The Day The Earth Stood Still - 2008 Edition
Written: Dec 10 '08 (Updated Dec 10 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Keanu Reeves is perfect for the role of Klaatu, some good stuff...
Cons: ... just doesn't hold together well, lacks a feeling of credibilitiy, weak ending...
The Bottom Line: It's not terrible, but The Day The Earth Stood Still is yet another reason why classic sci-fi movies shouldn't be remade.
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| captaind's Full Review: The Day the Earth Stood Still |
The Day The Earth Stood Still is a loose remake of the 1951 classic starring Michael Rennie - fortunately it's so long since I've seen the original and my memory of it is so bad that I didn't feel scandalised at the very idea of them remaking it. Having now watched this (and only found it mildly enjoyable) I do want to see the original again - but for now I'll give you my thoughts on the 2008 remake.
In this movie a visitor from outer space, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) is attacked from the outset and finds an ally only in the form of Helen Bensen (Jennifer Connelly), who is an "Astrobiologist". Called upon by the government to help investigate a mysterious object approaching each at an incredibly high speed, she just happens to be the only female in a large group of scientists to be on the team of specialists. How convenient - this didn't help set the movie up well in the credibility stakes, but still. The US government isn't taking the potential threat lightly and aren't in the mood to talk - which could well be the worst attitude to take towards the alien visitor. Besides Klaatu there is a huge robot who stands there doing nothing - until a threat is detected, when it is decidedly deadly. The earth's alien affairs strategy is handled by the Defence Secretary Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates), a faint hope lies in the hands of Professor Barnbardt (John Cleese), and there is a rather pointless side-story about Helen's stepson Jacob (Will Smith's son, Jaden). A few other characters enter the story here adn there, but generally they play little meaningful part in the proceedings.
The tendency with remakes of sci-fi classics seems to be making them into sci-fi horror rather than pure sci-fi (I just point-blank refused to see the modern version of War of the Worlds), and that trend continues in The Day The Earth Stood Still. Though I can't think of anyone better than Keanu Reeves to play Klaatu (often accused of lacking emotion, he can hardly fail in a role that calls for a complete lack of visible emotion!), the cast often doesn't seem to fit well. This is more the fault of the characters than the actors in the case of Kathy Bates and Jennifer Connelly, who really has little to do other than look worried or concerned. A big problem is that Jacob is such an obnoxious little brat that instead of feeling increased sympathy for Helen, we tend to think that she's an idiot for putting up with his behaviour with so little protest. John Cleese actually does very well in his role (short as it is), but I find it very difficult to accept him in a completely straight role. Even though I really like Kathy Bates, she just wasn't convincing - though as mentioned this was largely due to her character.
Plot-wise the film was rather mixed - some elements worked well, some just seemed too daft or unlikely. I can't remember much of the original but I suspect that it deviates quite a lot from that movie's plot. Some of the special effects looked really good but often the film seemed obsessed with using CGI for scenes in which it really wasn't necessary - for instance simply a car travelling across the bridge - and this resulted in a real lack of realism to some scenes. Also the dreaded "scourge that kills hundreds in a few seconds and yet mysteriously takes a full five minutes to have any kind of effect on the heroes" technique is used - again this means that all plausibility is lost. With the various weaknesses of the film there's not much of an atmosphere and it's difficult to care much about the characters. The ending was also a bit weak, and the "twist" at the end was very easy to see coming.
The dialogue is, on the whole, pretty good. It rarely becomes top quality, but laudably it avoids the dross that actors are forced to utter in many films. Tyler Bates' music score is fairly good too, though it rarely hits the heights that truly great scores seem to effortlessly scale. Rated PG-13 (USA) / 12A (UK) for "some sci-fi disaster images and violence", it contains a few unpleasant scenes that might upset young or sensitive children. Refreshingly there was no bad language in it - a very unusual thing in movies these days. It didn't feel too long, but then I never really felt any involvement with what was going on either.
Overall The Day The Earth Stood Still is mildly enjoyable, but that's about it. I wouldn't recommend it particularly apart from to Keanu Reeves fans, and I certainly don't think fans of the original are going to like it much.
Related Links
Keanu Reeves Movies - Chain Reaction, The Matrix: Reloaded, The Matrix: Revolutions, The Lake House (incidentally, The Lake House proved that Keanu is not as bad at portraying emotions as is often believed!)
Jennifer Connelly Movies - A Beautiful Mind, Hulk
See also: My Top Ten Sci-Fi Movies (I'm pretty sure that I'll have to find room for the 1951 version of The Day The Earth Stood Still after I've watched it again...)
Recommended:
No
Movie Mood: If Your First Choice is Sold Out
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
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captaind
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Member: Dave Seaman
Location: Birmingham, Merry Old England
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