Theatrical Review of The Day the Earth Stood Still

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Theatrical review

By Jason P. Vargo
First published Dec 11, 2008

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Does humanity deserve to survive? That is the central premise of "The Day the Earth Stood Still," a fresh take on the classic 1951 Robert Wise film. In this iteration, Earth is visited by glowing spheres, all of which set up camp in various places around the world (think the UFO´s in "Independence Day"). When a being exits the Central Park, New York, globe and is promptly shot by American military forces, a battle begins between an organization of planets and the human race. Our species is killing one of the handful of habitable planets; this can not be allowed to happen, according to Klaatu (Keanu Reeves).

I guess time shouldn´t be spent bemoaning the incident the entire movie revolves around. If Klaatu doesn´t get shot by a trigger-happy soldier-a plot line the film completely drops immediately after it happens-then he doesn´t meet Doctor Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) or her step-son Jacob (Jaden Smith). If he doesn´t meet them, the story is essentially over, since it will ultimately be up to the Benson family to prove humanity is worthy of survival. I´ll even give the production an allowance, considering it is based on existing material and would have been reamed by fans for desecrating the original if it had substantially changed the concept. That still doesn´t mean the government has to be comprised of an incompetent Secretary of Defense (Kathy Bates) or Klaatu´s mind is changed by…ah, I won´t give it away.

When it comes down to it, there is no compelling reason for this space-faring organization to call off its attack on humanity. And that´s the biggest issue, story-wise, here. We can´t help but have lofty expectations for the defense. A grand plea from every corner of the world, a trip to a hospital delivery room, a pledge to become better people…something, anything, really. But it never comes. Even in the finale, it´s all left open ended. What happens? Can the current human race take a lesson from this? And if so, what is that lesson?

See, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" wants to be a social and environmental advocacy movie. Klaatu rather pointedly states humanity is destroying the planet without a single suggestion as to how become a better member of the interstellar community. It´s as if this version´s screenwriter-David Scarpa (his only other credit is 2001´s "The Last Castle)-had problems gelling the social and science fiction aspects of the original story in any satisfactory way. I will fully acknowledge that if Klaatu had given a list of demands, there would have been the possibility of coming off heavy handed. So in the end, it turns out to be a damned if you do, damned if you don´t scenario. But I´d rather he try and fail than not try at all.

The film is also uncomfortably hawkish, almost laughably so. Maybe the old cliché "If at first you don´t succeed, try, try again" is the mantra of the pretend American government. A sphere coming from outer space disables missile defenses? No bother. Just surround said sphere with dozens of army vehicles. Robot GORT shuts them all down? Oh well. Fire a round of sidewinder missiles…wait, they get shot down? Why not keep throwing ordinance at the travelers? It makes little to no sense to continually do this even when everyone involved knows it is a pointless exercise. (To be fair, SoD Regina Jackson does attempt to talk the president down near the end of the film, to no effect.) If the intention is to show the follow of "shoot first, talk later," Scarpa makes his point. Buffoonish caricatures may be a nice way of describing the governmental actions.

If you´ll notice, very little so far has revolved around the acting or actual people inhabiting the story. There´s a reason for that. While director Scott Derrickson has assembled a noteworthy cast ("Mad Men" Emmy winner Jon Hamm, Kyle Chandler and John Cleese all have supporting parts), they´re pawns to service the plot, not to drive it. There´s nothing unique about any of them. You mean to tell me in the year since Jacob´s father has died, he and Helen never put their collective heads together to figure out how to live peacefully with one another? In all the world´s Klaatu or his organization have visited to destroy, no one else has made a case for survival? Impossible. However, they are story conceits one has to live with in order to continue through the film.

The sum total of these problems is reminiscent of last year´s "The Invasion," another remake of a classic science fiction film. With a script that wants to say something important, it gets caught up in showing off the capabilities of CGI effects to the detriment of the story proper. And the sad part is, the story almost gets there. Many parts of the original are updated for a new generation: GORT is no longer a Frankenstein-ish monstrosity; the proverbial boogie man is environmental damage, not nuclear war; Helen apparently married an African American man and has his son-Jacob-to care for; getting information from across the world is much easier thanks to computers. Larger, grander ideas are present, ready to be explored. This new edition is too reliant on whiz-bang effects and much much too loud for its own good (louder and more obnoxious, in fact, than The Dark Knight and Max Payne, not to mention 300 and Transformers).

Slick and good looking, to be sure, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" doesn´t live up to its name. The action is completely based in America with precious few looks at the rest of the world. In that sense, it´s even xenophobic. Robert Wise may not have had a gangbuster budget at his disposal back in 1951, but he had something this remake doesn´t have: a cohesive, complete story with few effects to fall back on.

In its defense, is this the disaster many purists were expecting? No, I don´t think so. Speculation will run amok that someone at Fox got their hands on the screenplay and tinkered to create an audience-pleasing action spectacle. I have no evidence of that, though from the looks of the finished product, I wouldn´t discount it either. A 4 out of 10.

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