‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ (2008) Movie Review
In “The Day the Earth Stood Still” the government gathers a group of top scientist one of them being Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) because they see a unknown flying object moving through outer space headed for Earth at blazing fast speeds on their radars. They think the object is an asteriod or meteorite that will wipe out Earth if it were to hit. The option to missile it away had come up ,but the object is moving so fast that the chance of success is slim to none.
They prepare for the worst as the object enters Earth,but then wait it begins to slow down as if to prepare for a landing which it does eventually do. Apparently it’s a giant sphere. Everyone gathers around it,and out steps an alien cloaked in a special body suite. He is then shot by one of the soldiers. His huge, indestructible robot protector, Gort then steps out to protect him by shutting off all the guns,tanks,and other weapons. They take him back to a hospital where he sheds the special body suite in order to be born into human form so he can survive here on Earth. He grows into a full grown man named, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) in about a day.
After this he is question by Regina Jackson(Kathy Bates) who works for the “United States Department of Defense” as to why he is here, and what are his plans for Earth. He refuses to tell her ,and demands to speak with the leaders of Earth. The next plan for them is to drug him to get answers. Helen volunteers to do it,but slips him a placebo instead so that he can escape. He uses his alien powers to disable all the guards and make his way out of their confounds so that he can explore the planet Earth ,and to speak with someone who can convince him that the human race should be spared from destruction.
He eventually meets back up with Helen Benson who drives him around to different locations that he tells her to because he has told her that he’s a friend and is there to save Earth. After he realizes that the human race is hell bent on destructive tactics,he eventually tells Helen that he is here to destroy the human race so that the Earth can be saved. All these different spheres sprout up around the Earth to act as mini arks to protect the wildlife and anything that is allowed to be spared from the destruction that is soon to come.
Helen tries frantically to convince Klaatu that humans can change their ways ,and that he should spare them. Her efforts at the time fall short and his huge robot, Gort starts his reign of destruction on the humans of Earth. Eventually, though she is able to get Klaatu to send a stop order to Gort on the destruction after he sees the love that she shows towards her stepson, Jacob Benson (Jaden Smith) revealing another side to the humans.
My take : I never saw the original 1951 classic,but I thought the film was ok. It was never really fast paced or slow paced. It was just somewhere in between. It definitely had its moments for me. I particularly liked the parts where it shows how humans are so quick to attack what they don’t understand,but in this case instead of the target being the victim. The target put the attacker in it’s place and taught it a thing or two. I love that kind of stuff. I think films have a different effect or meaning to different people. For me personally, I liked the whole storyline coupled with the special effects,and I thought Keanu Reeves did a great job as Klaatu. I thought the message of the film had a deeper and true meaning to it. We don’t really own this planet; we just inhabit it right now.If the creator should ever decide to wipe us all out,there’s not a damn thing we can do about it accept change our ways in hopes that it’s not too late to change his mind.
Grade : B+
You must have read my mind! I never saw the original either so was expecting something like “Independence Day” so was a bit surprised that it’s more a cautionary tale with occasional explosions and car chases. It definitely made me think but I have a feeling people will just think of it as a meh semi-action-y flick and miss the bigger message. It’s not DVD-worthy but I’m glad I played hookie from work to go see it.
Oh, and how *AWESOME* was the trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine??!!! I am soooo there when it opens!!
@DCDiva: Oh,yes I know. I can’t wait to see the Wolverine movie. I will have the trailer up on this site as soon as it becomes available. They’ve also got a Magneto film waiting in the wings.