[nextpage title=”NEXT” ]
3 Good 3 Bad takes a look at films by actors, directors or by genre, exploring the good and the bad, from way back to present day and everything in-between. This time, it’s the action movies of superstar Will Smith, one of the most recognized entertainers in the industry, a rapper in the 80s and breakout TV and then movie star in the 90s, becoming an Academy Award-nominated actor that continues to be a big box office draw. Known for his good looks and charms, he’s also famous for his great sense of humor and dynamic range, easily swinging us from laughs to tears with ease. While headlining some of the most profitable and successful movies of the last twenty years and more, he’s also had a few that didn’t quite click. Here’s 3 Good and 3 Bad sci-fi action movies of Will Smith.[/nextpage][nextpage title=”NEXT” ]
![]()
Men in Black
Based on the comic book series of the same name, this Barry Sonnenfeld directed action comedy is by far and away, the movie that cemented Smith as a runaway superstar, proving that his success on Independence Day was no fluke. Following the adventures of Agent J (Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), who work for the secretive and mysterious Men in Black, an agency that polices aliens who are living in disguise on Earth. Trouble arrives with a ‘bug’ alien who is leading a force to kill another species hiding in New York City. It’s up to J and K to save the day. A terrific and stylistic comedy with great visual effects and a really funny performance from Smith, who is the rookie on the team. To paraphrase J, he makes this look good. Read more about why Men in Black is so good.[/nextpage][nextpage title=”NEXT” ]
![]()
HANCOCK
After a very promising start and a premise that is loaded with potential, director Peter Berg‘s Hancock is ultimately a disappointing mess, packed with ambition yet tonally all over the place. It centers a guy named John Hancock (Smith), who is a superhero, but not the kind you’re thinking of. He’s a boozer who doesn’t much care that he gifted with incredible powers. He’s an angry guy with a big chip on shoulder and he’s basically hated by the public for his crappy attitude and collateral damage he causes. Time for a makeover. In comes Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), a public relations expert with a plan, who invites Hancock to meet his family, including his wife mary (Charlize Theron). Thing is, Mary knows John, but since Hancock is an amnesiac, he’s clueless, but there’s some backstory there that shifts the entire direction of the story. Sure, Smith is great fun, but the film stutters and loses all its terrific momentum in the second half, failing to find a payoff for the great start. [/nextpage][nextpage title=”NEXT” ]
![]()
ENEMY OF THE STATE
With director Tony Scott at the helm, you know that action fuels the film, and with his 1998 thriller Enemy of the State, he combined that with some intriguing themes of privacy, Big-Brother, and political scandal. It follows Robert Clayton Dean (Smith), a lawyer who gets caught up in a real mess when he bumps into his old pal Daniel Zavits (Jason Lee), a wildlife researcher who has caught something truly horrifying on camera, something the NSA wants very badly. However, knowing he’s in danger, he slips the disc with the images into Dean’s shopping bag without him knowing it, and now the hunt is on. Co-starring Gene Hackman, this is a pulse-pounder, even as it pushes the envelope of believability. It’s led by Smith’s high energy and convincing turn as a man who has to think fast or pay with his life. Great style and loads of intense action with some smart dialogue make this one to watch.[/nextpage][nextpage title=”NEXT” ]
![]()
WILD WILD WEST
Teaming up with Sonnenfeld again, Smith leads the cast in this film adaptation of the much beloved television series of the same name that mixed the old American west with fantasy and cool gadgets. The movie didn’t work. Set in 1869, it centers on U.S. Army Captain James West (Smith) and U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline), who uses disguises and contraptions to hunt down and capture bad guys. They’re soon on the trail of Dr. Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh), an ex-Confederate scientist in a steam-powered wheelchair with some decidedly nefarious tricks up his sleeve, including a gigantic mechanical spider. What follows is a startling misfire of poorly-landed jokes, uncomfortable dialogue, uneven direction, uninteresting characters, and loads of overblown sci-fi steampunk action that fail entirely to find any momentum. What the heck happened? Read more about how bad this is here.[/nextpage][nextpage title=”NEXT” ]
![]()
I Am Legend
While this is not the first time Richard Matheson‘s famous book has been adapted for the big screen, it is surely the most ambitious. Directed by Francis Lawrence, the film begins with a cure for cancer that ends up being an apocalyptic strain that nearly wipes out all of humankind, leaving five percent mutated into nocturnal vampiric humanoids and virologist Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville (Smith) the only survivor, living on Manhattan with his dog. Three years later, he is desperate to find anyone else alive while fending off the creatures that come out at night. Smith delivers a highly emotional and compassionate performance as a man living in utter isolation with some truly harrowing moments of sorrow and fear. It’s really some of this best work on screen and while the ending is certainly controversial, there’s no stripping away what amounts to a terrific cinema experience. This is not your typical monster in the dark movie.[/nextpage][nextpage title=”NEXT” ]
![]()
AFTER EARTH
Okay, so yes, most of this is a vehicle for Smith’s son Jaden Smith, which is three-quarters of the problem, but only part of the issue with M. Night Shyamalan‘s effort. Co-written by Will Smith, the film is set a thousand years in the future where humans have left Earth, settling on a new home called Nova Prime. Now, an alien species called the S’krell are looking to take over that planet, using beasts that hunt by sensing fear. Meanwhile, General Cypher Raige (Will Smith) and his estranged 17-year-old son Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) are on a voyage but an asteroid shower forces them to take refuge on the now abandoned Earth. Cypher is badly injured so it’s up to Kitai to navigate the wilds to find their ship’s tail section and reactive the emergency beacon to be rescued. Harshly criticized for being a vanity project, the worst of it is really its dreadful acting and direction, with Jaden especially uncomfortable to watch. Even Will Smith publicly called it “the most painful failure” of his career. It’s that bad. [/nextpage]