The Kidd here...
It's hard to get up for anything with M. Night Shyamalan's name anymore. I'm not exactly one of his big fans to begin with, although I do consider UNBREAKABLE to be among the best superhero films ever made (that's how you go dark) and find there's a lot to like in SIGNS. However, THE SIXTH SENSE has always felt overrated in my book, and then you've got THE VILLAGE, LADY IN THE WATER, the laughably bad THE HAPPENING and the atrocious THE LAST AIRBENDER, and you wonder how anyone is still giving him sizable budgets to make films people get angry about. It's as if the twist ending became the only trick up his sleeve after awhile, and then when he couldn't use it anymore since people knew it was coming, he just lost his way.
That may seem like a harsh approach to Shyamalan's work, but his track record doesn't lie. Each new film seems to be worse than the last, which makes me wonder whether or not getting Will Smith on-board for his latest, AFTER EARTH, might be enough to turn this ship around.
Then again, there is the Jaden Smith factor to contend with. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE KARATE KID remake... that's hardly a solid filmography to instill confidence in me as a viewer (okay, I will give some credit to their pairing for THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, which turned out fine).
There just seem to be more than a few elements already working against AFTER EARTH before the opening credits ever even roll... but that's why they play the games, right?
And that brings us to the trailer for AFTER EARTH, which found its way online today (via Yahoo!)...
Is there enough here to get you to at least check it out beyond whatever biases you may have for or against the principals involved? Or has Shyamalan fooled you enough already?
-Billy Donnelly
"The Infamous Billy The Kidd"
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