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Author
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Topic: After Earth
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 06-06-2013 06:12 PM
Ugh...
*might contain slight "spoilers"*
M. Night Shyamalan should have his "directors license" revoked after this latest piece of sh*t that he managed to push out.
Set in a future, where everything, including spaceships is constructed out of plastic wrap and bed sheets, Will Smith and his son (sorry, I forgot the character names) crash-land with their plastic spaceship on Earth (their destination wasn't Earth, it wasn't even close, but they end up there anyway). Earth has been deserted a while back for whatever reasons and for some other unexplained reasons they also carry some kind of alien bug around, which only seems to be interested in killing those nasty humans.
Their ship breaks in two parts, unfortunately, the emergency beacon in their half of the ship is broken. Also broken are both legs of old Smith. So, young Smith heads out to the other part to find said emergency beacon.
The quest for the emergency beacon (which, besides all the modern technology needs to be hand-activated and only works on an active volcano with huge smoke plumes above it), is interwoven with bad special effects, some of the worst acting in years, lame flashbacks (some of which are endlessly recycled) and visions of deceased relatives.
Shyamalan is showing some Ed Wood qualities here: He believes his general audience is far too stupid to notice the flaws that are all over his logic. He also throws up all kinds of "mysteries", but never even gives the audience a clue.
Earth now freezes over every night. It's deadly for humans and most animals, but not for jungle vegetation. Humans now also need some kind of inhalers to breathe on Earth. Deadly space aliens that only "see" you if you fear them. If you're fearless, they won't even notice you if you're right in front of them.
The best thing about the movie is the short run time: just about 100 minutes.
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Mark Ogden
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 943
From: Little Falls, N.J.
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 06-08-2013 07:07 PM
Shyamalan was only a hired hand on this. The story came from the Smith family, they produced and pretty much drove the project home. M. Night was asked by Smith to punch up the script and direct.
But it doesn't matter, because at this point Shyamalan could write, produce and direct the next Citizen Kane and people would still pull the knives out. The problem with the guy is easy: his second film worked so well and pulled the rug out from under people so completely that that is all anybody wants from him now, and he hasn't bothered (or wanted) to repeat the act. There are still internet "movie reviewer" trolls that are busting the guy's chops about twist endings, yet only one of his pictures truly had one (OK, maybe The Village too, but not in the same way).
quote: Marcel Birgelen
Shyamalan is showing some Ed Wood qualities here: He believes his general audience is far too stupid to notice the flaws that are all over his logic. He also throws up all kinds of "mysteries", but never even gives the audience a clue.
He must have taken his cue on this from Saint J.J. Abrams, because frankly, Star Trek Into Darkness has every bit as many logical flaws, internal inconstancies and things to call "bullshit" over as After Earth does, and possibly more. You yourself, Marcel, pointed this out in your review of that picture, while suggesting that people who would be bothered by it "see another movie". I wonder why Abrams gets to slide by on good graces, but Shyamalan is somehow obliged to fit all the pieces together logically or else be lumped in with Ed Wood. Hmmmm.
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 06-09-2013 12:10 PM
quote: Mark Ogden
He must have taken his cue on this from Saint J.J. Abrams, because frankly, Star Trek Into Darkness has every bit as many logical flaws, internal inconstancies and things to call "bullshit" over as After Earth does, and possibly more. You yourself, Marcel, pointed this out in your review of that picture, while suggesting that people who would be bothered by it "see another movie". I wonder why Abrams gets to slide by on good graces, but Shyamalan is somehow obliged to fit all the pieces together logically or else be lumped in with Ed Wood. Hmmmm.
I watched this movie without any prejudice, and if somebody else whould've directed this piece of garbage, he would get the same bashing from me. Part of the story apparently came from the Smith family, they deserve to be blamed too, because of the lame, self serving story and the lame acting that's been portrayed.
I would not consider myself an J.J. Abrams fan, but I happen to appreciate or like some of his work. I also happen to appreciate some of the work of Shyamalan, but it is quite clear to me that he totally lost it somewhere around Lady in the Water. And in this case, he is credited for the story, the script and the directing, so I guess he deserves to be in front of the fan when the sh*t hits it.
There are tons of bullshit in the last TWO Star Trek movies, but at least they are entertaining. This movie is just so goddamn boring and devoid of any interesting story, that you just cannot get into the movie. Once that happens, you cannot help but to focus on all the irrational stuff happening on screen. And lets be honest here, all recent Shyamalan movies have so much of it, that it is VERY hard to ignore, even if you're trying very very hard.
Additionally, and that really helps a lot in creating some kind of charisma to the stuff happening in screen: Compare this movie to e.g. the last two Star Trek movies, they don't take themselves so goddamn serious like this movie does.
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