Customer Reviews

The Day The Earth Stood Still

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(62)
3 star:		(58)
2 star:		(73)
1 star:		(144)

 

 

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.

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.

This is undoubtedly the worst remake of a movie in history. The original literally was a science fiction masterpiece but this one just did not have any redeeming features. Boo.....to whoever made this movie. Terrible, terrible........

There have been more than enough reviews that outline the lame ecofreak plot to this movie, but what I haven't seen are commentaries on the sheer logical fallacies that are mind bending in the level of their disconnection from one moment to the next. Here are just a very few of the unending string...

A mysterious object is hurtling towards earth, and is calculated to hit Manhattan, so the government gathers up the best scientists it can to figure out a way to divert this object that is due to hit in 70 some odd minutes and whisks them off to.... Manhattan, right where this object is due to hit.

After lowering GORT, (the 50' tall masculine humanoid robot,) into a deep hole, (missile silo, I guess,) the attempt to drill into it, (for some reason,) is thwarted when it shatters a diamond drill bit. We're told that another attempt can't be made for days until the bit is "robotically" repaired. Alas, speed is of the essence after the Klaatu escapes, and so they send in a guy with... a handy spare diamond drill bit.

The utterly dispassionate Klaatu, determined that mankind must be wiped off the earth, kills a cop who is threatening him with a pistol by crushing him between two cars, flinging one into another just by touching the first, then rushes over and using magic gel and his fantastic alien abilities, revives the cop to full health.

Caught in the path of the raging metal super locusts that devour everything in their path, Klaatu hauls the lady scientist and her brat kid to safety under... a short four lane highway bridge. By his statement, he is apparently somehow able to keep the little buggers out of that area, but is unable to protect himself from attack in his final dash to his spaceship, (though they don't swarm under that little bridge to eat up the idiotic scientist and her brat kid after he's left them behind,) where his touch to the ship sends and EMP that shuts them all down, (as well as every machine on earth,) and he disappears.

The movie was a non-stop string of things that just made no sense like these throughout.

As near as I can tell, this screen play was written by a group of ecofreaks while totally roasted on pot because the story ran pretty much like trying to have a conversation with someone in that condition who thinks they're being "deep" in their philosophizing.

Don't buy it, (unless you want the 1951 original and can't find it elsewhere,), don't rent it, don't purchase the PPV, but instead, if you truly can't live without seeing it, wait for it to come out on regular cable. Otherwise you'll be kicking yourself for wasting your money, no matter how little you might spend on it.

On the plus side, you will burn calories with the extensive eye rolling you'll be doing throughout with all aspects, plot, acting, special effects, logical disconnects, music, etc.

I saw this on opening day and most people including myself actually laughed OUT LOUD at the end of this movie at its utter absurdity. The ORIGINAL did NOT need a 21st century remake anyway! This story was mediocre at best and got really preachy about how humans were basically a pestilence on the earth that needed to be wiped out because they were damaging the environment. In the end only Dr Helen Benson's (Jennifer Connely) compassion shows to Klatu (Keanu Reeves) that humans can change their ways and be more "Green" and he decides to save human kind, but at a price; ALL the technology in the world is rendered useless. Yup! That EVIL technology of ours is wiped out in one instant by some kind of GLOBAL E.M.P. Cars and all mechanized transportation stop instantly. Cell Phones, iPods, and computers are useless. Even wrist watches don't work. Unfortunately, they don't show how many patients that are on life support or under surgery DIE because of this, or how many jets and helicopters crash, submarines sink, mechanized farming stops, water filtration and sewage management plants cease, etc... we're not supposed to think about all the GOOD that comes from technology in THIS movie, just that "Technology BAD". The world is in one instant sent back to the industrial revolution days ~ what GREAT times THOSE were = Terrible pollution, child labor, people living in filth, frequent viral epidemics/ plagues... I'm all for being a good steward of the environment, but I mean, who wrote this movie, the Earth Liberation Front? Al Gore? Its an eco-terrorist's dream come true. COME ON!!! This was by far one of the most one sided, absurd, and politically motivated sci-fi movies EVER made! I'm suprised that it didn't come with a coupon for 50% off a BIDET and a book about composting (made with recycled paper of course). LOL!!! At least "The Day After Tomorrow" had decent computer graphics. The computer graphics were no better than they were in movies made 10 years ago and were actually comparitively disappointing. Don't waste your money buying this on DVD. If you still HAVE to see it RENT IT. Better yet, wait a year and this will surely be available to watch on the SciFi channel for FREE (after you pay your cable or satellite bill that is).

