Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/137824
It Really Wasn't that Bad After Earth (Rated PG-13) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS Apparently, everybody hates After Earth (100 minutes). I gotta tell you, I really don't think it was that bad. After just a few days in theaters, popular opinion has turned against the actors, director and writers to the point where critics are just competing with each other over who can say the meanest thing. Let's get some perspective, it wasn't as bad as John Carter or Battleship. It was no Sixth Sense, but that was a career best of director Shyamalan and the odds that he will ever hit that peak again diminish with each passing movie. Just to get this out of the way — the critics are mostly correct. The casting of Will and Jaden Smith as the father and son was a mistake. Individually they can act. Collectively, they weren't up to the material. Smith Senior can do sci-fi action and drama, but he plays the man without fear as the man without personality. Smith Junior, I think, paid more attention to modeling his Dad's acting choices than making any of his own. The story was overly complicated and sentimental and there is very little of Shyamalan in the movie. For me, a major part of the problem was the science fiction, which I usually love. Rumor has it that the story as originally conceived by Smith was set in the present with the father and son in a car accident on a remote mountain. By the time the movie got made, we're one thousand years in the future and on a completely different planet with a distractingly CG sciencefiction monster that can smell fear. Stick with the small father-son film and you've got something. Add the science fiction in and the shoddy substance overpowers a potentially good story. So humans leave Earth and hang out on a world called Nova Prime for a thousand years or so. Humanity's hero, General Cypher (giggle) Raige (Will Smith) and his son Kitai (Jaden Smith) are on a father-son bonding trip meant to repair their relationship. They are traveling together when they are caught in a freak Where seball! Ba n is Fu n asteroid storm and crash on a planet red flagged for its dangerous life forms. After managing to survive being sucked out of a falling plane with only a couple of broken legs to show for it, General Raige is forced to send his son kilometers through the wilderness to find the emergency beacon in the tail section of the plane. There are contrived dangers every step along the way. First, the oxygen content of the air is too low to sustain human life (although none of the other mammals or birds seems to have a problem despite the lack of obvious physical adaptations to a low oxygen atmosphere). That means that if Kitai is going to make it to the tail section he will need to suck back some futuristic medicine once a day to increase his breathing capacity. I hope he doesn't break that vital equipment! While he's crossing the distance between the cockpit and the tail he will also need to avoid the plot-convenient temperature fluctuations. Apparently in the future, Earth drops, like, a hundred degrees when night falls. I would love for someone to explain to me the science behind the conceit that the flora and fauna have no trouble living through the daily temperature variations, because I'm not buying it. The writers must have forgotten the science part of a science-fiction movie. Overall, it was a collection of items from other, better stories but the presentation was different enough to hold my attention. The writers were clearly inspired by some Dune, a bit of Heinlein, and a whole lot of good intentions. The end result was a mixed bag at best, but that's not to say there wasn't anything enjoyable about it. Go in with low expectations, focus on the futuristic details and try not to hate on the clichés. Now showing at Wynnsong 7, HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Carmike 12 and Carmike Market Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandFair 15. comingweekly.com. Good Morning Fayetteville with Goldy & Jim W Weekday Mornings 6-10 a.m. June 19 •F •Fayetteville Chamber Night F Mi Mix & Mingle with the City's Officials & Business Owners Mi l i ith t ith th Ci i June 22 •Summertime St. Patty's Day 1st 500 Fans 21+ Receive Souvenir Pint Glass Courtesy of Foothills Brewery & Healy Wholesale June 24 • America's Best in the All-American City Meet Team USA presented by Cape Fear Valley Health System June 27 •Salute to the Military Presented by Wells Fargo Home Mortgage June 29 •Salute to the "Babe" If Your Name is George, Herman or Ruth Get In For $1. The first 500 Fans 21+ Receive A Unique Pint Glass Courtesy of RA Jeffreys Distributing and Budweiser. Gates open at 6:00 p.m. • First Pitch at 7:05 www.goswampdogs.com WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Talk Line: 910-864-6400 Local News, Weather, Traffic & Sports JUNE 19-25, 2013 UCW 21