Being a person, who's not crazy about M. Night Shyamalan films, I was quite skeptical about his new sci-fi offering that explores our one and only home planet, having become extremely feral and deadly for humans. I confess I went to see the movie not with an open mind, which is really disgraceful of me, since I profess unbiased attitude when it comes to motion pictures (man, I haven't used this expression for a while).
Anyway, the source of my prejudice was not bad reviews—although they nurtured it as well—but the fact that I didn't enjoy most of the director's films. Even Sixth Sense couldn't completely win me over. I surely enjoyed the twist, but the path to it was too tedious for my taste.
So why did I go to see After Earth in the first place, right? You may already know that I'm a big fan of visual effects and I just love when they show a lot of lushly green locations. Seriously, whenever a film features beautiful scenery, I get the urge to step through the screen and into that scenery, which is, sadly, impossible. When I watched the After Earth trailer, my thoughts wandered in that universe and I knew it was the film for me, FX wise, and when it comes to visuals, it's better to see the movie on the big screen. So that's how I found myself in the theater.
Needless to say, the effects were good enough, not all of them—there were some average moments—but for the most part it was pretty. The Earth without mankind was pretty, its landscapes and evolved animals (mind you, they're not as impressive as Richard Parker in Ang Lee's Life of Pi) were good, even though not remarkable. However, this is a given, and I was surprised by the way the film itself affected me.
Now I'm going to talk about what made me write this little piece. In After Earth I found what other Shyamalan movies lacked in for me. Usually, as I remember it, the writer-director tends to build tension or atmosphere with scenes where nothing happens. Maybe, it's an overstatement, but that's how I'd describe his style and it's my subjective opinion only. Hopefully, Shyamalan has fans who support his methods, but I'm not one of them. After Earth is all about all kinds of stuff happening: chases, confrontations with the alien-turned planet and with the characters' weaknesses. I'm not saying that the film's advantage is action only. On the contrary, this action stuff was nicely elaborated, showing and mirroring the characters' feelings, emotions, and inner struggle. To my mind, Shyamalan balanced action and time to reflect/to feel sorry/to fight fear etc. well. And he clearly put an effort in making an entertaining film with all the universal themes that move the director.
I'm not saying that After Earth is a great film. I'm not saying that everyone must like it. Of course, it has its flaws. But now I see what a shocker it is that it was so poorly received by critics and obviously simple lovers of the movies as well. 11% at Rotten Tomatoes? 4.6 at IMDb? Too radical and unfair. Maybe, it's the prejudice because of Shyamalan's recent failures. Or maybe, the critics are that influential. Without a doubt, there were people who didn't like After Earth merely for what it is. However, I cannot understand why it is so much hated. That's why I'm writing this thing whatever it is.
Please, if you see it in cinema or watch it at home later, try to come in open-minded. Forget the ratings, forget the critics, forget what you thought of previous Shyamalan films, if you didn't like them. Just try to appreciate this piece of filmmaking for what it is on its own.
