After Earth

***After Earth*** is a 2013 American post-apocalyptic science fiction action film directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who co-wrote it with Gary Whitta, based on an original story idea by Will Smith. It is the second film after *The Pursuit of Happyness* that stars real-life father and son Will and Jaden Smith; Will Smith also produced via his company Overbrook Entertainment, and the distribution was by Columbia Pictures. The film takes place in the 31st Century, when the Earth has long been abandoned and humans have been in conflict with a mysterious alien race. It tells the story of a high-ranking general in the peacekeeping organization Ranger Corps, and his son, who, after an incident during a spaceflight, find themselves fighting for survival on a hostile planet (which is Earth itself).

## Plot

In the 21st century, an environmental cataclysm forces the human race to abandon Earth and to settle on a new world, Nova Prime.

One thousand years later, the Ranger Corps, a peacekeeping organization commanded by General Cypher Raige, comes into conflict with the S'krell, alien creatures who intend to conquer Nova Prime. Their secret weapons are the Ursas, large predatory creatures that hunt by "sensing" fear. The Rangers struggle against the Ursas until Cypher learns how to completely suppress his fear, a technique called "ghosting." After teaching this technique to the other Rangers, he leads the Ranger Corps to victory. Meanwhile, Cypher's son Kitai Raige blames himself for the death of his sister Senshi at the hands of an Ursa. Kitai trains to become a Ranger like Cypher, but his application is rejected due to his recklessness, and Cypher views him as a disappointment. Kitai's mother Faia convinces Cypher to take Kitai on his last voyage before retirement.

During their flight, however, an asteroid shower forces their spaceship to crash-land on the now-quarantined Earth, near erstwhile CentralAmerica. Both of Cypher's legs are broken, and the main emergency rescue beacon damaged. Cypher instructs Kitai to locate the tail section of the ship, which broke off on entry to the atmosphere. Inside is the backup beacon which they can use to signal Nova Prime. Cypher gives Kitai his weapon, a wrist communicator, and six capsules of a fluid that enhances the oxygen intake so he can breathe in Earth's low-oxygen atmosphere. Cypher warns him to avoid the highly evolved fauna and flora, and to beware of violent thermal shifts. Kitai leaves to find the tail section, with Cypher guiding him through the communicator.

Giant baboons attack Kitai, and during his escape a poisonous leech bites him. Kitai administers the antidote, but two of his capsules become damaged and his nervous system shuts down. When Kitai awakens, he narrowly escapes a thermal shift. Kitai lies to Cypher, not informing him of the damaged capsules. That night, Kitai listens to Cypher tell him a story of when he was attacked by an Ursa, how Cypher realized that fear is merely an illusion created by the mind's thoughts of the future, and thus Cypher first began to "ghost" himself from the Ursas, choosing to live rather than to let his enemies - both fear and the Ursas - decide his fate.

The following day Kitai reaches a mountaintop, and Cypher learns about the broken capsules. Knowing that the only way to complete the journey with only two capsules would be to skydive, Cypher orders Kitai to abort the mission. Believing his father still sees him as a disappointment, Kitai blames Senshi's death on Cypher's absence on the day of the attack. He skydives from the mountaintop, but a large condor captures him and his communicator is damaged. Kitai wakes in the condor's nest, surrounded by its chicks. Sabertooth tigers attack the chicks, and Kitai attempts to defend the chicks lives, but fails. The condor attacks the sabertooth tigers, and Kitai escapes. After witnessing a mother waterhog and her babies take refuge in a deep tunnel to an underground cavern, which was warmed by a stream of lava, Kitai does the same keeping him safe and warm overnight. Rather than sleep, Kitai animates his plan for the next day on the wall of the cave, reminiscent of early cave dwellers. In the morning Kitai emerges with the warthog family ascending just ahead of him. He continues on his mission, when he reaches a river too treacherous to maneuver on his own, so he builds a raft. Exhausted, Kitai falls asleep on the raft. He dreams of his sister, Senshi, who reassures him that Cypher's bitterness is just his own anger and guilt for not saving her. Senshi urges Kitai to wake up. Instead, he starts reciting what he's memorized of Moby Dick. Senshi repeatedly tells him to wake up, and he all but ignores her. Finally, Senshi appears as a half zombie to Kitai, emploring him in a gruesome voice to "WAKE UP!". When Kitai is finally jolted awake, he realizes that he has slept too long and another thermal shift has caught him by surprise, when everything around him is frozen and turning to ice. Kitai nearly freezes to death, however he is rescued by the mother condor from earlier in the film, who makes a nest out of sticks and then laid her body on top so as to lock in her body heat, protecting Kitai from the freeze.
In the process of saving his life, she sacrifices her own so Kitai can live.

Kitai reaches the tail section and retrieves the emergency beacon along with another communicator, weapon, and more oxygen capsules. The communicator only allows Cypher to see and hear Kitai, but not for Kitai to hear him. Kitai learns that the ship's Ursa escaped and killed the remnants of the crew. The emergency beacon does not activate, and Cypher realizes that the atmosphere is blocking the signal. Kitai heads to a nearby volcano from which he can launch the beacon, and is injured when the Ursa attacks him. Kitai is able to control his fear and "ghost" himself from the Ursa enough to kill it. He then launches the beacon. A rescue team arrives, and the film ends with the two traveling back to Nova Prime, both agreeing that they would rather work with Faia.

## Cast

* Jaden Smith as Kitai Raige
	+ Sincere L. Bobb as 3-year-old Kitai
	+ Jaden Martin as 9-year-old Kitai
* Will Smith as Cypher Raige
* Sophie Okonedo as Faia Raige
* Billy Campbell as Mike
* Zoë Kravitz as Senshi Raige
* Tessa Allen as Isabella
* Glenn Morshower as Commander Velan
* Kristofer Hivju as Security chief
* Sacha Dhawan as Hesper Pilot
* Chris Geere as Hesper Navigator
* Diego Klattenhoff as Veteran Ranger
* David Denman as Private McQuarrie
* Lincoln Lewis as Bo (Running Cadet)
* Shiva Prabhukumar as Training Cadet
* Isabelle Fuhrman as Rayna (uncredited)

## References

1. M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN SAYS 'ONE THOUSAND A.E.' WON'T BE 3-D, BUT MAY FEATURE THE WHOLE SMITH FAMILY!
2. Will Smith, Son Jaden to Star in M. Night Shyamalan Sci-Fi Movie
3. Will Smith’s 1000 A.E. Scheduled for June 7, 2013; WANDERLUST Pushed Back to February 24, 2012

## External Links

* After Earth on Wikipedia
* After Earth on IMDb
* After Earth on Twitter
* After Earth on Facebook