AFTER EARTH Trailer Crash Lands


Moving swiftly on from the awful pun in the article title, we have finally seen our first proper trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming sci-fi flick ‘After Earth‘. Complete with a hefty dose of double Smith action (sadly not Mr. Smith from the Matrix) this Karate Kid/Avatar fusion looks like it’s pushing the right buttons:

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Here’s the plot synopsis from Columbia Pictures:

One thousand years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape from Earth, Nova Prime has become mankind’s new home. Legendary General Cypher Raige returns from an extended tour of duty to his estranged family, ready to be a father to his 13-year-old son, Kitai. When an asteroid storm damages Cypher and Kitai’s craft, they crash-land on a now unfamiliar and dangerous Earth. As his father lies dying in the cockpit, Kitai must trek across the hostile terrain to recover their rescue beacon. His whole life, Kitai has wanted nothing more than to be a soldier like his father. Today, he gets his chance.

This could go one of three ways. Shyamalan made a deal with the devil in which no form of media he produces can exist without a twist; hence the “Welcome to Erf” line; secondly he’s giving fans a heads up say ‘Look, here’s the twist up front so no more bitching about The Happening; or three, he’s saving up an even bigger twist for the end of the film… DUN DUN DUHHH Training Simulator! Or fourthly, he could be pretending there’s a twist to double twist us so we don’t see the triple twist coming and… I need a lie down.

Despite Shyamalan’s dwindling credibility among fans, After Earth actually looks like it could be pretty decent. The Avatar vibe is certainly noticeable but the darker route could make things interesting, as long as there’s the intellectual or emotional punch to carry the visuals. 2013 is set to be a banner year for sci-fi flicks, with Pacific Rim, Oblivion, Elysium and Ender’s Game all on the horizon. Hopefully After Earth will be one more to add to the list.

Source: IGN