Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

Movie review from Movie Man Mike


The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) C+. I generally don’t like it when older movies I’ve seen are remade. There is always the desire of the new filmmakers to do something different with the move—like maybe change the story. And when it comes to a classic movie like the 1951 version of this movie, I would just as soon keep the original. Don’t mess with a good thing.

The story is much the same from the original (at least insofar as I can recall), but there seemed to be less of an emphasis on the capacity of the human race for violence and perhaps a bit more emphasis on the general condition of the human race and of the planet as a whole (famine, global warming, etc.). The message of the aliens was to save the planet from its people. It’s a bit preachy. Also, I wasn’t really all that convinced that the characters were able to change the minds of the aliens insofar as extinguishing the human race. I just didn’t see it. From a visual perspective, I enjoyed the special effects in this updated film. I also thought Jennifer Connelly was a good casting choice. John Cleese gave a nice performance in a more serious role for him. I didn’t really care for Jaden Smith’s character. I thought Kathy Bates did a nice job, but she seemed a little too Hillary-esque as the Secretary of Defense. And I didn’t really care for the fact that she was speaking not only for the President of the United States, but she had the gumption to speak for the world. Not that the latter might not happen under certain unnamed administrations, it just seemed a little too contrived that the Secretary of Defense would (or could) deny a superior race access to the leaders of other foreign countries.

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