One thousand years after cataclysmic events forced humanity's escape from Earth, Nova Prime has become mankind's new home. Legendary General Cypher Raige returns from an extended tour of duty to his estranged family, ready to be a father to his 13-year-old son, Kitai. When an asteroid storm damages Cypher and Kitai's craft, they crash-land on a now unfamiliar and dangerous Earth. As his father lies dying in the cockpit, Kitai must trek across the hostile terrain to recover their rescue beacon. His whole life, Kitai has wanted nothing more than to be a soldier like his father. Today, he gets his chance.
As drama, After Earth offers no surprises; as action, it's rarely stimulating; as a parenting manual, it seems that Will has thrown Jaden into water that's a little too deep.
– Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
2 May 2014
rotten:
Most disappointing is the film's lack of ambition, as what could have been a sparky mainstream space opera becomes just another tedious jungle chase movie.
– Tom Huddleston,
Time Out,
4 Jun 2013
rotten:
The movie takes off from a concept as basic as a videogame, and it sticks to that concept, without surprise.
– Owen Gleiberman,
Entertainment Weekly,
31 May 2013
rotten:
A film in which the text and subtext-an effortlessly gifted father presses his less-talented son to follow in his footsteps-are in perfect alignment. Alas, only in one of the two does the story end happily.
– Christopher Orr,
The Atlantic,
31 May 2013
rotten:
By the standards of M. Night's Shyamalan's recent films, After Earth is surprisingly not horrible.