Movie Review

The Day the Earth Stood Still

“The Day the Earth Stood Still” should have worked. It’s a remake of a 1951 old movie most consider to be a classic, it has two very likable stars in Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly, and above all, special effects have hit a major stride since 1951 so in essence the entire look of the movie should be a hundred times better. Just for all its expensive-looking attributes, the movie in general is a big and dull drag. I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie that looked this good and bored the crap out of me so thoroughly. In looking on a message board, I saw someone bring up the 1998 version of “Godzilla." Good call!

Keanu Reeves is Klaatu, an alien who arrives on the planet with a giant robot named Gort in tow. He is taken to a test facility where he is asked questions and he gets very offended when one human, the Secretary of Defense (Kathy Bates), refers to the Earth as “our planet.” This eventually leads to an escape and to Klaatu getting help from a Harvard educated scientist named Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly). Benson is first called in to advise on a glowing orb in Central Park, the very thing that brought Klaatu to the planet. Just when she realizes that Klaatu is here to save us, she, along with her son (Jaden Smith), try to help. Just is he actually here to save us? Klaatu is a big proponent against global warming, so much so that he is willing to exterminate the human race so that the Earth can again prosper. So the onus goes to Helen to prove that we really ain’t so bad. Either that or Klaatu giant robot friend is going to turn into a big dust tornado and blow the shit out of everything.

What follows is a contrived and predictable testament to the power of love but that’s not the movie's biggest problem. It’s so sedate that by the time the dust cloud finally comes and we see Giant Stadium torn to pieces, it really just inspires more of a humdrum reaction than one of awe. While we wait for the action to finally start, the movie is fairly humorless, lots of ultra-serious commotion goes on, and it offers green glowing orbs and other special effects that look nice but can’t disguise from the movie’s emptiness. The screenplay, by David Scarpa, keeps all the environmental points very vague and lets us know early that other than that eventual dust cloud that comes later, there isn’t going to be a lot happening here.

Some of the special effects are very grand though, especially Klaatu’s first entrance. A beautiful glowing light progressively hurtles through the night sky. Gort, a robot that looks like a dark and huge version of Iron Man, emerges for the first time with a red beam for eyes. The whole thing is wonderfully suspenseful but few scenes after that in this movie really are. The actors haven’t been given much to do here other than look dazed and concerned. The movie as a whole moves very slowly with not an engaging thing to say or show us. And above all “The Day the Earth Stood Still” just stands still unfortunately.

Craig's Grade: C-

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%