The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

The 2008 version of The Day the Earth Stood Still has become the latest in a long line of Hollywood remakes which fail to live up to the original. Sure, it looks a thousand times better than the 1951 version, but it lacks both heart and soul. When all the CGI effects and stone-faced Keanu charm are stripped away, it’s nothing more than your standard piece of fluff designed to rake in millions at the box office. It’s a real shame, too, as The Day the Earth Stood Still has an important message to impart.

The action begins in the mountains of India in 1928, as an explorer (Keanu Reeves) encounters a mysterious glowing orb. Releasing the energy inside, he’s knocked unconscious and later wakes with a strange mark on his hand.

Jump to the present day, where a Princeton professor named Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) is busy teaching class and raising her willful stepson, Jacob (Jaden Smith). After receiving an unusual phone call just before dinner, Helen’s surprised to find a convoy of police and federal agents outside her front door. She’s spirited away on a matter of “national security” and soon finds herself on a transport helicopter filled with scientists of various specialties. Nobody will tell them what’s going on, but it’s obvious that something big is happening.

“Something big” turns out to be the discovery of an unknown object hurtling towards Earth. With impact just over an hour away, the government is trying desperately to prepare for what may be a world-ending collision. But to everyone’s surprise, the object slows as it reaches Earth’s atmosphere and gently settles in Central Park. The team of scientists and the military are scrambled to the landing site, and there they see a giant glowing sphere. When a figure begins to emerge (reaching out to touch the hand of Dr. Benson) the military predictably shoots it. That’s when a giant metallic being–later dubbed GORT–shows up and lays the smack down on everyone present.

The wounded alien is taken away for surgery, and within hours he’s morphed into the form of the explorer from 1928. Calling himself Klaatu, he claims to be a representative from a collection of intelligent worlds. He’s here to speak with the planet’s leaders, but he’s barred from doing so by the paranoid Secretary of Defense, Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates).

The rest of the film follows Klaatu’s attempts to elude the U.S. government, conduct a few matters of grave importance, and return to his ship. Dr. Benson, meanwhile, learns of his mission and sets about trying to change his mind. Earth, it seems, is one of the few planets in the galaxy capable of sustaining complex life. If human beings continue along their present course, they’ll almost certainly destroy the world and every creature on it. To prevent this, the alien confederation is prepared to exterminate the human race in order to preserve Earth.

Throughout his career, Keanu Reeves has been panned by many for his monotone delivery and his expressionless face. In The Day the Earth Stood Still, these attributes are actually something of a virtue, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else doing a better job as an alien-who-looks-human. His performance really excels when saying nothing at all, and this is never more true than in a scene at a crowded train station where he watches human life (and death) play out with a look of curious detachment (while eating an egg salad sandwich, no less).

The film boasts an impressive supporting cast including James Hong, Kyle Chandler, John Cleese, Robert Knepper and Kathy Bates. Bates is appropriately no-nonsense as the Secretary of Defense for a wary nation, and Cleese–as a Nobel Prize winner–debates with Klaatu about humanity’s capacity for change. It’s also interesting to note that his character, Professor Barnhardt, is the only person in the entire film who seems genuinely excited about the prospect of an alien visitor.

Connelly is, without a doubt, a great actress, but the film’s script never lives up to her abilities. Just when you think she’s on the verge of a great scene, it’s over all too quickly; other times, I wished it would’ve never started. Of course, it doesn’t help that she’s saddled throughout most of the movie with one of the most annoying child characters to come along in quite some time.

Jaden Smith (son of Will Smith) plays Jacob, the oh-so-annoying stepson of Dr. Benson. Still grieving over the death of his father a year prior, Jaden does nothing but ask lots of questions, defy his stepmother, and generally serve as an obstacle at every turn. In some ways, however, he also serves as a reflection of the human race. One minute he’s all for killing the visiting alien (“just to be sure”), but he later changes his tune after Klaatu saves his scrawny little neck. That being said, I would’ve much preferred to see Connelly and Reeves interact without the precocious little moppet gumming up the works.

While the CGI effects are effective enough, they also make GORT seem the only competent character in the film. When he’s assigned a task, he carries it out with ruthless precision. Everyone else, however, seems somewhat lacking. The United States does almost everything possible to provoke the apocalypse (including sedating and interrogating an alien visitor, not to mention shooting him), and the supposedly high-minded alliance of planets seems a little too eager to carry out humanity‘s destruction. Even when Klaatu changes his mind about human race, it seems more of a contrived plot device than an actual conscious decision.

And since I’m complaining, let me also pose this question: How many times have we seen a film where someone–alien or otherwise–is emotionally moved by listening to classical music? I’m not disputing the merits of those works, but just once I’d like to see an alien visitor who comes from a planet dominated by death metal, techno or rap (or worse yet, polka).

Despite my criticisms, The Day the Earth Stood Still manages to be a passable popcorn movie. It’s not brilliant in any way, shape or form, but it’ll certainly shave an hour or two off your life. And since aliens might land at any time and destroy the planet for having the temerity to remake countless classics, why the hell not?