"After Earth" - Trailer (M. Night Shyamalan, Will & Jayden Smith)
- Thread starter Flying Spaghetti Monster
- Start date
Unfortunately, I can already guess the 'twist'.
More then likely it's a 'Planet of the Apes' style meme in that all through the film; you're lead to believe the planet they're on IS Earth - BUT, you find out it's a colony world humans from Earth were sent to AFTER our Earth was destroyed/rendered inhabitable - and of course they thought this new world was sake/hospitable; but things changed.
More then likely it's a 'Planet of the Apes' style meme in that all through the film; you're lead to believe the planet they're on IS Earth - BUT, you find out it's a colony world humans from Earth were sent to AFTER our Earth was destroyed/rendered inhabitable - and of course they thought this new world was sake/hospitable; but things changed.
He's only directing so looking for that sort of twist might be a mistake.
I'll keep my expectations suitably low given Shyamalan's fall from grace as a filmmaker, but the fact that he didn't write this and it doesn't seem to revolve around any lame twist (the fact that it's Earth is revealed up front) gives me some hope that it might be enjoyable. I still think the guy is very talented at setting a scene and building tension, he just needs to have someone there to tell him no when he starts getting over-indulgent and self-reverential. Someone else writing might help mitigate those qualities.
The futuristic animals (though some just seemed like baboons on steroids and sabre-toothed tigers) and the impressive vistas are cool, much like that Discovery Channel(?) show about the future of life on Earth if humans were out of the picture. But then again, some of the prehistoric animal scenes of that awful Roland Emmerich 10,000 BC movie looked cool too. The ship design and space scenes didn't blow me away, but we didn't get a whole lot of them either.
I'm not sure if Smith's accent will get annoying or not. It didn't particularly bother me here in small doses, and I appreciate Shyamalan making an effort at (presumably) depicting that accents would change if humanity conglomerated and moved elsewhere. Hopefully that's what's happening there and it wasn't just some bad attempt at an existing accent.
Smith's kid can be annoying in films, or at least, the way people write dialogue for him and direct his character to behave has been extremely annoying so far, so I'm not sure how that will work out.
I'll give it a chance if nothing obviously terrible sounding comes out about it before its release. I just won't get too excited for it, because I know this is the guy who gave us killer plants and Amish werewolf cosplay hippie commune movies.
The futuristic animals (though some just seemed like baboons on steroids and sabre-toothed tigers) and the impressive vistas are cool, much like that Discovery Channel(?) show about the future of life on Earth if humans were out of the picture. But then again, some of the prehistoric animal scenes of that awful Roland Emmerich 10,000 BC movie looked cool too. The ship design and space scenes didn't blow me away, but we didn't get a whole lot of them either.
I'm not sure if Smith's accent will get annoying or not. It didn't particularly bother me here in small doses, and I appreciate Shyamalan making an effort at (presumably) depicting that accents would change if humanity conglomerated and moved elsewhere. Hopefully that's what's happening there and it wasn't just some bad attempt at an existing accent.
Smith's kid can be annoying in films, or at least, the way people write dialogue for him and direct his character to behave has been extremely annoying so far, so I'm not sure how that will work out.
I'll give it a chance if nothing obviously terrible sounding comes out about it before its release. I just won't get too excited for it, because I know this is the guy who gave us killer plants and Amish werewolf cosplay hippie commune movies.
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This is a rather interesting idea, which has some involvement from people I know. Apparently the film is one part of a multimedia franchise that will also involve novels, comics, companion books, and maybe some other stuff. Star Trek and comic-book authors Peter David, Bob Greenberger, and Michael Jan Friedman worked with the screenwriters to develop a "bible" for the whole After Earth universe, which influenced later drafts of the screenplay, and are writing the tie-in books.
I agree it's high time we got to see a film where Shyamalan directed others' scripts. He has some great qualities as a director; the problems with most of his films have been in their writing. Applying his directorial skills to a script by more capable writers could produce something really good.
I agree it's high time we got to see a film where Shyamalan directed others' scripts. He has some great qualities as a director; the problems with most of his films have been in their writing. Applying his directorial skills to a script by more capable writers could produce something really good.
^I don't get it.
Eh, maybe...would be fun to see Smith fils et pere in some zany adventure with mutant monkeys and wolves in redwood forests.
Yeah, why is Will Smith hitting his Southern accent extra hard? Random.
Yeah, why is Will Smith hitting his Southern accent extra hard? Random.
I like the accent. I like how he's transformed himself and is doing more of a character-acting role rather than just being Will Smith. It shows he's broadening his range as an actor, and what's wrong with that?
This film could go either way, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt because Shyamalan is only directing. I've always loved his directing and agree that his writing has been the weak spot. For instance, I love the directing of The Village but story was very predictable, especially the twist ending.
The biggest problem with the Hollywood feature film industry today, the reason why there are so many flawed or failed movies, is that directors have all the power and believe that either they don't need writers or that writers are nothing but hired help there to write down the stories the directors want to tell. In cases where the director actually is a writer, like Joss Whedon or Gary Ross, that can work. But too often, the writing is the weakest part of a brilliantly directed, cast, production-designed, scored, etc. film because there's just no respect for the importance of writers in the film industry, because too many directors just see a script as a series of suggestions or a loose framework to string their directorial set pieces together.
This is why we need more people like Whedon -- people who started out as showrunners in TV, a medium where writers rule the roost, and thus understand the importance of writing to the process.
It's French for "son and father," or "Junior and Senior." For instance, the author of The Three Musketeers is called Alexandre Dumas, père to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas, fils.
This is why we need more people like Whedon -- people who started out as showrunners in TV, a medium where writers rule the roost, and thus understand the importance of writing to the process.
It's French for "son and father," or "Junior and Senior." For instance, the author of The Three Musketeers is called Alexandre Dumas, père to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas, fils.
^thank you
[Edit] I can't delete my post.
May as well add something though. I've never had problem with Shyamalan and I'm looking forward to this movie. I'm probably one of the few who would have been more excited if he were writing it since I've always enjoyed his work.
May as well add something though. I've never had problem with Shyamalan and I'm looking forward to this movie. I'm probably one of the few who would have been more excited if he were writing it since I've always enjoyed his work.
Maybe it's actually Earth of the distant past.
It looks pretty cool. I like the father and son acting team, and the accent doesn't bother me.
It's probably a good thing that Shyamalan didn't write this one, but the "every thing on this planet has evolved to kill humans" line did remind me of The Happening. 
Otherwise, the trailer looks okay, but far less cool visually than the just-released Oblivion trailer, let alone Avatar.
Otherwise, the trailer looks okay, but far less cool visually than the just-released Oblivion trailer, let alone Avatar.
The twist will be that's he's on the other side of the planet where Tom Cruise is.
^ The movies do have a lot in common, don't they? I guess this will be the Armageddon/Deep Impact or Volcano/Dante's Peak or Blade/John Carpenter's Vampires similar movie-same year showdown of 2013.
If Will Smith and his annoying kid start looking fearfully at and then running away from a light breeze at some point, I'm out.
It's probably a good thing that Shyamalan didn't write this one, but the "every thing on this planet has evolved to kill humans" line did remind me of The Happening.
If Will Smith and his annoying kid start looking fearfully at and then running away from a light breeze at some point, I'm out.