Is After Earth an instant sci-fi classic? Well, no. But will Humboldt’s redwoods go down in film history as an aesthetically pleasing and inviting film set — one you could totally visit with your 2.5 kids? Seems plausible!

Now, you can already find plenty of reviews online chronicling After Earth’s failures. Yes, usual charisma machine Will Smith is humorless, emotionless and underused here. Sure, the storytelling lacks competence and the movie feels like it has the arc of a video game. True, it feels like Jaden Smith is the subject of the most elaborate senior portrait ever produced. But do you know what never sucks? The visuals, especially the roughly fourth of the film that romps around in the post-apocalyptic redwood forest we call home.

And that’s really what mattered to the Humboldt County-invested crowd that showed up for an advance screening of the new Will and Jaden Smith summer blockbuster. An actual red carpet ushered in those lucky enough to secure tickets to the sold out, thumpin’ DJ music-enhanced soiree, held inside the largest theatre in Eureka’s Broadway Cinema. Plus, complimentary booze! Movie premieres are great!

The night, put on by county film commissioner Cassandra Hesseltine and her team, was the culmination of a successful woo that brought director M. Night Shyamalan and a ginormous film crew to our area last year to spend nine days shooting amidst our local foliage. Hesseltine estimates the film crew’s jaunt added between $2 million and $3 million to the local economy. (Hear Hesseltine speak with KSLG’s John Matthews about the production here.)

Seeing as there was a room full of Humboldt boosters, the evening began with a few videos promoting local products, including the fun, snarky redwood deck ads LoCO highlighted yesterday and a beautiful teaser for an upcoming Humboldt Made event (see below).

Then it was on to our feature presentation which, as we already stated, meh. One more thing to mention though: pretty sure After Earth editors got a hold of the infamous Times-Standard earthquake footage for a split-second cameo in an opening montage chronicling how the planet became uninhabitable. Blame the apocalypse on Chris Durant’s dancing, I guess.

As you likely know, Humboldt’s most film premieringest week ever continues tonight at the Arcata Theatre Lounge with director Bobcat Goldthwait — live and hilarious — and a screening of his locally shot film Willow Creek. Here’s hoping for a better product.