I have only wanted my money back for one movie in my life and that was jurassic park 2 and that was because there was a junior high school class in the theatre chucking ice and popcorn. I even sat thru tank girl. This movie is preachy crap. Notice that the little sterilizing nanites that gort becomes only get close-ups when they eat big bad polluting semis, oil refineries, rednecks and football stadiums. When klaatu and the kid are hitching a ride in the back of a big 4x4, who's driving but beer swilling white trash? All you people who liked this movie need a refund for your lobotomys. I get preached at every day for being the big bad white destroyer of the world in the news and in the markets where I am forced to go green whether I want to or not. I definitely don't need to hear it here. I'm going to use this movie for a coaster. Watch the classic folks.

My 11-year-old son hit it on the head: while just passing through the living room as the big climatic scene of the GORT/alien microscopic locust swarm devastates the outskirts of Philadelphia and the doom of Earth is becoming a reality, he paused, and as the manmade landscape melted under the ostensibly totally awesome CGI alien-swarm, he exclaimed, "This film is nothing but computer graphics," and headed right on out the door to play with his friends.

So, if the F/X in this film, in the full righteous and roaring (literally) glory of its best scenes of mayhem, chaos and destruction, can't hold a young boy's attention, what can in this lame, lame, lame film?

It was just so bad, on so many levels. The story was convoluted and meandering, full of contradictions, holes, and ridiculous, nonsensical action. The military characters were absolutely ridiculous, seriously awful parodies, as were the truly stupid military operations they were ordered to execute; they were lame props for more CGI action-glop.

And Kathy Bates as "Madame Secretary?" What in the world? So, the only real guess is that she's supposed to be the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. And she apparently has all of the elements of national power at her disposal, including the launching of all manner of sophisticated military operations on US soil--how is this Constitutionally doable? And why is "the Secretary" apparently in charge of everything in the entire country as the entire planet comes to an end? All she does is talk on the phone with the President. What in the world is the President doing that's more important than the Secretary's management of the alien threat to the existence of the planet? Working on reelection fundraisers? Again, just totally ridiculous.

The only really cool thing about this film was GORT, a great homage to the original, now seriously amped-up, very nicely rendered and absolutely menacing in his silent waiting. He's got the whole eye-bar laser beam thing going on, very cool. But then he gets captured--what!?--and then disintegrates into the microscopic alien world-muncher swarmy-thingies, and that was that.

Bottom line: Over-the-top CGI and a coupla big-name actors do not a successful remake, uh, remake. Although it's B&W, and the F/X are thoroughly prehistoric, stick with the much more satisfying and better-in-every-way original.

Watching the first half and second half of this film is like watching two entirely different movies. How could this be? As a huge follower of the science fiction, and in particular, alien, genre, I am constantly looking for new and re-released media that focuses on those subjects, and this remake seemed like a perfectly noble idea (especially since no one in our current generation seems to have watched the original).

The first thirty minutes of the film are undoubtedly the best. Jennifer Connelly is excellent as always, and the initial contact between alien spacecraft and civilians is beautifully captured. Keanu Reeves 'mind controlling' his questioner was intriguing as well, and everything seems to follow a dark, stark directorial style, until the director seems to suddenly lose it and gets all emotional. You will seriously not believe that a film that starts with such promise could dissolve into such blissfully idiotic stupidity.

Thats when this film becomes half of what it could have been. In between touching 'familial' scenes and endless mother-son hugs, and Jennifer's plea to the Alien to 'give us earthlings another chance to prove us wrong', everything towards the end feels rushed and does not make any sense. The basic premise being that the Alien was sent to warn mankind that since Earthlings are doing such a horrible job of looking after Earth, Aliens would soon colonize the planet. But then Jennifer manages to convince the alien that human beings are full of love and compassion and as cuddly as koala bears, and he believes her (not a very intelligent alien, is my guess).

