Genre: Action/Adventure Rating: PG13 Release Date: 7-APR-2009 Media Type: Blu-Ray
Amazon.com: Impressive special effects are the key selling point for this big-budget remake of Robert Wise's classic 1951 science fiction parable about an alien visitor who delivers a chilling ultimatum to the leaders of the world. Keanu Reeves, who seemed ideal at first blush but ultimately turns into another case of miscasting, steps in for Michael Rennie as intergalactic watchdog Klaatu, who with his robot Gort (now super-sized), promises global destruction unless the powers that be unless drastic measures are undertaken regarding the Earth's environmental issues (or so one assumes). Jennifer Connelly is largely wasted in the Patricia Neal role of scientist/single mom assigned to study Klaatu, who offers a somewhat chilly father figure to her son (a grating Jaden Smith). Connelly isn't the only fine actor in the cast left standing idle while director Scott Derrickson's effects team constructs eye-popping scenes of wholesale mayhem; Mad Men's Jon Hamm, Kathy Bates, John Cleese and Rob Knepper are all adrift in the aimless script by David Scarpa, which never even fully explains why Klaatu is so bent on blowing us to smithereens. That lack of focus, as well as the B-movie quality of the dialogue (say what you will about the effects in the Wise version, but the film was polished from top to bottom), all help to cement what science fiction fans have been muttering about the film since its inception; the original film needed no high-tech updating --Paul Gaita
Get the Blu-ray of the 1951 original only.... ^ ...which actually costs more but is worth it because it is not contaminated by sharing a package with the 2008 garbage.
My rule: Never spend a nickel on a remake of a classic until you've seen it on TV -- which is why I've never spent a nickel on any of them.
Invasion of the Green Gestapo ^ If liking this movie is required to be "philosophical and intelligent" (as another review states) then I'll happily remain the ignorant and unsophisticated Neanderthal that I evidently am. This had the potential to be an awesome movie. The original is considered a classic for good reason, but here, in the age of FX, they forget the importance of the story... and of logic.
Our first glimpse of the movie came from the commercials, all FX; no substance. Not promising, but then I've seen some good movies hiding behind some badly cut commercials. So to the movie:
Let's start with the overriding message, the ecosystem is more precious than people and, well, apparently, more precious than the ecosystem. Yes that's right, the aliens send arks to take samples because in order to save the environment they must first have Gort destroy ALL life on Earth - land, air, and sea. Shouldn't aliens who can rapidly grow a human body and create intelligent microbots have the ability to selectively program a weapon of mass destruction to destroy only humans and their artificial structures, leaving everything else unharmed, thereby actually saving the environment that is ostensibly so rare and valuable it's worth committing genocide?
What about Klaatu's urgent message, why is it only good enough for the UN? Klaatu co-opts a lie detector and a security system, but doesn't think his message is important enough to, say, co-opt the Internet, radio waves, phones, and broadcast TV?
In the original Klaatu went out of his way to protect people, even after he was shot twice and killed once (he got better) he stopped Gort's rampage. He came in peace and left in peace, challenging, not once, our earthly sovereignty. He brought a clear warning of the end we faced if we foolishly took our "aggression" into space, a penalty to which no planet was exempt, not even Klaatu's. In the 2009 version, Klaatu's most "compassionate" act is an EM pulse that would instantly kill hundreds of thousands and doom billions to a slow death as electronics fail and vital emergency, food, and medical infrastructure irrevocable collapse. Tough luck starving nations, sorry earthquake and tsunami prone regions, and good luck with the next national epidemic - thanks to Klaatu and his ilk, you're on your own for the foreseeable future.
What about the title? The Earth never "stood still", it is sent spiraling into the pre-industrial era. A pivotal, suspenseful plot point was morphed into a tyrannical punch line. A more suitable title would have been "Invasion of the Green Gestapo".
On top of that, there's the brat who engenders anger, not sympathy, alien hypocrites judging and condemning us (without due process) for something their own race was guilty of, and the stupidly arrogant government leadership (Yea, one gets his comeuppance! ...that was the high point of the movie...). I could go on, but won't.
In the end the aliens come off as merciless, hypocritical, sanctimonious bullies, with neither heart nor moral footing for what they do.
