Finally got around to watching the 2008 remake of the 1951 SF classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. I was very hesitant for a number of reasons, like these. So as a preemptive strike I decided that I would not spend a dime on the flick – to see it either in the theaters or as a rental. Vote with your dollar, right? Well, last weekend I borrowed it from my local library and I watched it Tuesday night. And you know what? It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. But that’s not to say it was good, either.
I confess I have a fondness for the original. It’s one of the handful of 1950s SF movies that I grew up on. Images and scenes and vast, amorphous emotions still visit me whenever I think of them. The Day the Earth Stood Still was one of the many flicks I watched in my parent’s bed, where I spent long hours home from school due to various sicknesses I had in the second grade. I vividly recall being frozen in front of the TV set as the flying saucer first lands, the squads of soldiers first encircle it, Klaatu emerges and is shot, and Gort emerges … Vividly do I remember these scenes, and I imagine I still will as a very old man.
So I had emotional investment with the remake. This being 21st century Hollywood, naturally my hackles were raised. But there was one overriding point of curiosity which made me borrow the movie: Gort. And in that aspect, at least, the remake sort of earned its keep.
SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS!!!
But let’s backtrack a bit. I’ll assume you’re familiar with the original. If not, wikipedia provides a pretty good summary here. Now, the original. The entire premise of the movie, that a council of alien civilizations have determined that mankind must be exterminated because we are dangerous to the Earth, is based on the faulty part-science, part-hoax, part-political agenda that is man-made global warming. The producers of the remake wanted to update the threat from nuclear weapons, feeling man-made global warming a more dire threat. Well, whatever.
What else was bad? Like seemingly everything else nowadays, the film is dark and menacing and anti-life. But I don’t want to appear hysterical; it’s nothing obvious, just a vague feeling I got from the background of all that the film said and showed. Now, this is not always a bad thing per se; some movies are quite notable and done extremely well when they approach their subject from this angle. Remember, though, that I am coming from this as a big fan of the original. That’s why the remake’s philosophical stance – the almost palpable self-hatred toward the human race – bugged me, more like an itch beneath a broken-arm cast than like a painful splinter.
Let’s contrast the two Klaatus. In the original, the alien “protagonist” was portrayed with warmth as a kind of stern father by actor Michael Rennie. In the remake, Klaatu is as cold and light-years distant as Keanu Reeves. In the original, Klaatu sneaks off from his guarded hospital room and seems to beg to be convinced by the humans he encounters that they are good and inherently noble. In the remake, our alien is grudgingly convinced at the movie’s climax that mankind may possibly deserve to be saved. In the original, the movie’s title refers to a one-hour period the aliens shut down all the electrical devices on Earth as a show of their strength. In the remake, the aliens willingly use nanotechnology to kill untold thousands and destroy a significant chunk of the north-eastern seaboard of the US.
I’ve heard and read of others who have had problems with the aliens’ somewhat enthusiastic Go Fever towards exterminating humanity. Surely these super-intelligent and presumably enlightened higher species would have alternatives to large-scale slaughter of fellow sentient beings. Why not give us clean technology, or at the very least, disable the technology that is destroying the planet (such as cars and evil oil rigs, etc). Oh, wait. The movie makes it clear that “you (meaning: humanity) are the problem.” It’s our nature to destroy. While I agree from a theological point of view (mankind is indeed a fallen race, more naturally inclined to sin than not), I sensed no such angle from the screenplay. Save for the alien’s obvious utilitarian philosophy, which is plainly rejectable when approached from the Christianity of us less-enlightened earthlings.
So, in their bloodlust, the aliens decided to ruin the best thing about the movie. Gort turns into a swarm of nanobots, which then goes on a devouring rampage. Yahoo southern-accented military men shoot the microscopic critters, to no avail. Finally, after babe astrobiologist Jennifer Connolly and her extremely annoying stepson convince Klaatu that mankind is worth saving (how they do so I’m not sure … had something to do with bonding issues over the death of the boy’s father … or something), Klaatu sacrifices himself, I think, to the nanobots in order to set off a worldwide EMP. The electromagnetic pulse destroys the little feasters, but also shuts down all Earth technology. We’re shown scenes of evil oil derricks and auto assembly lines stopping, but the filmmakers don’t show what happens to airplanes in transit or hospitals as the EMP is set off.
