The Day The Earth Stood Still (DVD)

Having not been to the cinema in some time, my sister and I decided after a hectic day of sale-raiding to spend the evening watching a good film. As we knew very little about the films being advertised, we were relying on a trailer I had seen for the film The Day The Earth Stood Still, which gave me the impression this was another, hopefully exciting, disaster movie with lots of action. I was also somewhat keen by seeing that it had Keanu Reeves ...
...A UFO comes careering towards the Earth and lands in the middle of Manhattan, where scientist, Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) first greets the alien creature, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), soon to change the world. The mysterious creature, which takes human form and speaks perfect English (and Chinese) is met by hostility, but is well defended. A baffled US government determined to interrogate the creature soon realises that they are up against something ... more

Having not been to the cinema in some time, my sister and I decided after a hectic day of sale-raiding to spend the evening watching a good film. As we knew very little about the films being advertised, we were relying on a trailer I had seen for the film The Day The Earth Stood Still, which gave me the impression this was another, hopefully exciting, disaster movie with lots of action. I was also somewhat keen by seeing that it had Keanu Reeves in, although I've never been sure how much I actually like him.

Story

A UFO comes careering towards the Earth and lands in the middle of Manhattan, where scientist, Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) first greets the alien creature, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), soon to change the world. The mysterious creature, which takes human form and speaks perfect English (and Chinese) is met by hostility, but is well defended. A baffled US government determined to interrogate the creature soon realises that they are up against something dangerous. Dr. Benson quickly realises that the intelligence and power of the creature is far superior to theirs and that the only way to find anything out is by normal, civilised communication. Sadly, she is alone in her views, and soon discovers that the government's methods have been more than just a little harmful. After realising that reasoning will not work, the creature threatens to wipe out humanity for the sake of saving the Earth and Benson must race against time to find a way to prove that the human race deserves a second chance.

Firstly, I was really quite confused by the title of this film, and still do not really understand why it was called The Day The Earth Stood Still. The trailer I had seen really had not given enough information for me to appreciate what the film was about, although to be honest, seeing it race through just the once, I did not really pick much up from the trailer at all. As such, I cannot claim to have had many expectations of the film, but I did expect the story to be something affecting the human race, which of course, it was.

The very idea behind the story, is to me, a good one, because it is a little more honest than those films that always try to portray our race as these wonderfully innocent creatures attacked by evil and hostile beings from other planets. The other thing I really liked about the film was the anti-violent message and the emphasis on how we as the human should be looking after the planet we occupy rather than behaving as though we own the Earth and generally wrecking the place. It is nice to have a good moral to a story, but then at the same time, none of us really want to be lectured, so I could not watch too many films like this one.

The film is actually a remake of a 50s film, but not one I either knew about or had heard of until I decided to write my review. So it is not something original, but I sadly cannot make any comparisons, although I have a feeling that a film like this would have made a much bigger impact back then than it will now.

Characters/Acting

There are few key characters in the film so the only leading roles I have much to say about are Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Jaden Smith and Kathy Bates. John Cleese also makes a nice appearance as a helpful professor who attempts to understand Klaatu's intentions on Earth and looks after Benson and her stepson for a short time.

Jaden Smith is the son of actor/comedian Will Smith, and has followed his father's footsteps quite rightly I think. In the film, he plays Jacob Benson, the stepson of Helen Benson, and is already feeling lost and disillusioned with the world. He has the most moving scenes in the film and you may even find a few moist-eye moments resulting from him. In all he plays this innocent kid, who really could get away with murder, but then you start to understand why. I think he is a definite favourite here.

Connelly, to me is a very good actress and a good choice for this film. It was interesting to see how the chemistry would work (if at all) between her and Keanu Reeves, and it was a very subtle relationship, actually made more exciting by the way that Jacob feels so threatened by this 'new man' in their lives. Again, Jacob's character is the key catalyst here, and although both Reeves and Connelly are good individually, it is really Smith that brings it all together. I think Reeves probably fitted the alien part mostly because of his naturally cold and distant appearance, that could deceive the audience and keep us wondering what he would do next. This certainly works, but after some time you get tired of it and would rather there was more passion or excitement about his character.

Kathy Bates plays Regina Jackson, the President's representative and ultimately the decision maker. Whilst a person in her position does not really represent humanity, and the general idea that someone who represents the US should represent the rest of the world irritates me severely, she is placed as the nearest person for negotiation, which is exactly what she does not do. Her character is mostly stubborn and idiotic - so she plays the role well (Sorry, America). However, she is another actor, plus all the other officials etc., lacking any passion or real drama, and that's the one thing that might have helped the film.

Graphics/Sound

The 'spaceships' or UFOs in the film took quite an impressive and unusual appearance, as well as the scenes where 'the process' begins for wiping out humanity. I think there was less action than I had expected, but I realise this may be because I was imagining the film to be more like something like The Day After Tomorrow or Independence Day. In fact if you have either of these in mind, you'll be disappointed.

I can remember very little about the Soundtrack at all, and I am only writing this review a couple of days after seeing the film, so frankly it could not have been that good at all. I do remember a lot of interesting sound effects in the film, like when the UFO first lands.

Classification

The film has been classified as a 12A. As there is little of violence, none condoning it, no sexual scenes at all and I barely recall any swearing, I think this rating is just right. In fact the film will probably appeal more to younger audiences anyway, so to be honest it is really good to see some films coming out that have not been spoilt with unnecessary nonsense that bars young teens from watching. It is just a shame it could not have been more fun in some way for them.

Conclusion

The film over all was alright, I did not regret seeing it or feel that I had wasted my time, but at the same time I have to admit I was not exactly blown away. The film was interesting, yet not really exciting or dramatic. A lot did not really fall into place in the end, for example, why the large robot thing took human shape, or how the scientist's expertise could have been used during the time the UFO was coming towards the Earth until the end of the film, or even it might have been nice to have seen more of the inside of the large UFO things - although we did get a slight glimpse. I also felt the ending is just not good enough, but obviously I can't explain why without giving it away!

I will not be in a rush to see this film again or buy it on DVD, in fact, I would probably rather recommend you wait for this one to come out on telly instead. As good as it was, it just wasn't great, and it will not stick in your memory for very long either. Given that it is a remake, it may even annoy some audiences who have seen the original or do not believe in doing remakes. In truth, it really is just another churned out money-maker from Hollywood. I expect there will be a lot of people disappointed or even annoyed by this film, so although I enjoyed it a bit, I can't rate it too highly! I hate to give such a low rating (the two stars) but I really can't justify anything higher. Still, I hope my review is balanced! 

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