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The Day the Earth Stood Still
Microbiologist, Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), is conscripted by a US government task force charged with finding the solution to an impending collision between the Earth and an inbound cosmic entity. After an unexpected soft landing, said entity produces the alien visitor, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), who is promptly shot by an itchy-triggered soldier. This act of human recklessness prompts Klaatu's guard-bot, Gort (WETA Digital), to wreak destruction on the human civilisation. Oh, how will we survive?
The original 1951 film on which this movie is based was an anti-nuclear film, so predictably the 2008 remake is a cautionary tale about the violence of humanity, our contemporary climate of paranoia and fear, and the destruction of the environment, all with a dash of anti-Americanism thrown in for good measure.
The film begins promisingly with a superb undercurrent of tension surrounding alien Klaatu's covert mission. Sadly this tenable tension gradually fritters away beyond about the 45min mark as the film slides rapidly into Roland-Emmerich-disaster-movie-nonsense much in the vein of The Day After Tomorrow. And by the time the film’s final thesis is revealed ("It's only at the brink that people find the will to change.") it's all getting just a wee bit preachy, although this seems to be director Scott Derrickson's style (if his previous film, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, is any indication).
Keanu Reeves' special brand of emotionless (did someone say ‘talentless’?) performance fits well with his role here as the visiting alien. Jennifer Connelly does the teary-eyed ‘empathic’ thing that she does so well as the kind-hearted microbiologist (we know she's a good person - she has an inter-racial family). Kathy Bates is perfect as the granite-hearted Secretary of Defense, surely moulded from the likes of Madeleine Allbright. WETA Digital work their trademarked magic in their meticulous realisation of the mechanical behemoth, Gort, with satisfying results.
There's some (almost) refreshing product placement - PCs instead of Macs, Hondas instead of Fords - and a scene virtually lifted from Good Will Hunting, whereby Klaatu and Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese) solve a complex maths problem in tandem, that is kind of cheesy in a fun way but it's a stretch to call these positives. However, despite being significantly underwhelming from a critical point of view, The Day The Earth Stood Still does represent big dumb holiday fun for the masses (indeed the only one out of all the Boxing Day releases) and in that capacity, at least, it admittedly fits the bill.
Stuart Jamieson
official website
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