The best thing about the movie is – some – of its special effects. First, I give the producers credit with attempting to reimage the type of spacecraft an alien civilization might utilize to visit us. Though I found the spheres kinda dull and boring, it was a forgivable error. Klaatu’s natural body is, in his own words, “different,” which is good. He arrives wearing an organic spacesuit which I wished the director showed us a better glimpse of, but that’s okay too. During the scene where the doctor is trying to save him from a bullet wound, I like the off-hand comment that it was like “whale blubber.” And the “birthing” scene which eventually gives us Keanu Reeves was well-done in concept and execution.
Gort is the best thing about the remake. Now he’s about thirty-feet tall, a featureless humanoid, black instead of silver, but still retains that swiveling red laser eye. As a side note, he’s not actually called “Gort” by Klaatu in the movie; I think the military refers to him as GORT – Genetically Organized Robotic Technology. The new Gort conveys much more power and menace. He’s more fluid, more stronger, and just as mysterious, if not more so. The best scene in the movie happens shortly after Gort allows the military to capture itself. Why this is I don’t know; it doesn’t make any sense, like the scene where all the secret service men leave the room to allow the sole lie detector operator to interrogate Klaatu. Regardless, Gort is sealed in what looks like a missile silo, with fireproof windows head-height to allow his captors to observe him. As the commander of the base enters the room and walks around its perimeter, he suddenly – and very, very chillingly – notices Gort’s red eye silently tracking him, as if it’s marking him for something, or at least deciding to remember him.
I confess I have a fondness for the original. It’s one of the handful of 1950s SF movies that I grew up on. Images and scenes and vast, amorphous emotions still visit me whenever I think of them. The Day the Earth Stood Still was one of the many flicks I watched in my parent’s bed, where I spent long hours home from school due to various sicknesses I had in the second grade. I vividly recall being frozen in front of the TV set as the flying saucer first lands, the squads of soldiers first encircle it, Klaatu emerges and is shot, and Gort emerges … Vividly do I remember these scenes, and I imagine I still will as a very old man.
So I had emotional investment with the remake. This being 21st century Hollywood, naturally my hackles were raised. But there was one overriding point of curiosity which made me borrow the movie: Gort. And in that aspect, at least, the remake sort of earned its keep.
SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS!!!
But let’s backtrack a bit. I’ll assume you’re familiar with the original. If not, wikipedia provides a pretty good summary here. Now, the original. The entire premise of the movie, that a council of alien civilizations have determined that mankind must be exterminated because we are dangerous to the Earth, is based on the faulty part-science, part-hoax, part-political agenda that is man-made global warming. The producers of the remake wanted to update the threat from nuclear weapons, feeling man-made global warming a more dire threat. Well, whatever.
What else was bad? Like seemingly everything else nowadays, the film is dark and menacing and anti-life. But I don’t want to appear hysterical; it’s nothing obvious, just a vague feeling I got from the background of all that the film said and showed. Now, this is not always a bad thing per se; some movies are quite notable and done extremely well when they approach their subject from this angle. Remember, though, that I am coming from this as a big fan of the original. That’s why the remake’s philosophical stance – the almost palpable self-hatred toward the human race – bugged me, more like an itch beneath a broken-arm cast than like a painful splinter.
Let’s contrast the two Klaatus. In the original, the alien “protagonist” was portrayed with warmth as a kind of stern father by actor Michael Rennie. In the remake, Klaatu is as cold and light-years distant as Keanu Reeves. In the original, Klaatu sneaks off from his guarded hospital room and seems to beg to be convinced by the humans he encounters that they are good and inherently noble. In the remake, our alien is grudgingly convinced at the movie’s climax that mankind may possibly deserve to be saved. In the original, the movie’s title refers to a one-hour period the aliens shut down all the electrical devices on Earth as a show of their strength. In the remake, the aliens willingly use nanotechnology to kill untold thousands and destroy a significant chunk of the north-eastern seaboard of the US.
