Review: The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

[Scott Mendelson]

The Day The Earth Stood Still
2008
103 minutes
rated PG-13
by Scott Mendelson

The Day The Earth Stood Still is the definition of a 'so-so' movie.
It's not particularly good, but it's competent and more or less
successful in its goals. There are several moments of visual beauty,
and a few noteworthy performances by the supporting cast. It is
certainly worth seeing, but you shouldn't go out of your way to do so.

A token amount of plot: A mysterious alien vessel arrives on Earth,
occupied by the ambassador Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), and his enforcer
robot Gort (much larger than in the original). Their mission is
simple, and their message is clear... shape up or die (the motives and
actions are different than the original, so I won't spoil them here).
As scientist Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) and her son find
themselves in direct contact with Klaatu, they attempt to deduce how
to best prevent wholesale destruction, be it man made or otherwise.

While Reeves literally plays a robot (in ironically, the very kind of
wooden, off putting performance that his critics wrongly assume is his
stock and trade) and Jennifer Connelly is given little to do, the
supporting cast does their best to pull the weight. Jon Hamm of Mad
Men is such a commanding presence, that his relatively underdeveloped
role as Connelly's colleague is compelling by default. Jon Cleese
takes a rare dramatic turn as the scientist who may be Earth's only
hope. Even Jaden Smith (as Connelly's son) has an emotionally
compelling scene where he begs Klaatu to use his powers to bring his
father back from the dead. Best of all, James Hong (happy almost 80th
birthday) has one wonderful scene (arguably the best in the film) as a
fellow alien who has lived as a human for seventy years and has found
happiness in his human shell.

Regardless of the solid cast, the film isn't terribly noteworthy.
Anyone who has seen the original will guess what is coming most of the
time, and the improved visuals (which allows Klaatu to make more
persuasive threats) only go so far. One thing I did appreciate is that
this is not a pumped-up action-heavy remake of a relatively cerebral
film. There are a few more action beats, but the film is also about
fifteen-minutes longer. The film is still a relatively quiet sci-fi
drama that concentrates more on the ideas than on the explosions.

In the end, the film is a pleasant diversion and different enough from
the original to stand side-by-side as a comparison of filmic languages
over fifty-seven years. In fact, the differing character arcs and
differing context almost allow this to work as a sequel to Robert
Wise's original film. I can't quite say this was a good film, but it
does make an effort to be an interesting one, faithful in spirit to
the more dramatic nature of the original.

As to whether The Day The Earth Stood Still 2.0 needed to be made at
all, I'd say at the very least it was worthwhile in that it allowed
Fox to put out a lavish new special edition DVD/Blu Ray release of the
original film. While fans often carp on the idea of unnecessary
remakes, they often result in the original films getting a re-mastered
print and/or vastly improved DVD release (the same thing is occurring
with Friday The 13th, with the first three films being upgraded in
anticipation of the February 13th redo). On a related note, when will
they get cracking on that remake of The Stepfather?

Grade: C+