Will Smith continues to create work for his son and heir, Jaden, this time playing on a decimated, post-apocalyptic Earth. As was the case with fellow Scientologist Tom Cruise’s recent Oblivion, Will Smith’s latest venture into the realm of sci-fi takes place long after most of the human race has abandoned the planet for deep space.

General Cypher Raige (Smith Sr) is the greatest ranger ever to set foot in battle, and an expert at “ghosting”, the ability to show no fear in the face of danger. This skill is particularly useful when fighting Ursas, large predatory beasts that, while effectively blind, can smell the fear of their enemies. When their ship crashlands on Earth, 1000 years after the humans fled, Cypher is crippled and forced to rely on his pubescenet, petulant son, Kitai (Smith Jr), to make the perilous 100km journey to the radio transmitter that will enable them to signal for help. Not only is the planet’s atmosphere unbreathable and host to all manner of creatures that have evolved primarily to kill humans, but a captive Ursa has escaped from the wreckage and Kitai must combat his fear and master ghosting if he is to make it out alive.

On paper After Earth is a promising enough property, developed from Smith’s original idea by Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli) and the film’s director, M. Night Shyamalan. The once-revered auteur, responsible for such “classics” as The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable has long since fallen from grace, to the extent that his name was notably absent from any of the film’s marketing. However, After Earth‘s problems go far deeper than Shyamalan’s signature bland tone, lethargic pacing and muted colour palette.

The film opens with a lengthy, complex yet borderline incoherent that desperately tries to lay out over a millennium of history and world building before anything of note has taken place or any discernible characters have been introduced. This also happened at the start of Oblivion, but while that film then went on to dazzle audiences with a stunning audio-visual display that largely distracted from its wholly derivative narrative, After Earth fails to gather itself or win our trust.

As the emotionally inert Cypher, the usually charismatic Smith is borderline catatonic here, failing both to entertain his fans or act as a much-needed crutch for his considerably less talented offspring. Unfortunately, much of the film’s “action” is focused on Kitai’s journey into manhood, as he wrestles with his fears and seeks to essentially become his father. While this survivalist movie should offer plenty of opportunities for thrilling action beats and edge-of-your-seat spectacle, the surprisingly unadventurous script offers little more than a series of chases, each culminating in Smith Jr making a narrow escape from some mutated form of mammal before passing out in the undergrowth. He then awakens, walks a little further, and then finds himself in trouble again. Repeat to snooze.

The reason After Earth bears such a strong resemblance to Cruise’s Oblivion is that both rely heavily on iconography and methodology central to Dianetics – the central belief system in Scientology. While I’m not overly familiar with its details myself, I know enough to recognise a prominent use of post-apocalyptic wastelands, abandoned Earth, prominent volcano imagery revolving around the central idea that combating fear is crucial to progression and enlightenment. While none of these ideas are unique to Scientology, they are all present in its teachings, but there have been vocal reactions on both sides of the arguement as to whether or not After Earth does represent “Scientology Propaganda.”

Regardless, the film is a bore from beginning to end, which is no small feat when it features the world’s most bankable movie star in a tale that eseentially accommodates non-stop action from beginning to end. Jaden Smith is a terrible actor and a charisma vacuum, but at 15 years of age should not be held accountable for taking an incredible opportunity offered him by his father. Even M. Night Shyamalan can escape most of the blame here, despite bringing the film none of the adrenaline, innovation or espcapism that it so desperately needed. The failure of After Earth lies heavily on the broad shoulders of Will Smith. It screams out as an ill judged vanity project that has heinously backfired. Will its failure forever tarnish his box office potential seems unlikely, but his next moves must be a cautious and considered one, and talk of an After Earth trilogy must be wiped off the face of the plenet.