So here is the setup. After polluting Earth to the point where the human race would no longer survive there is a mass exodus to a planet called Nova Prime. However once they get there they are soon attacked by a mysterious alien force whose tactic is to create a genetically engineered race of beasties called the Ursa, specially designed for hunting and killing humans in the most tortuous ways possible and able to track humans by trace pheromones caused by fear. I guess they must have heard what we did to our own planet... Anyways a millennia or so has passed and the human race has discovered gifted individuals who are able to suppress their emotions, especially fear, and become virtually invisible to the Ursa. The current champion of this skill is Cypher Raige (Will Smith) who upon returning from a tour of Ursa hunting discovers his son Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) has failed to become a Ranger. In an effort to have some father/son bonding Cypher decides that Kitai should come along on a space mission with him which naturally involves transporting a captured Ursa to some undisclosed location. During the flight an unexpected asteroid storm damages the ship and they crash land on, you guessed it, Earth. Only Cypher and Kitai survive but Cypher is injured so it is up to Kitai to trek across the wilderness to retrieve a rescue beacon from some far flung wreckage.
So as you can see they try to cram a lot of backstory in before the main part of the film starts, and it does give you the feeling that despite the horrible acting from Jaden and the emotionless (ie wooden) performance from Will that you might actually be in for some excitement. Trust me, it is a lie. This movie boils down to a two person drama, with only one of them carrying the actual film. Will Smith's performance as Cypher (oh the names in this movie are so bad) as the support person/wise sage is just stagnant. No matter what happens, whether Katai (who thought of these names) is in mortal peril or Cypher is performing emergency field surgery on himself, it is all delivered in a dry deadpan performance that you just cannot accept. This is the Fresh Prince we are talking about here. We don't even get the compulsory rap track to lighten the mood. His performance is just dire, and dreadful, and dull.
That leaves the entire movie on the shoulders of Will's real life son, Jaden. This kid really needs acting lessons. Even when he is furious with daddy dearest it feels like he just doesn't want to shout at dad. His entire performance is forced out with little variation and even less skill. Okay, he's young and he may get better, but it doesn't change the fact that he is the focus of 95% of this movie. The other thing is, even though his performance is bad, he is the only bit of personality this movie has and since to escape the Ursa that escaped in the crash (of course) he must suppress it all and make himself just as drab as everything else.
But hey, what about the lush surroundings and exotic creatures of the revitalised human free Earth I hear you ask? There are only a couple of set pieces involving local wildlife and they are pretty laughable. The first one had me thinking "Oh, a movie version of Temple Run" before the action even started, and later there is the giant bird... I can't talk about the giant bird... it soon becomes obvious where the giant bird bit is going and when it gets there, and you are fully expecting it, you still can't feel anything but disdain that they went there. They show more wildlife in the closing scene than you see in the entire movie up to that point. Also, a brief point about the Ursa which only shows up to give Katai the final push he needs to descend into monotonal dreariness. This perfect killing machine capable of tracking you by the merest hint of pheromone is blind. That's right, if you can control your emotion it cannot see you. I'll say that again... it can't actually see... even though it seems to be able to maneuver easily enough somehow.
I guess it proves that M. Night Shyamalan and Will Smith do have at least one extraordinary joint talent. The ability to take a movie that could be potentially full of all sorts of wild, exciting adventure and turn it into a near total bore fest. Just skip this one, trust me, there are much better ways to kill a couple of hours. Watching grass grow comes to mind, and you'll probably see more exotic wildlife that way!
In a wor... zzzzzzzzz
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