Seen on: December 12, 2008

The players: Director: Scott Derrickson, Writer: David Scarpa, Cast: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jon Hamm, Jaden Christopher Smith

Facts of interest: Based on 1951's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" by Robert Wise.

The plot: Keanu Reeves plays an alien tho visits Earth to warn of an ultimate destruction if the human race does not abandon all its violence and starts to take better care of the planet.

Our thoughts: A drastic drop in creativity is the only explanation I have for the massive increase in remakes we’ve seen in Hollywood over the past years. Okay, the studios’ desire to earn big bucks may be another factor, but then again, not every remake scores big at the box office, right? Other than that, I just see no reason why someone would want to rehash a film classic. It’s completely unnecessary.

The latest flick to get the Hollywood remake treatment is Robert Wise’s excellent 1951 sci-fi adventure “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” and the result, my fellow readers, is astonishingly bad. No, Scott Derrickson’s updated version of this classic is certainly not the most boring film of the year, but I can tell you, my list of complaints is a long one.

But let’s start at the beginning. “Day” opens with the unexpected arrival of a mysterious stranger from space. His name is Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), and although he walks around in a human body, he claims to be of an extraterrestrial nature traveling to Earth in order to assess the damage humanity has done to the planet.

Klaatu asks for permission to address world leaders at the U.N., but the U.S. government quickly denies his request, leaving him no choice but to escape from custody. The only person to really believe him is Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), an expert scientist who quickly uncovers the true purpose of Klaatu’s visit to Earth: to initiate the destruction of the human race.

The missing strength of its central motive is just one of this remake’s obvious weaknesses. Wise’s original film boasted a powerful anti-nuclear message calling for an end to violence, and although this new version of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” has the same intention and even goes as far as to mention the danger of global warming, its way of trying to get that message across it lamentable at best.

The film only devotes a few minutes to this issue, and the corresponding conversations between Klaatu and Helen are in no way as compelling as in the original movie. “If the Earth dies you die; if you die, the Earth survives,” he tells Helen, prompting her to set out and convince him that humans do indeed have the heart and will to change for the better.

None of this is particularly exciting, however, as the second part of the film primarily focuses on how the government tries to catch Klaatu and put an end to the threat of an imminent attack on Earth. With the main message quickly falling apart, the filmmakers then turn to using plenty of special effects in a failed attempt to impress viewers with a couple of minutes of brainless destroying.

It’s a shame the film takes a turn for the worse so soon, because it doesn’t start off that bad. The first 20 to 30 minutes succeed in building enough suspense to accompany Klaatu’s mysterious arrival on Earth, but as soon as he gets to business, the whole thing collapses, and all we’re left with is a boring mess. The film’s visuals work for the most part, even though they don’t show us anything we haven’t seen yet.

Here’s what I think about the cast. Reeves does a good job acting like an emotionless robot, but I preferred Michael Rennie’s Klaatu a whole lot better. There’s just nothing interesting about an alien visitor who has a lead role in a movie but never even raises an eyebrow. As for Connelly, she turns in a passable performance, but her character is not developed deeply enough to leave a long-lasting impression.

As much as I love Kathy Bates, she’s definitely not the right one for the role of Regina Jackson, the U.S. secretary of defense. Of course she’s not responsible for the dumb dialogue the script supplies her with, but she just looks too uncomfortable for my taste. Jaden Smith is certainly a cute kid, but he quickly got on my nerves as Helen’s stepson.

Freaky quote: “If the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the Earth survives." – Keanu Reeves

The final word: Despite a solid opening, “The Day the Earth Stood Still” quickly develops into a slow-moving adventure that lacks the innovation, heart and suspense of the original. The film’s production values worked for me, but they can only do so much. This is a brainless sci-fi remake, and if that’s exactly what you’re looking for this weekend, you may get your money’s worth. Everybody else… stay still.

Article by Franck Tabouring