth, the rest of the crew is killed, the emergency beacon is damaged, and they have to go find the other emergency beacon.  The problem is it's in the tail, which is 100 kilometers away.  Oh, and the father's legs are broken, so the son will have to go do it by himself.

Kitai's space suit is equipped with cameras, so Cypher can stay on the ship and see everything his son sees.  This way he can warn him before any beasts attack.  He can also guide him to where he needs to go, and advise him when he runs into trouble.

Ok, problems with this movie.  First of all, the opening 20 minutes is badly written.  Every line of dialogue does nothing but further the plot.  No one has a conversation, and we don't learn anything about the characters except Cypher is a hard ass and Kitai wants to be a ranger.  The movie takes itself so seriously.  It's too on-the-nose and earnest, with overly dramatic music.  We have just met these characters, and the movie expects us to feel the drama.  Sorry, but I don't care about these characters until I get to know them a little.

Also, for some reason everyone speaks with this vague southern accent that's sometimes really hard to understand.  The movie opens with voiceover narration, and I thought Jaden Smith hadn't learned that actors are supposed to enunciate.  The accent kind of comes and goes, depending on the urgency of the scene. 

It's also very predictable.  You will see every threat coming a mile away, especially the showdown with the ursa, a dangerous creature that can smell fear. 

Despite all of that, I enjoyed the movie for what it was.  Once they crash and Kitai has to leave his father and the safety of the ship, I felt his fear.  Besides a survival story, it's also a coming of age story.  Kitai has to learn to be a man and not depend on his father to save him. 

There are some cool sci-fi ideas in this movie.  Their home planet's gravity is different than Earth, so Kitai says his body feels heavy.  Of course, the movie abandons this idea 30 seconds later, as Kitai is able to run and run without getting tired.  If gravity was that different, wouldn't walking exhaust him?  Oh well.  Also, oxygen is different than on their home planet, so he has to ingest some kind of liquid oxygen that coats his lungs.  They only last about 24 hours and he has just enough to make it to the tail section.

Just for fun, I have to point out a few things that bugged me.  Besides the video screens, Cypher also has a radar that shows Kitai as a green dot, and any other creatures as red dots.  He sees when a monkey is approaching his son.  He warns him that there is a life form 50 meters away and he has plenty of time to prepare.  But a minute later when 30 more monkeys show up, Cypher has no warning.  And why the hell does the eagle save Kitai?  That was just dumb. 

Also, Cypher tells Kitai that every creature is dangerous.  He says everything on this planet has evolved to kill humans.  So if there were a shorter route, wouldn't it make sense to suggest that route?  No, he has him set out on foot.  Then when his supply of oxygen packs run low, Kitai suddenly has the option of doing a sky jump.  He can jump off a cliff and his suit opens and becomes a glider.  This will cut a day or two off his trip.  Why not plan to go that way from the start?  Because it's too scary?  Isn't it more dangerous and frightening to walk through the dangerous forest days than to base jump? 

Even worse, when faced with the choice of jumping or returning to the ship, Cypher says to return to the ship.  He has already told Kitai that if he doesn't make it to the tail, then they will both die.  So rather than have his son do a sky jump, he is prepared to give up and let them both die.  That doesn't make sense.

Ok, enough about this movie.  I think I'm being generous giving it 3 stars, but I enjoyed it for what it was.