The climax, if you can call it that, is laughable. The alien (played by Reeves), rushes towards his spaceship and 'takes off' (even this is not shown properly). Thats it. He leaves. I couldn't believe this was the end to this movie. It isn't just disappointing, its insulting, especially because it actually started off like a serious commentary on interplanetary relations. And then they ruined it. The filmmakers should really be ashamed of what they've done here, and how they have absolutely belittled the source material.

Three Stars.

Also, Keanu Reeves playing a dull, emotionless alien was no stretch at all. He basically shows up playing himself. This wasn't even like an 'inside joke'. It was mostly just plain bad casting. The only character worth liking in this film was the Gigantic Protector 'Gort', who displays enormous character, fortitude and devotion to his cause, despite the fact that he wears a mask and doesn't display his emotions easily.

For a better film on alien invasions, try watching "Body Snatchers" from the early 1990s (starring Gabrielle Anwar) and "The Invasion" from 2007 (starring Nicole Kidman). Also, getting the only series of "Invasion" (TV show starring Eddie Cibrian) isn't such a bad idea, considering its the best alien invasion show ever created.

Obviously, a lot of people have been harshing on this movie, a remake of the 1950s sci-fi classic, "The Day The Earth Stood Still." Some of the reviews and comments are well-thought out, although many seem to come mostly out of people who either A) loved the original and consider any adaptation to be sacrilege B) see an opportunity to appear clever by trashing something mainstream and big-budget Hollywood or C) just want to make fun of Keanu Reeves.

Now, on the face of things, I would be a perfect candidate for any of these criteria. In general, I loathe Keanu's career and I can be as altie and retro-purist as anyone. However, I enjoyed this film a lot more than I expected to. I think they did an excellent job updating the material and the film's core message for the 21st Century. In addition to criticizing the human propensity towards violence, they also introduce environmental concerns, and yet they do so with a relatively light touch. The special effects are generaly quite good, and are used in the service of the story, not as an end in and of themselves. Most surprisingly, Reeves is pretty good in the role of Klaatu, the stiff-lipped emissary of an intergalactic federation with its eye on the human race.

I liked it. A couple of things kept me from giving this film a full five stars rating, though... Although the first two-thirds hummed along at a nice clip, the ending seemed abrupt and vaguely unsatisfying... In part this lack of emotional connection may come, not from Reeves, but from his costar, child actor Jaden Smith, who is uniquely irritating and uninvolving. He's a really bad, flat actor, and the emotional work that his character is supposed to pull -- convincing a skeptical, superpowered alien that the human race is worth saving -- largely falls into a vacuum. Nonetheless, viewers can still figure out what the filmmakers are trying to say, and the more charitable among us can easily overlook a major casting error in favor of the enjoying the bigger picture.

Take the flaming reviews with a grain of salt: this isn't the best sci-fi movie ever, but it's certainly worth checking out. (Joe Sixpack, Slipcue film reviews)

Aye, the original is held in reverence, much as Lord of the Rings (the Movie) was criticized because of its difference from the books. They are two different articles. Much as we tend to like original songs that we grew up with--and turn our noses to the remakes--this film must be evaluated on its own. I found it to be very moving and an excellent film.

Sure, Keanu Reeves seems a bit wooden, but he IS an alien after all (much like The Terminator when he realizes that he now understood why humans cry). The dialogue was perfect for me. I saw a review that claimed that we never know why Klaatu is here. I believe he explained it when he said that by destroying humans, the earth would be saved.

Sure, there's now a child in the storyline, but that was needed for Klaatu to see why humans can change "on the precipice." Much like Firefly's Shan Yu. "Live with a man [for] forty years. Share his house, his meals; speak on every subject. Then tie him up and hold him over the volcano's edge, and on that day, you will finally meet the man."

I think Klaatu finally met the man (or I should say "mankind"). It was a great movie, well-acted, with super special effects. The blu-ray version shines with DTS-HD sound, and the picture was superior. My two cents (not that anyone will get this far down in the reviews to actually read this). :-)