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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

After Earth (2013)

Here’s another film by M. Night Shyamalan that was produced in collaboration with Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and others. It stars Smith and his son, Jaden on a far future Earth that has been overrun by a variety of dangerous genetically modified and evolved organisms.

The plot is rather simple, basically about a father and son relationship and facing adversity, but the characters are deep and multi-dimensional. And there are plenty of symbols and metaphors throughout. There’s a lot of action, of course, but this is not some formula, Mac-Hollywood scifi movie with a bunch of CG and non-stop chase scenes. It’s a real character study with a deliberate pace.

It’s rare to find a young actor who can pull off a role like this – young actors usually don’t have enough experience to give great performances -- but Jaden gives a convincing performance. In part, I think it’s because throughout most of the film his character is experiencing fear and facing challenges, which I believe is basically what Jaden, as a young actor, was likely experiencing during the filming of this major, high-stakes project.

Technically, the film has all the world-class production value of a Shyamalan film, so I don’t think you will be disappointed with this one.

#science #fiction #ScienceFiction #SciFi #FTW #sfftw #film #movie #Earth
#monster #fear #journey #character #GMO