After Earth

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Movie
German title After Earth
Original title After Earth
After-Earth-Logo.svg
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2013
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 12
Rod
Director M. Night Shyamalan
script Gary Whitta,
M. Night Shyamalan,
Will Smith (Story)
production James Lassiter,
Jada Pinkett Smith ,
Caleeb Pinkett
music James Newton Howard
camera Peter Suschitzky
cut Steven Rosenblum
occupation

After Earth is an American science fiction film directed by M. Night Shyamalan from 2013. The main roles are played by Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith . The premiere took place on May 29, 2013 in New York City . From May 31, 2013 the film was shown in American cinemas; it was released in theaters on June 6, 2013 in Germany.

action

Mankind left Earth a thousand years ago due to severe catastrophes and built a new home on the planet Nova Prime. The security organization of the "rangers" has been in conflict with an alien species that uses genetically engineered combat beasts, called Ursas, against humans. Since the blind Ursas can only track people through the pheromones secreted in fear , Ranger-General Cypher Raige has developed a technique known as ghosting with which all fear can be suppressed from one's own consciousness.

General Raige is returning to his family after a long absence from work, in particular to take care of his 13-year-old son Kitai, who is in ranger training but has not yet received ranger status. The relationship between father and son is disrupted as they hardly spent time together and Kitai blames himself for the death of his older sister. Kitai also imagines his father accuses him of being to blame for his older sister's death; in an attack by the Ursas, she protected the then still very young Kitai and died in the process. Since then, Kitai has tried to impress his father with outstanding achievements in his education.

During a training excursion, the spaceship with Cypher and Kitai on board gets into an asteroid shower. The spaceship is so badly damaged that it breaks during an emergency landing on an actually locked planet. In the crash, all crew members with the exception of the two protagonists are killed, Cypher is seriously injured. The transmitter in the bow of the spaceship, which is needed to send an emergency signal into space, was destroyed in the crash. Another transmitter is in the stern , which crashed about 100 kilometers away from them. It is also unclear whether Ursa, who was imprisoned in the stern of the spaceship for training purposes, survived.

As it soon turns out, the alien planet is the earth, which is now only populated by animals. Due to the injury of his father, whose two legs are broken, Kitai has to make his way to the stern alone and find the transmitter to save himself and his father, the latter directing him by radio. He encounters a number of mutated animal species, including monkeys and big cats, and has to fight against them or flee from them. Since the temperature drops well below freezing at night, Kitai has to go to places where it is warmer at night. After Kitai fails to find a warm shelter in time one night and threatens to freeze to death, a gigantic eagle comes to his aid, with which Kitai had previously defended the nest against attacking big cats. During this action, Kitai had also lost the communication device with his father, so that from then on he was no longer in contact with him. In addition, its oxygen reserves are increasingly running out.

Finally, Kitai manages to reach the separated stern of the spaceship and call for help via an emergency transmitter. After he was able to defeat the pursuing Ursa in the final battle by overcoming his fears with the help of his father's knife, Kitai and his father were found by a rescue team and brought back home.

background

production

James Newton Howard again contributed the music to a film by director M. Night Shyamalan .

Alleged Scientology parallels

Some media accuse the film of parallels to the theories and methods of Scientology . The message to conquer fear (slogan of the poster: Danger is real - Fear is a choice ) is also a central theme of Scientology education. The motifs of emotional control and auditing, i.e. the resolution of traumatic experiences, that are present in the film are of great importance in Scientology. In addition, the most frequently seen PR photo shows Kitai Raige against the backdrop of an active volcano; Likewise, on the cover of the book Dianetics (written by L. Ron Hubbard in 1950, in which he describes a system of psychotechnics, which he later expanded into Scientology) an active volcano can be seen. David S. Touretzky , professor at Carnegie Mellon University and well-known Scientology critic, saw no Scientology elements in After Earth : “The themes of the film are standard adventure elements: physical courage, coming of age , father-son relationship, Prove yourself in battle and get the father's respect. These are not specific Scientology topics. "

Will Smith has repeatedly stated that he is not a member of the Church of Scientology. He has, however, made several donations to Scientology.

Quality and 4K recordings

Ryan Nakashima of the Associated Press said he was impressed by the quality of the film's 4K resolution .

Using IMAX technology, the film was shown in 97 IMAX cinemas in 52 countries around the world.

Novel adaptation

Author Peter David published the official novel adaptation of the film by Del Rey Books in 2013 . The audio book in English will be read by David H. Lawrence XVII.

Gross profit

On the opening weekend, the production costing 130 million US dollars (another 100 million US dollars for marketing ) grossed 27.5 million US dollars in American cinemas and thus fell short of expectations. As of August 16, 2013, the film grossed $ 243.8 million worldwide, with only $ 60.5 million in the United States. Accompanied by mostly negative reviews and poor audience response, the film's revenues had already dropped sharply in the second and third week worldwide. After Earth's box office earnings are significantly lower than most of Will Smith's films, some of which grossed more than 600 million US dollars.

As of November 2013, DVD and Blu-ray revenues in North America were $ 15.5 million.

Reviews

“You can hardly deny After Earth that it is a technically solid science fiction film. It even makes him a little likable that he doesn't try to obscure his simplicity. The fact that everything and in every scene revolves around the central generation conflict becomes obvious because there are no secondary characters or narrative threads that could distract from it. It is annoying, however, how the film positions itself on the hero's journey and transformation of its young protagonist. What is particularly conservative about After Earth is that it denies the youth any revolutionary potential. "

- critic.de - the film site

“That is the great merit of a weak film: When someone gets up from his sickbed to give his son a military greeting and only then to hug him, then the military and family, love and hierarchy are intertwined to the point of self-parody. After Earth involuntarily shows us how closely many of the films and stories we love walk along this reactionary abyss. "

- Tim Slagman : Spiegel Online

After Earth is a nice surprise. The film [...] is a moral tale in the dress of a science fiction blockbuster. It's not a classic, but it's a special film: spectacular and wise. "

- Matt Zoller Seitz : RogerEbert.com

" After Earth looks like the usual science fiction junk - and like advertising for Scientology."

