The Day the Earth Stood Still (Three-Disc Special Edition)
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DVD details
Actor: Kathy Bates, Keanu ReevesBrand: Fox
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 104 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-04-07
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of The Day the Earth Stood Still (Three-Disc Special Edition)
DVD Review: "...If the Earth dies you die... if you die, the Earth Survives..."
Summary: 4 Stars
{{SPOILERS}}
For starters, I'm rather disappointed that this film has yet to receive more of a positive response or a decent review here at Amazon.com. From the moment of its conception and announcement, the remake of the 1951 Film, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (like the Cruise/Wagner produced remake of The Eye, Steven Spielberg's remake of War of the Worlds, even Jerry Bruckheimer & Michael Bay's excellent adaptation of the harrowing Pearl Harbor incident. Totally unrelated, I know), was destined become a subject of unjust-majority response and resentment because 20th Century Fox and its director, Scott Derrickson, had the gall to proceed to remake something which is highly regarded as one of the greatest Sci-Fi films ever made.
Even worse, they gave the leading role to an actor most people compare to a piece of wood or an robot. Remakes, as of late, have been met with unusual hostility and disdain, never really given the chance to be its own film because of its processor. Most even forget the meaning of the word "Remake" when claiming it to be nothing like the original, when it was never supposed to be in some situations. At some point, I was among the hostile who groaned at the prospect of any remake (I still am respectively), but lately I've been learning to look at things more with a open mind and observe before judgment. With that said, I have never seen the original film, (this fact alone will get me negative points) though my parents have.
They recommended that I give the original a try and I had indented to before seeing this film, but I never found the time to pull myself away from prior engagements. And like time unnoticed, December 12TH had finally arrived and I was standing over the precipice of a 20th Birthday and the chance to watch this film on the same day and form my own opinion of it. Even then, I knew I would be a minority opinion on this subject, but prayed my family would be in this boat with me. Thankfully, they were.
(Spoilers):
The film begins in 1928 somewhere on a snowy mountain top; a Mountaineer (Keanu Reeves) is taking shelter from a blizzard when something lures him outside; He encounters a strange glowing sphere wrapped in ice. Upon making contact with the spherical object, it vanishes, leaving nothing but a scar on the back of his hand. Fast-forward to 2008, the audience is introduced to a widowed Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), a Princeton professor specializing in the area of astrobiology and her estranged step-son Jacob Benson (Jaden Smith). Without warning, their lives are uprooted by a visit from several Government officials who request Benson's immediate presence.
On the way to the, she encounters several more scientists/specialists who are just as confused about being whisked away by the Government; Soon afterward, they are informed that a unknown object is fast approaching the planet, at the speed of 30,000 km/s and is on a crash course to the Earth, due to impact Manhattan in just over an hour. Nothing can be done about it as all vital military satellite-controlled equipment has been disabled. However, just as the object enters the earths atmosphere its speed reduces and lands in Central Park without indecent.
Helen and the assembled team arrive at the crash site and encounter a alien representative named Klaatu (again, Keanu Reeves) and his robotic "bodyguard" named Gort, who bring a message to earth; The messing being, simply, that if humanity does not stop its destructive and harmful ways against the Earth, they will be destroyed without preamble. During his first encounter, Klaatu is wounded by "accidental-fire", then detained and interrogated by Secretary of Defense, Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates) who refuses to allow a meeting between him and the leaders of the United Nations to come to pass. With his request denied, Klaatu escapes with the intention of meeting the U.N. leaders regardless. A reluctant Helen Benson, decides to help him, hoping that she can show him that humanity is more than just a destructive animal.
(Overview):
Like any era, every movie is defined by a major event; The 1951 film's storyline was centered on the fear of atomic or nuclear warfare during the Cold War era. The 2008 film is more of less focused on the MAJOR environmental issue: Environmental Damage (Global Warming) caused my man. An issue which is either taken at face-value to be true or dismissed as nothing to be terribly worried about; Naturally, I believe it to be the first and not the latter. There are enough changes to make both films completely different, but both harbor the themes of "Humanity" and "Change" (if memory serves), I think. Aside from a subplot concerning Helen and her son, Jacob, the storyline goes no further than what is presented on screen.
What I enjoyed about this movie is the fact that its Protagonist, Helen Benson, is somewhat objective in her motivation for helping Klaatu, if only because she doesn`t want to see a race perish before their given the chance to truly prove themselves worthy of governing the planet they are allowed to live on. She bears no animosity against Klaatu, while her son, Jacob, like Robbie of "War of the Worlds (2005)", is for destroying the invaders because of a misguided ideal that the planet belongs to them and is, ultimately, the right thing to do. And in the way of many Sci-Fi films, the Government is portrayed as "shoot first, as questions later" type of characters, fighting for self-preservation against something they have no idea how to stop.
After the Prologue-like introduction, the film moves at pretty quick pace, introducing and loosing secondary characters once their purpose is fulfilled (filling up the space behind the main actors), occasionally slowing down in certain scenes that require no action sequences. I puzzled over the inclusion of all the specialists and scientists at the beginning of the film, because, afterward, they just disappear in a crowd and are no longer important, even though they are introduced to audience as if they were.
