3. Cypher Raige
What is After Earth if not Will Smith’s somewhat vain attempt at nepotism? Clearly intended as a star-maker for young Jaden Smith, this sci-fi flop is most memorable for its wooden dialogue, bad acting, and derivative story. That, and the fact that its characters have ridiculous names.
The younger Smith’s character is called Kitai Raige, which is far less hilarious. His famous father (who in After Earth is also a famous figure whose son is attempting to break out of his shadow) plays Cypher Raige – a decorated war hero with an utterly ludicrous name. Raige in itself is relatively funny (let’s take a cool-sounding word and add an extra vowel), but the combination of the two is accidental comedy genius.
Cypher Raige sounds like the name a 12-year-old might give themselves before making a fleeting attempt at becoming a hacker. Cypher Raige sounds like the frontman of a late-’90s nu-metal band that struggled to book a single gig. Cypher Raige sounds like a character from a poorly-written Blade Runner fan fiction. Honestly, the list of all the ridiculous things that a character named Cypher Raige could be just goes on and on, making it a swing and a miss for After Earth.