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The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

Director: Scott Derrickson

Time Out rating

Average user rating

45 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Sending a flying v-sign right at the splendid Robert Wise original from 1951, this daft and pointless sci-fi remake has very little to recommend it. Removing any real threat of worldly destruction, underlying political paranoia and honest-to-goodness spectacle, this turgid (but thankfully brief) mass of underachieving Hollywood hackery is half moderately diverting end-of-days effects flick, and half M Night Shyama-lecture.

The film opens with Keanu Reeves on top of a snowy Indian peak in the 1920s. He encounters a green, glowing orb which, it transpires, is there to harvest his DNA in order to clone his supple body and send him down as a human emissary at the point when the future of the human race is beginning to look bleak. (How the original missed this 'essential' backstory is anyone's guess). Flick forward to the present, and NASA have come across an oddity on their radars. There's a huge mass hurtling towards the earth at outrageous speeds. It turns out Keanu’s back, this time with an assignment to obliterate the human race.

Tonally, it’s all over the shop, difficult to peg as either a serious-minded action flick with an imagination-free ecological message or a self-satisfied ‘Disaster Movie’-style mockeryjig which rolls out the clichés for us to point and laugh at. There are moments which retain the camp sheen of the original, but at no point is there anything to suggest they are intentional. The first cause for concern is the casting; Keanu Reeves, who essays Michael Rennnie’s hyper-intense Klaatu as a fleshpod devoid of emotion, irony and depth, can really chalk this up as one of the lesser entries into his already questionable acting canon.

And who to play the political spokesperson for the planet? The threat has been made, the masses are panicking: paging Kathy Bates! Also, the usually impressive Jennifer Connelly crops up doing a ‘running around looking concerned/confused’ act (see also ‘Labyrinth’) as an affable astrobiology lecturer who’s dropped into the control room of the disaster in order to convince Keanu that the world is worth saving. Obligatory gooey-kid sidekick arrives in the form of Jaden (son of Will) Pinkett-Smith, who really is the only one on screen who, it seems, is there for his CV and not the paycheque.

The first laugh comes from the doomy astro sage’s decision not to land his death vessel at the political hub of Washington DC (as in the original), instead logging co-ordinates for the cosier environs of New York’s Central Park, presumably to dole out shockwave-based punishment to the Mocha-slurping yuppies of the Upper East Side. Is this a veiled suggestion that the power base in the US has shifted north to the economic nucleus of Wall Street? An attempt to cash-in on the post-9/11 paranoia where big cities are also the juiciest targets for ‘terror attacks’? Or simply, because the makers haven’t bothered to watch the original?

But let's return to that death vessel for a moment. It’s not really a vessel as such. Instead of the shiny, iconic flying saucer from the first film (a great design for those with one eye on the toy market), we get a luminescent disco ball which looks like the sort of hippy-dippy Earth Mother rubbish that Athena used to slap on posters and punt on to new-age farmers-market types.

When the aliens decide to reveal themselves, there’s no tension whatsoever as the bay doors creek open and they slowly descend from the steps (a la ‘Close Encounters…’). Keanu and his looming metallic CGI protector, Gort, simply appear out of a glimmering light until one of the more trigger-happy grunts from the US army swiftly decides to let off a test round into the former's chest.

Perhaps the biggest missed opportunity here (and one that would have certainly mellowed the hearts of the sci-fi die hards likely to pelt the screen with urine-filled molotovs) is the decision not to intone the famous ‘safe words’ from the original – ‘Klaatu barada nikto!’ – which were used to call off Gort’s spree of wanton destruction. There are moments in the final scene where you’re waiting for them to be said, where Keanu takes a sober glance into the middle-distance and raises his arm to the blizzard of chaos, but, alas, those hallowed words never pass his lips. Could the writers have not made something up? A cool, quotable phase for the 21st century?

Then you’ve got Gort. He’s metallic, he’s massive and he’s got a laser in his eye – why, oh why would you then decide to have him transform into a cloud of microscopic metallic locust-type creatures that ravage everything in their path? Couldn’t he have stomped around New York blowing things up with lasers? The infuriating moments are numerous, but there is still something about this laborious , product-placement filled guff which just raises it above the one-star mark. Perhaps it’s the fact that the message is, in the end, so limp and vague that, for all its faults, you almost forgive it for not being too preachy.

Author: David Jenkins 2008-12-11 14:30:20

Time Out London Issue 1999, Dec 11 - 17, 2008

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User reviews of this film

Damo said...

Posted on Mar 04 2009 00:08 Worst film I have seen for a long time. So many cliches I cringed almost every minute or so - and I was watching it on my own. Seriously, there are so many plot holes it boggles my mind - Why is Keanu's character so dumb? Why is he so surprised by human emotion despite years of research? Why does he need an 'earthling' to explain the similarities between the human race and his? Why do I even care? Total rubbush!

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John said...

Posted on Jan 29 2009 13:54 The original was a rare thing in the 50s a sci-fi flick that did not feature bug eyed aliens or blobs or mutated insects that were going to destroy the planet. It did however have a plot and take a fresh look at men from outer space, it also built up the suspence as no one believed Klaatu was capable of doing what he said he was going to do, make the Earth stand still. The very long posting from Dr David who is very earnest in his wish to convince us that this is a 'Great film' completely misses the point this is a remake and was made because the orginal is a sci-fi classic and somebody convinced the money men that what the story needed was some CGI to make it even better. Those who are new to the story may enjoy it as a piece of entertaining fluff if they can put up with Keanu Reeves, the annoying kid and wait till the end when Earth stands still and we get no reaction to it.

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Steve said...

