After Earth

It's a thousand years after we abandoned Earth but now as a ship crashlands with only two survivors, we're going to find out why... Or at least that's the tag line in the promos. Actually, the "why" is summed up in the prologue": we ruined the joint. No big secret to be discovered or anything interesting. The Plot? Survive long enough to get to the beacon and signal for help. Could take place on any planet at all, or for that matter in the Amazon in present-day Earth. It's been done before in just about every genre. Throwing in a few gadgets does not make it SciFi. They just swapped the setting around. Making it Earth actually limited it, given what they did not do with that concept. Make it on a completely alien wolrd and then there's the freedom to throw in all sorts of unique creatures and places.

That said, the action parts are actually good, and show the gorwing talents of Jaydeen Smith. Just a lot of missed opportunities that could have made this much greater than cheap matinee' fare.