The only time I thought the movie became even remotely "campy" is when it took a minute of its time to Focus on the "Colonel" (Robert Knepper) and his Robotic Airplane antics that were used against Gort, despite the fact that Gort has the ability to shut all electrical systems down. I'm pretty sure that was the characterization was intentional, but he just made me laugh. And all I did was recite quotes from "Big Trouble in Little China" when James Hong (Mr. Wu) turned out to be Klaatu's informant at McDonalds. Other little irks that I had with film, was the ending; It was as abrupt as "War of the Worlds", but with a less conclusion than the prior film or book. The viewer is basically left to interpret what happens afterward because its conclusion happened so fast.
With that said, the performances in this movie, overall, were pretty great. Given all the unbalanced criticisms about this movie, I expected the acting to be like something out of a Sci-Fi Original Movie, but I was pleased that it was the exact opposite. Kathy Bates gives a reasonable performance as the Secretary of Defense, who is never characterized as overly stupid outside of her arrogance and pig-headedness.
Jennifer Connelly gives one of the best performances in the film as Helen Benson, never overacting and creating a balance between the relative newcomer, Smith and Reeves. She and Jaden Smith play off of each other perfectly; you could feel the conflict between the two characters. Jaden Smith, like many child actors in this genre (most notably Dakota Fanning), catches the ire of the audience as the smart-mouthed Jacob Benson, who'd sooner trust the judgment of the Government on how to deal with Klaatu than his mother's. In my opinion, there was nothing wrong with his performance; In all honesty, he plays his character brilliantly; Jacob never came across as "irritating" to me. With the help of his father, Jaden Smith has a bright future ahead of him should he choose to continue acting.
And finally, we get to Keanu Reeves as the stoic and impassive rendition of Klaatu. While I know Keanu is not the most gifted actor with the greatest range, the man is more emotive than most give him credit for. With that said, I didn't have a problem with way Klaatu was portrayed. He wasn't human, they made a point of making that absolutely clear. He is simply mimicking their appearance. This Klaatu was more or less focused on his mission; eradicating the human race in order to save the planet. He wasn't supposed to hold any sort of sympathy with the Humans, he had no intentions of making them "behave" because he believed they were unable to change, regardless of what Helen Benson said. I think his characterization as "Cold and Emotionless", was to alienate the audience from his character, in a way. There was one particular scene that Klaatu just came off as creepy to me. Basically, the direction and acting worked for me and my family. Sure, at times Keanu was a bit stiff (particularly at the beginning), but he loosens up as much as he's allowed to as the movie progresses.
On a big screen, the flaws of the Special Effects/CGI were rather noticeable at times; You could tell what was standing against a Blue/Green screen, yet it wasn't anything terribly glaring to divert your attention from the movie. The loveliest CGI renders, though, were probably the huge sphere objects used by Klaatu. All the production time and effort clearly went into the slight redesign of Gort, now a towering robot with a sleeker and more menacing appearance and purpose in this movie. The special effects used in the major "disaster" sequences were nicely executed. Unfortunately, they were few and far between once the film reached it climax and really got going. Hopefully on a smaller screen, the flaws in the CGI will be less noticeable or touched up at very least. And, Finally, the score composed by Tyler Bates (of 300 fame) creates a suitable atmosphere to match the dark and emotional moments of the film.
Overall, despite its flaws (however minor or major they may be) I thoroughly enjoyed The Day the Earth Stood Still as it was presented to the audience. It clearly will never be the original 1951 film or the original short story "Farwell to the Master", but as its own film, it's a decent addition to the now-slow growing genre of Science Fiction films. it's a film I'll always remember because it came out of Birthday. 12/22/08---- [4 out of 5]
Description of The Day the Earth Stood Still (Three-Disc Special Edition)
No description available for this title.Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: PG13
Street Date: 04/07/09
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: yes
Language: ENGLISH
Foreign Film: noSubtitles: no
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: yes
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve
Impressive special effects are the key selling point for this big-budget remake of Robert Wise's classic 1951 science fiction parable about an alien visitor who delivers a chilling ultimatum to the leaders of the world. Keanu Reeves, who seemed ideal at first blush but ultimately turns into another case of miscasting, steps in for Michael Rennie as intergalactic watchdog Klaatu, who with his robot Gort (now super-sized), promises global destruction unless the powers that be unless drastic measures are undertaken regarding the Earth's environmental issues (or so one assumes). Jennifer Connelly is largely wasted in the Patricia Neal role of scientist/single mom assigned to study Klaatu, who offers a somewhat chilly father figure to her son (a grating Jaden Smith). Connelly isn't the only fine actor in the cast left standing idle while director Scott Derrickson's effects team constructs eye-popping scenes of wholesale mayhem; Mad Men's Jon Hamm, Kathy Bates, John Cleese and Rob Knepper are all adrift in the aimless script by David Scarpa, which never even fully explains why Klaatu is so bent on blowing us to smithereens. That lack of focus, as well as the B-movie quality of the dialogue (say what you will about the effects in the Wise version, but the film was polished from top to bottom), all help to cement what science fiction fans have been muttering about the film since its inception; the original film needed no high-tech updating --Paul Gaita
Stills from The Day the Earth Stood Still (Click for larger image)
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