Posted on Jan 08 2009 18:56 Oh dear, thats what i get for scouring youtube for trailers and convincing myself this would be a Ripley meets Cloverfield. Disjointed story, GORT wasted, OH it's ended ...type ending...confy seats though.

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adrian said...

Posted on Jan 04 2009 11:41 It was a good film a lot better than just sitting in with nothing to do and rating good movies as trash. Please if you review just think could you make a film errr na.

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save or spend said...

Posted on Dec 30 2008 20:56 going to see it tomorrow -not sure now after all these bad comments -should i save my money or not?

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achilles said...

Posted on Dec 30 2008 14:15 As I have never seen the original, I went with an open mind but all I can say is that it’s one of the worst films I have seen in a long, long time. The anti-Americanism, really got on my nerves, as well as the kid, who I wished would just disappear (quickly). No redeeming features at all even the destruction of the world was called off. Please don’t waste your money!

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Mr in-the-know said...

Posted on Dec 29 2008 18:12 Typical review from another arrogant life-detached academic none-creative nobody. Take no notice of that patronising drivel - this film is far better than the talentless, lugubrious reviewer suggests. Instead of sitting on their fat butts in cinemas and pandering to their own psychosis...people like this guy Jenkins need dragging into reality and made to work for a living. Ignore this idiot and go enjoy the movie.

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drdavid911 said...

Posted on Dec 29 2008 01:39 First, the main review states this: "Or simply, because the makers haven’t bothered to watch the original?" What, were you asleep at the movie, or did you watch it without the sound on. They explained this in the movie, the move to NY was because that where the UN is, not because of yuppies, nor because Wall Street has more influence than Washington, DC does now. Further, if you think about it for 1 second, you might realize the original baseball diamond in the 1951 movie would have been TOO SMALL to fit the gigantic sphere, duh! As for the comment you can't improve on the original, this shows that you are EXTREMELY narrow-minded! You are supposed to go to a new remade movie with an open mind, not expecting to hear "Klatuu marada nikto," not expecting it to be Michael Rennie, not expecting it to be a flying saucer, not expecting it to be in Washington etc. When the hell did all you guys lose your minds to the past? Why can't you try to see the value of the new and different? If you go into this movie like you've never heard of "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and open you mind like a new 7 to 12 yr old kid, you will love this movie. Think about the part where the cop gets run over (or run into by the car Klatuu is leaning on), wasn't that a great new scene, not seen in the original? How about when Klatuu warned that there would be a price to pay? This left it open to conjecture, did he not stop the electricity this time for only 30 minutes, but maybe FOR ALL OF TIME ! If so, the human race would have to go backwards in time about 100 yrs to learn how to live in closer harmony with nature again, maybe that's what he meant, not just that we'd have to give up our overconsumption society. When did all you guys lose your ability to suspend your critical mind while watching a movie? In 1951? Remember, in the original, Klatuu said he was from 250 million miles away, that pretty much only means Mars, and no where else. Found to be pretty dumb about 10 yrs later. This one is representing the Universe, and came from God knows how far away, renew your sense of mystery and awe! Think about how advanced he was to be able to take over the lie detector man and turn the inquisition around on him ! This was a great movie, go see it again, with less baggage from the 1951 version, please. BTW, I loved the original and saw it about 7 times, and still love it. But I would still say this is a GREAT movie! Best wishes to all.

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LMEZ said...

Posted on Dec 24 2008 16:01 I thought it was an Ok film. Not as great as the other but still worthy of more than 2 stars.

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flipmcgee said...

Posted on Dec 22 2008 19:15 I went into this movie knowing it was going to be bad from the reviews I had seen prior. They just keep srewing up movies that should be no-brainer hits. One thing I will say the reviwer got wrong was missing the fact that the words "Gort Klatu Nikto Barratta" are said. In the first few minutes just after Klatu is shot, he invokes them as he lay on the ground. This makes it even more laughable that later in the movie they come up with a name for the robot - GORT. Funny how they guessed his name and turned it into an acronym after Klatu already called him Gort. So transparent, so insulting, a complete waste of money.

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Kegtapper said...

Posted on Dec 21 2008 19:33 Don't feel bad. I'm still waiting on "Passion of the Christ II" since my friends spoiled the ending to the first one.

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Ferchorizo said...

Posted on Dec 21 2008 02:36 I was so disappointed to this remake, I expected it to keep the message from the original movie, but it gets lost between the devastating spree of Gort and Klaatu's attempt to stop it. But it is simply unforgivable, and absolutely offensive to the original flick not to mention the secret words. I needed them to leave the theater with a good sensation, but it only made me madder. Now I'm not gonna buy the bluray of this version, it sucks, I want the 1951 version, it's old and special FX are lame, but it's made with much more love than the 2008 remake. SHAME ON YOU!!!

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Spouting Horn said...

Posted on Dec 21 2008 00:59 The Day the Earth Stood Still is a very mockable movie. The ridiculous moments start quickly, maintains an even flow throughout, and ends as stupidly as it started.
The pro- Al Gore, humans (and Americans in particular) are a cancer on the earth , anti-science messages are loud and clear.
At least it served for many good laughs, even hours after spending our $20.

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Simran said...

Posted on Dec 20 2008 18:10 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

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Why oh why? said...

Posted on Dec 20 2008 16:30 I went to visit my mum last weekend. She wanted to stay in and watch the semi-final of Strictly Come Dancing. I said " Live a little Mum! Come to the Movies! Lose yourself in the magic... Tape Strictly and watch it later!" Boy am I in trouble! Unbelievably unbelieveable and even a drink beforehand didn't help! Pointless. I hated the child. Was bored by the aliens and in the end, saddened that the destruction of that world was called off...Nevermind, we still had Strictly to look forward to...AND THEN THEY MESSED UP THE VOTING!!!!!

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