- Morten Freidel : Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

“Even in the USA, where it was released in cinemas last week with moderate success, After Earth was accused of overstraining its young leading actor, of being narrative embarrassing and of turning into an oversized PR film due to its propagated fear-suppression ideology for Scientology. After Earth is right to make all of these allegations . He's also reactionary and stupid. "

- Ralf Krämer : The world

“Now there is nothing to be said against a new edition of the hero's journey in the cinema. After Earth just puts a lot of listless meat on this structural skeleton. A premonition of the miraculous - the stingray-like spaceship moves into space, millions of buffalos with a panoramic view of the old earth, the grace of the good animal that stands by the hero on his probation journey, the descent into the cave and overcoming the last monster - are effective like senseless furniture left behind in a wide room and fizzle out on the long journey through woods and fields. [...] Similar to Oblivion , After Earth stands for a connection to rather naive forms of science fiction. If the completely designed world of the former was at least still of aesthetic value as a retro nostalgic matter, After Earth only looks like the filming of a paperback from the 1950s or 1960s that has justifiably not risen to classic status. "

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released on May 31, 2013 under the name After Earth - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack . The publisher is the Sony Classical ( Sony Music ) label .

No. title length
1. The History of Man 02:23
2. I'm not advancing you 01:28
3. Pack your bags 01:40
4th Leaving Nova Prime 00:48
5. Can you ghost? 02:09
6th Ship Tears Apart 02:17
7th Kitai Finds Cypher 01:19
8th. Get Me Into The Cockpit 01:36
9. The Mission 01:31
10. Baboons 02:51
11. Kitai On Earth 02:56
12. Four Vials Remain, sir 01:11
13. Run To The Falls 02:42
14th Abortion Mission 02:02
No. title length
15th Bird attack 01:02
16. Nest Battle 02:03
17th Safety In The Hog Hole 03:42
18th Saved By The Bird 00:52
19th The Tail 01:40
20th Dad, Are You There? 02:46
21st Leech 02:59
22nd See The Peak 02:21
23. Run To The Volcano 00:37
24. Somewhere To Hide 01:22
25th Chase Through The Cave 03:07
26th Ghosting 04:45
27. I want to work with mom 01:17
28. After Earth 01:54

Awards

year price category carrier Result
2013 MTV Movie Award Summer's Biggest Teen Bad Ass Star Jaden Smith Nominated
World Soundtrack Award Film Composer of the Year James Newton Howard Nominated
2014 Golden Raspberry Worst movie - Nominated
Golden Raspberry Worst actor Jaden Smith Won
Golden Raspberry Worst supporting actor Will Smith Won
Golden Raspberry Worst canvas pair Jaden Smith and Will Smith Won
Golden Raspberry Worst director M. Night Shyamalan Nominated
Golden Raspberry Worst script M. Night Shyamalan, Gary Whitta, and Will Smith Nominated

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Release certificate for After Earth . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , May 2013 (PDF; test number: 138 983 K).
  2. Age rating for After Earth . Youth Media Commission .
  3. Jump up stars at "After Earth" premiere in New York City. May 31, 2013, accessed on June 3, 2013 : "On Wednesday night, the science fiction film" After Earth "premiered at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City."
  4. Andreas Borcholte: Cinema spectacle with Will Smith: How much Scientology is in 'After Earth'? Der Spiegel , June 3, 2013, accessed June 4, 2013 .
  5. ^ Marc Headley: A Former Scientologist Reviews 'After Earth'. In: Guest Column. The Hollywood Reporter , May 31, 2013, accessed June 4, 2013 .
  6. ^ A b Matt Patches: After Earth Is Will Smith's Love Letter to Scientology. In: Vulture. New York , May 31, 2013, accessed June 4, 2013 .
  7. ^ After Earth Is Just a Shitty Movie, Not Scientology Propaganda. Gawker.com, accessed June 9, 2013 .
  8. Will Smith Gives $ 122,500 To Scientology. The Huffington Post, accessed October 26, 2013 .
  9. After Earth Screening in Native 4K . Avsforum.com. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
  10. ISBN 978-0-345-54320-2
  11. List of audio books spoken by Lawrence in Audible
  12. Brooks Barnes: Will Smith and "After Earth" Have Dismal Opening. In: The New York Times , June 2, 2013 (English).
  13. ^ After Earth (2013). Box Office Mojo, accessed August 16, 2013 .
  14. ^ After Earth (2013) - Video Sales. In: The Numbers. Retrieved September 27, 2015 . (English)
  15. Michael Kienzl: After Earth. critic.de - the film page, June 5, 2013, accessed on June 5, 2013 .
  16. Tim Slagman: Amazingly listless. Cinema flop "After Earth". In: Culture. Spiegel Online , June 4, 2013, accessed December 28, 2017 .
  17. Marcel Zoller Seitz: After Earth. RogerEbert.com, May 31, 2013, accessed June 10, 2013 .
  18. Morten Freidel: In search of the right message . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 6, 2013, p. 27
  19. Ralf Krämer: Warning, this film promotes Scientology. In: Welt Online . June 5, 2013, accessed June 5, 2013 .
  20. Thomas Groh: Like a shoplifter. Pearl Divers, June 6, 2013, accessed June 6, 2013 .