The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)

Rated PG-13 for some sci-fi disaster images and violence.
104 Minutes

Directed By: Scott Derrickson
Written By: David Scarpa
Staring: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith, John Cleese, Jon Hamm, and Kyle Chandler

If the Earth dies, you die. If the human race dies, the Earth survives. -Klaatu

Review

The Day The Earth Stood Still is a pretty representative title regarding the topic matter.  The film does little more than stand still, with a plot that only seldom shifts gears, and even that may have just been a ploy to watch Jennifer Connelly run around while looking devastatingly gorgeous.  I have never seen the 1951 original so I have no basis of comparison, but it’s unclear to me how this version could at all be an improvement on the classic film.

The film starts in an abrupt fashion with our main character, Helen, being whisked away by National Security for a reason unknown even by her escorts.   We’ve learned she is the single mother of her step-son Jacob, and is an over-achiever in every aspect of her life.  She clearly has a soft spot for those that can’t help themselves, and this little trait foreshadows that sensitive side of human nature.  Upon her arrival it is revealed that a giant Orb is traveling to Earth directly to Manhattan looking to destroy all those in it’s path.  The object halts just before imminent destruction all the while glowing like a happy Orb, and suddenly I thought I’d put on the wrong movie because Iron Man was standing before me, but no.  I was clearly mistaken.  The Alien entity must have just watched Iron Man and decided this figure would be an appropriate protector of it’s Orb thingy.  Next pops out a slimy Keanu, and the story really begins……….or stands still.

Once again, I just would like the notion of a city being destroyed or rampaged other than Manhattan and New York.  I was so relieved in Monsters vs. Aliens that San Francisco got the brunt of an Alien encounter.  Let’s try to focus on other cities, please, and leave New York alone.  Let it recover from it’s cinematic destructiveness.  It’s just gotten so repetitive.  It’s not as though people can’t relate to any other national landmarks or cities.  An empty and evacuated Manhattan is now just becoming a mind numbing bore-fest.

The casting director couldn’t have been more excited about having Keanu Reeves for this role.  In fact, the dead pan zombie-like alien embodied in human form, Klaatu, could not have been cast any better.  Looking exactly like he does in every other movie, wearing a suit that he probably kept from the costume department of a prior film, he sets out being as robotic and emotionless as possible, an act that seems second nature to him.  Jennifer Connelly on the other hand is a mess of complexity.  What Klaatu lacks, Helen makes up for.  She’s busy being a super scientist, mourning the loss of her husband, learning to be a single mother, and oh yeah………..trying to save Earth from extermination.  The two leads are at complete odds and don’t really play well off each other, making that part of the movie, which happens to be most of it, really awkward and uncomfortable.

The special effects had their moments.  Perhaps the fancy Orbs and Iron Man, or whatever it was, would have been more stimulating on the big screen, but I found myself thinking, enough already, it’s blue and misty and there are things in there.  But no, it was like a time filler or something, the cinematic version of a snooze button.  The last three quarters of the movie was the cinematic cruise control.

The finale of this film ended as abruptly and mismatched as it’s start.  The connection to the characters lacked,and mostly this film was boring.  The early mystery showed some promise, and the plot itself seemed compelling, but the execution fell just short of terrible. I can’t in good conscience recommend this to anyone, even though it did have a few interesting and original thoughts, but I’m thinking I’ll just save that for watching the original, which has to be miles better, it couldn’t be much worse.  I’m going in search of 1951, with hopes finding a more well thought out film that doesn’t travel on cruise control.