( EW.com ) -- I 've lost count , but `` After Earth '' seems like it must be the fourth post-apocalyptic thriller this month . The movie teams Will Smith and his son , Jaden Smith , and it was directed by M. Night Shyamalan , the former maestro-huckster of the twist ending . But Shyamalan 's star has fallen , and he has become a glorified gun for hire . The movie takes off from a concept as basic as a videogame , and it sticks to that concept , without surprise . In the dystopian future , the human race has been forced to abandon a toxic earth overrun by snappy-jawed monsters that look like they came out of a Starship Troopers sequel . Will Smith plays Cypher , a military Ranger famous for his total absence of fear ( that 's why he 's invincible to the monsters , who stalk their prey by smelling fear ) , and Jaden plays his upstart Ranger-cadet son , Kitai , who is traveling with him on an interplanetary mission . When an asteroid storm forces the ship to crash-land on earth , Cypher is badly injured , and it 's up to Kitai to travel a hundred kilometers on foot , all to retrieve a homing beacon . But his father , who can see what Kitai sees through a digital transmission , talks to him as if he were a videogame avatar , guiding the kid through his trek to manhood . We 're not used to seeing Will Smith shorn of his lightness and humor , but in `` After Earth , '' he 's solemn and heavy-lidded , and he speaks with grave deliberation , never even using contractions . He tries to make Cypher a kind of Obi-Wan figure , and Smith is charismatic enough to pull this off , but the father-son , mentor/disciple relationship is better than the rest of the film , which is like a plate of sci-fi leftovers . The knives have been out for Jaden Smith , who is routinely dismissed by blogosphere snark as a lucky-duck celebrity offspring whose dad will do anything to make him a star . I 'm someone who thinks that Jaden Smith has a lot of talent ; his moody melancholy held that `` Karate Kid '' remake together . But a movie like After Earth , in which he mostly has to act all by himself , taking orders from his father as he dodges post-apocalyptic clichÃ©s , is n't doing him any favors . Grade : C+ . See the original story at EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
` ` After ##noon '' is directed by M. Night ##ly . Will Smith plays Cypher and real - life daughter Jaden plays his partner , Kitai . EW gives it a grade of C+ .