After Earth

Preachy, draggingly directed by M Night Shyamalan and just not much fun.

After Earth unfortunately still finds M. Night Shyamalan plodding through another dull, lifeless movie.

The effects are second-hand stuff from Alien and Star Trek, spliced with Shyamalan's regular homilies on Personal Growth.

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.

After Earth is dragged down by, yes, Will Smith's apparent desire to share his boring concerns about parenthood with a blameless audience.

The problem is that the film is chockful of clichés and stymied by production design and CG effects that look as if the worst of the Star Wars series was being devoutly copied.

Regardless of the potential here, a neutral, lifeless tone prevails over every aspect, from the direction to the acting to the special FX, but especially the dull script by M. Night Shyamalan and Gary Whitta.

“After Earth” is a sleep-inducing bore that hasn’t the material or performances to rise above its faults.

This film is sometimes-brutal survival flick that doubles as a closet-clearing of emotion for a critically injured father and his petrified son.

The film's potent scenes of lachrymosity make the voyage worthwhile, at least until the unimaginative monster shows up.