| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 12/11/2008 : 00:24:49
If I could work movie magic I would take the sfx from this 2008 remake and mix them into Robert Wise's 1951 sci-fi legendary warning that mankind is his own worst enemy.
At the time of the original, overshadowed by the right-wing hysteria of the FBI and Senator Joseph McCarthy and his boys, filmmakers found sci-fi a handy vehicle for some political antidote.
Today probably the thing our species most fears is the destruction of the planet - not from an advanced extra-terrestrial civilization, but our own greed and carelessness and disregard for the way things are connected, for their inevitable repercussions.
That's the message brought by Klaatu and the Genetically Organized Robotic Technology or GORT [I may be misremembering the acronym, but it's close enough].
Keanu Reeves has found the perfect role for his lack of dimension. He's no pal of Mr and Mrs Nuance, but he does make an impressive alien mind wrapped in a human body.
Gort - not a nearly 8 foot tall actor in a robot suit like Lock Martin - but a wonder being from SFX-R-US - can send out these rays from a slit in his facial area, and dematerialize, and all kinds of cool stuff.
Although the invasion of the Earth is global we're kept in the US, mostly in military custody. The bureaucracy is wise enough to know they need specialist scientific help, which is why astro-biologist Jennifer Connolly gets major screen-time. She and Klaatu bond - no, not like that you perverts! And it's her relationship with her sassy black son that allows Klaatu to realize what real love is all about.
Why does she have a black son - in this case played with only a hint of pain-in-the-neck by Jaden Smith, son of Will? Well, she's the widow of a military engineer and the kid came with the marriage. Hey - there are issues, it's complicated. But fuck it, we've got a planet to save.
I wish this film held the tension you'd have thought came with the territory. But I can't lie to you. It doesn't. There's a sort of story, but it hardly matters. Nor does it tell us anything new, or at least in a new way.
What it does have is a series of special effects that are so stunning and original that when they're onscreen you just put to one side all the cliches.
In a week when scientists have confirmed the presence of a massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, here's a Hollywood hint of the impossibly possible.
As Isaac Asimov frequently argue, yes there are surely other galaxies which contain life-supporting planets and surely some of them will experience advanced civilizations. But we simply cannot hope or expect that we will ever be able to overcome the restrictions of time and space to engage with them.
But we don't need ETs to warn of our stupidity about the future of the Earth. Do we?
On the other hand, if Canoe Reeves is the messenger, I guess the overwhelming desire would be to shoot him. 
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| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| randall |
Posted - 12/20/2008 : 01:08:50
I loved the original. This one, I unclog my nose in the direction of, if you get my drift. |
| MisterBadIdea |
Posted - 12/18/2008 : 23:50:29
Yes, indeedy, The Day the Earth Stood Still '08 is a ham-handed, gutless pile of turd. That said, I still think it was better than the original, which... believe me, I hate every minute of the original. Endlessly preachy, mind-numbingly boring, and above all else, disgustingly hypocritical -- I've heard some interesting defenses of this movie's contradictions, but I have nothing in common with people who think that the film works the way it's intended. Fuck that fascist Klaatu, he can shut his big stupid mouth and go the fuck home.
Ways in which the remake is an improvement: More moral ambiguity, a better Gort, and a FAR better Klaatu. |
| silly |
Posted - 12/18/2008 : 15:10:19
We walked out and my son asked, "Was this a sequel?"  |
| Salopian |
Posted - 12/18/2008 : 13:00:01
I was very disappointed with this. I wasn't expecting it to be great, but I thought it might be Independence Day-level fun. It's as stupid as that (although satisfyingly it does at least point out that the United States is not technically in charge of the world), but is much less engaging. As BaftaBabe has noted, Keanu Reeves is good at this kind of role, but it's not really enough. I'm much happier to accept environmental sermonising in films than many people here, but in this case it's just annoying, even though I agree with the aliens that it's neither here nor there whether human beings die out (so long as individuals don't suffer in the process, of course). |
| Whippersnapper. |
Posted - 12/11/2008 : 12:35:18
I doubt if Keanu proves there is intelligent life on other planets, but he does support the hypothesis for the extraterrestrial existence of trees.
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| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 12/11/2008 : 07:17:49
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
Keanu Reeves has found the perfect role for his lack of dimension. He's no pal of Mr and Mrs Nuance, but he does make an impressive alien mind wrapped in a human body.
On the other hand, if Canoe Reeves is the messenger, I guess the overwhelming desire would be to shoot him.
BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Just as I thought!
(And how the trailers "impressed" me!)
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