I’ve heard and read of others who have had problems with the aliens’ somewhat enthusiastic Go Fever towards exterminating humanity. Surely these super-intelligent and presumably enlightened higher species would have alternatives to large-scale slaughter of fellow sentient beings. Why not give us clean technology, or at the very least, disable the technology that is destroying the planet (such as cars and evil oil rigs, etc). Oh, wait. The movie makes it clear that “you (meaning: humanity) are the problem.” It’s our nature to destroy. While I agree from a theological point of view (mankind is indeed a fallen race, more naturally inclined to sin than not), I sensed no such angle from the screenplay. Save for the alien’s obvious utilitarian philosophy, which is plainly rejectable when approached from the Christianity of us less-enlightened earthlings.
So, in their bloodlust, the aliens decided to ruin the best thing about the movie. Gort turns into a swarm of nanobots, which then goes on a devouring rampage. Yahoo southern-accented military men shoot the microscopic critters, to no avail. Finally, after babe astrobiologist Jennifer Connolly and her extremely annoying stepson convince Klaatu that mankind is worth saving (how they do so I’m not sure … had something to do with bonding issues over the death of the boy’s father … or something), Klaatu sacrifices himself, I think, to the nanobots in order to set off a worldwide EMP. The electromagnetic pulse destroys the little feasters, but also shuts down all Earth technology. We’re shown scenes of evil oil derricks and auto assembly lines stopping, but the filmmakers don’t show what happens to airplanes in transit or hospitals as the EMP is set off.
The best thing about the movie is – some – of its special effects. First, I give the producers credit with attempting to reimage the type of spacecraft an alien civilization might utilize to visit us. Though I found the spheres kinda dull and boring, it was a forgivable error. Klaatu’s natural body is, in his own words, “different,” which is good. He arrives wearing an organic spacesuit which I wished the director showed us a better glimpse of, but that’s okay too. During the scene where the doctor is trying to save him from a bullet wound, I like the off-hand comment that it was like “whale blubber.” And the “birthing” scene which eventually gives us Keanu Reeves was well-done in concept and execution.
Gort is the best thing about the remake. Now he’s about thirty-feet tall, a featureless humanoid, black instead of silver, but still retains that swiveling red laser eye. As a side note, he’s not actually called “Gort” by Klaatu in the movie; I think the military refers to him as GORT – Genetically Organized Robotic Technology. The new Gort conveys much more power and menace. He’s more fluid, more stronger, and just as mysterious, if not more so. The best scene in the movie happens shortly after Gort allows the military to capture itself. Why this is I don’t know; it doesn’t make any sense, like the scene where all the secret service men leave the room to allow the sole lie detector operator to interrogate Klaatu. Regardless, Gort is sealed in what looks like a missile silo, with fireproof windows head-height to allow his captors to observe him. As the commander of the base enters the room and walks around its perimeter, he suddenly – and very, very chillingly – notices Gort’s red eye silently tracking him, as if it’s marking him for something, or at least deciding to remember him.
Unfortunately, Gort dissolves into a nanobot cloud three-quarters into the movie, and that’s the end of the best part of the remake.
So how do I grade it? Hmmm. I’ll grant it a C. I think that’s fair, if not a little bit generous.
THE thing that convinced Klaatu that us humans were worthy of being spared, was at the moment when the "hot babe" astrobiologist's son got the "bugbots" inside him and she said "Save him!", but then she got them inside herself and the selfless thing she said was "Save him", with no regard for herself or her own demise. This selflessness due to the love she had for her son, was THE thing that led him to decide we all should be spared.
ReplyDeleteYes you are right. I was so disconnected at that point of the movie that I honestly did not remember the bugs in her. But seriously - these comparably omniscient, omnipotent aliens were completely unaware of our capacity for selfless love? Pick up a Bible and read any gospel, fer cryin' out loud! Or visit Mother Teresa's sisters in Calcutta (or any other such operation from just about any other religion). It all goes back to a weak script with a philosophical agenda. Or just a weak script.
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