68 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Uneven, preachy, and way too much "cute kid", April 11, 2009
I've been beaten to the punch by a lot of really fine, insightful reviews. I'll only add that, like so many movies we seem to see today, this is one that could have been so much better.
It is poorly paced, and miserably directed, with such an imbalance of emphasis between Klaatu's heavy-hearted, planet-wide mission, and the irritating, recurrent focus on the "cute kid" character (Jaden Smith) who becomes as welcome in the story as an insect at a picnic.
Jennifer Connelly is wholly unbelievable as a "world class" super-scientist, but at least the director resisted the temptation to create some smarmy love-affair concoction between she and Klaatu. Given how uninteresting the rest of the story was, I was afraid that he might resort to such a technique to breathe life into this otherwise prosaic rendering of the original science fiction classic.
The special effects... well, yes, they were good. It's 2009. The special effects always ought to be good. But as we've all known for a long time, good special effects do not necessarily make a good movie.
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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
"We can change --- We can start by melting all copies of this DVD!" ZERO STARS, November 30, 2009
This is easily one of the worst remakes ever. It's an insulting updating of the splendid 1951 film
The Day the Earth Stood Still, which, though low tech, has a storyline that still sings to the human heart.
Michael Rennie's Klaatu was erudite, gentlemanly, and pacifistic. Keanu Reeves (who would seem to have been a perfect match for the role) starts out very strong, but degenerates into an muttering intergalactic bully.
Rennie's Klaatu brings a message of world peace and human amity. Reeves' Klaatu seems set on pointlessly exterminating the human race in order to protect the planet's biosphere.
Rennie's Klaatu sees the best side of human nature even after being shot and killed. Reeves' Klaatu despises the human race for it's destructive qualities, deciding that we aren't worth a fig. He then unleashes a reign of planetary destruction. Does anyone besides me see the irony here?
Both Rennie's and Reeves' Klaatus come to Earth and ask (Rennie) or demand (Reeves) to see humanity's leadership. Reeves admittedly gets the worse of it. He gets stuck with a particularly cranky Kathy Bates as the U.S. Secretary of Defense, a mindless bureaucrat who can't figure out whether to kill Klaatu outright or have him dissected.
This character is not worthy of Kathy Bates, an otherwise fine actress. To be honest, none of the roles add anything to Keanu Reeves', Jennifer Connelly's, or anybody else's careers. Was the money that good that these people endorsed this wreck of a movie regardless of the script? I can't imagine any other reason for signing on to appear in this. Can somebody refund me the two hours of my life I spent watching this hoping it would get better?
I'm frankly surprised Keanu Reeves, a practicing Buddhist, took this role, which, unlike Rennie's, has nothing to recommend it. Yeah, this version is flashier, but who cares?
Jennifer Connelly wastes the Patricia Neal role by intoning, "But we can change" every time Klaatu decides that the entire human race is expendable. She never argues with him or makes a case for saving the seven billion human souls on this planet. She just whines.
Connelly is saddled with her politically correct Hollywood standard-issue African-American stepson, a dreadlock wearing little waste of protoplasm played by Jaden Smith, who does nothing but b*tch and moan, kick Connelly in the shins, call the cops on Klaatu, yell, "if my (dead) Dad was here he'd kill you!" and make the viewer miserable. Frankly, Klaatu could do a lot to improve humanity by just killing the kid. Smith would be the perfect prom date for Dakota Fanning in
War of the Worlds, another worthless remake.
The irony is Klaatu doesn't kill the kid, he saves him. Letting the little whatnot live is probably a worse punishment for humanity after all, and that seems to be Klaatu's main mission in this ragged movie, punishing humanity.
Forget about the momentary plot bump of addressing the United Nations. Forget about asking Earth to join with other planets in a peace league. Forget the fail-safe order "Klaatu barada nicto." Forget anything positive.
Just unleash a bunch of special effects mass destruction all over the place, turn Gort into a homicidal maniac on the scale of Genghis Khan, and make Klaatu a hateful, selfish, gleeful executioner.
In other words, bore the viewer to death with negativity, negativity, negativity.
Comparing the 2008 version with the 1951 version is truly frightening. We seemed so much more optimistic with the threat of atomic war hanging over us in the Post-WWII Cold War Era than we do now. That speaks volumes. Hollywood's got to get over this apocalyptic trash. Films reflect their era. This movie mopes about our capacity to change. Okay, then, let's see change on celluloid. Let's see a director with the intelligence to buck the tide of misery. Let's see a remake of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL worthy of being watched. And may this film disappear into the nether world where it belongs.
I rarely use colorful language in reviews, but be warned: This movie sucks.
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