The Day the Earth Stood Still

Rating

Director

Scott Derrickson

Screenplay

David Scarpa (1951 Screenplay: Edmund H. North)

Length

104 min.

Starring

Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith, John Cleese, Jon Hamm, Kyle Chandler, Robert Knepper, James Hong

MPAA Rating

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

Review

Is Hollywood running out of ideas? That’s a question I most often hear asked when discussing remakes and sequels. Yet, we are constantly getting treated to innovative or unusual stories in independent films, even though some of those have started to seem repetitive. But is it really a lack of ideas or is it just a desire for money that entices studios to green light projects like The Day the Earth Stood Still, a remake of the classic 1951 sci-fi flick?

Set in the modern day, a slew of scientists are brought in by the United States military to investigate a strange asteroid-like object on a collision course with Earth only to discover that the object is actually an alien space ship, one of which lands in Central Park. It raises heckles and consternation with millions wondering if an invasion is imminent.

The truth is, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) has come to earth after centuries of quiet observations to determine whether the planet’s life should be eradicated to start over, a somewhat Biblical threat akin to the Great Flood. Yet, in his attempts to get at the truth, despite the baleful and vicious attacks on him by the United States government, it is his love for Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) and her son Jacob (Jaden Smith) that ultimately changes his mind.

The film is little more than an action film about villainous humans, their desire for conquest and the protection of nature and wildlife. There is no underlying statement about the human race as individuals. Also absent from the original is a sense of wonder and spectacle. While it’s expected for the film to throw off all subtle references to Communism and the Red Scare being set in the present, current global crises are nowhere to be found in the film. There are no hints at these, only the traditional and common jabs at the militaristic tendencies of the U.S. government.

Reeves seems to have taken his fame as an emotionless actor and parlayed it into film after film where he plays characters who don’t quite understand how to relate to people. Whether it’s Johnny Mnemonic or The Matrix, his skills lie less in the ability to convey complex concepts and more in acting as a blank, mindless slate for his characters. It worked quite well in The Matrix, but here, especially when compared to the original’s Michael Rennie, it feels horrendously out of place and when the final scenes roll and he’s trying to stop his people from destroying earth, you don’t see why or how he would even care. Your only knowledge of these reasons has been relayed to you through corny dialogue and witless declarations.

No one in the cast seems to be giving the film much effort. Kathy Bates is clearly involved for the paycheck. Her Secretary of Defense is tough as nails, but only because she’s supposed to be. Likewise, Kyle Chandler as her primary assistant John Driscoll; and John Cleese as Professor Barnhardt, one of the world’s top physicists, are hardly noticeable in the film as they portray characters that just fall into clichés.

Connelly conveys no real sense of emotion, no passion, no concern. It’s like they gave her the script and told her that the audience didn’t need to identify with her as a working mother. I’m not a fan of A Beautiful Mind, but this makes me long to watch her in her Oscar-winning performance for a chance at anything even approaching passable. Even Smith feels forced and patently unnecessary. His character’s unflinching disbelief and foreknowledge of Klaatu’s existence as an alien is antithetical to the exemplary childlike qualities conveyed by Billy Gray in the original.

Only James Hong, as an alien left to interact with the planet, gives the film any measure of poignancy. His one scene is in a diner where he explains to Klaatu why he thinks the human race should be annihilated, yet why he can’t bring himself to leave Earth. He the only actor who gives the film any manner of talent and his scene is the only one that doesn’t feel hollow, emotionless or intentionally manipulative.

Director Scott Derrickson, whose last film, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, was mildly popular with audiences, takes a step in the wrong direction. Interest more in sound and visual effects than storytelling, he proves that he’s just a cut rate Michael Bay and that isn’t saying a lot. Why they went with such an untested director and an inexperienced screenwriter is fairly easy to understand. No one with any respect for the original, of which there are many, would have touched this inept project. Hopefully this will bring to an end the mining of old sci-fi properties for new audiences…too bad it can’t be applied retroactively to horror films.

But when compared with the original, almost anything would be terrible. The original is an unquestionable classic. It’s almost a perfect film. From the performances to the screenplay to the direction and the technicals, there is very little out of place. That film asks us to question our relationship with others and the world. Every decision the studios made in adapting the film has diluted and destroyed much of the meaning of the original. I can only hope that enough interest is generated in the original that people will watch it and recognize where the new film goes wrong and vilify it.

Review Written

February 24, 2009