One last thing, I have no complaints about the acting (which was straight-jacketed by the script and directing) or FX (which are great).
Humanity stinks, according to Hollywood ^ A bland alien messenger Klaatu comes to earth intent on assessing humanity's worthiness. He is met with a stubborn group of American officials and a sympathetic scientist. He perceives humanity to be too aggressive/destructive to allow to continue, and thus, after reaching this judgment initiates a countdown to doomsday and begins to evacuate the animals in large spheroid arks.
The film purports to have an environmental/pacifistic message, but I'm not clear exactly clear what Klaatu's issues really are. The film doesn't go into detail about why we are bad. It seems mankind is too industrial? Too inclined to violence? At any rate, the aliens want us to 'change or die.' Nice and enlightened. Tyranny, for a good cause is still tyranny. Guess the aliens haven't evolved as much as they like to think. Or maybe they just want to colonize our planet and decide to give us a good scolding first to let us know why.
The film's sermony message about how bad we all are, how violent, how destructive was conveniently one-sided. The alien, assuming it is a trained observer gets an F in my book for its sense of observation.
I DID liked Jaden Smith as the main protagonist's stepson. I also thought Bates was good as the government official. Reeves did his usual wooden doll act, which for this film was fine.
The film's special effects were good but the script was banal and lacking in complexity or depth. For this reason, I detracted a star and give it 2 stars.
Hampered by Fridge Logic ^ Day the Earth Stood Still (Blu-Ray) / B001SMC9IK
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" is easily one of the strangest movies I've seen lately. On the surface, this is rather standard science fiction fare - a strange alien from beyond the stars comes to visit us, is treated poorly by evil earth bureaucrats, and uses his strange and amazing powers to exact well-deserved vengeance on an uncaring populous. And, to a certain extent, that surface plot is beautifully polished to a high shine - Reeves works very well here as a dispassionate alien, and the special effects (though highly amusing from a scientific standpoint) are wonderfully done.
The sub-plot - that aliens are trying to save the earth, a rare and precious resource, from the ravages of humans - is an interesting twist on the `benevolent aliens' genre, which is to say, it's a nice change of pace to see humanity threatened with extinction from a "nice" species instead of from the usual slavering carnivores. Strangely, though, the plot kind of breaks down at this point - Reeves has been sent to earth with a very simple message: Stop mucking up the earth, or our superior technology will destroy you. Oddly, though, he never seems very interested in divulging his simple message. When rebuffed at his initial request to speak to the U.N., he clams up for much of the rest of the movie, and - in the end - only the love interest has heard from his mouth how, precisely, to prevent future attacks on the planet. Not the best way to disseminate an important message.
For that matter, why discuss this with this world leaders at all? The aliens seem to be at least slightly aware that governments and leaders can be corrupt, so why not go straight to the plebes with, I don't know, a gigantic space billboard? I would think that any species capable of hacking our space satellites could use that technology to decipher our language and spell out a nice warning, viewable from space, set to translate into a different earth language every hour or so. But I guess stopping every watch (and pacemakers?) on earth for a day might do the trick just as well, if only you told people WHY you were doing it. Ah well.
Apart from the Fridge Logic above, I did think this was a decent movie, although I will admit to not having seen the original classic, which probably colors my judgment somewhat. Reeves does very well here, as an emotionless alien, and the overall message is an interesting one, even if the delivery is a bit wonky. I really could have done with a lot less of the "cute" 'I-hate-my-stepmom' kid, even if the Wangst portrayal was probably fairly accurately done.
~ Ana Mardoll
Philosophical and Intelligent ^ If you are philosophical and intelligent, this movie is a wonderful delight. It is far more sophisticated than the original. It explores what qualities of human nature allow us to build healthy civilizations. It touches on the cycles of civilization and how we need those cycles in order to learn and grow. It even touches on the concept that we are not spiritually ready to handle the power of science yet. So does the original movie, but this film is much more subtle and expansive. That is part of the problem with the Amazon rating system. Some of the very best movies get low ratings because there are no eploding spaceships or steamy sexy relationships. Unless a movie appeals to the lowest common denominator, it just gets beaten up. If you want to see a movie with brains that will make you ponder, this is it. Unless you seldom ponder. Then you will simply wonder what the movie was about.
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