The Day the Earth Stood Still

Jeri Jacquin, Movie Maven

Opening in theatres this Friday from Twentieth Century Fox and director Scott Derrickson is the reinvented sci-fi film “The Day the Earth Stood Still”.

This film tells the story of scientist Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly). Teaching courses on life on other planets she soon finds herself out of the classroom. Taken in by national security guards, Helen soon learns that the world is in danger and fears for her young step-son Jacob (Jaden Smith).

An extraterrestrial sphere lands on earth and Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) becomes human emerging and wishing to address world leaders before making a decision. When his request is denied by the Secretary of Defense Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates) Helen realizes she must help Klaatu escape.

Klaatu explains to Helen that the planet is in trouble and those causing it will be ‘eliminated’. It is Helen and young Jacob that teach him although humans are capable of such destruction; they are also capable of great wealth of emotion and the ability to change.

If they can accomplish this task then there might be hope for mankind.

FINAL WORD: This is a fairly predictable sci-fi story. Reeves still looks amazing but his voice is only slightly deeper than his “Matrix” days. There are a few scenes with special effects as he becomes Klaatu that are nice.

Connelly as Benson is slightly believable in this role. She brings high emotion but not a lot of believability as a scientist. Bates as Jackson is tough but in the end toughness isn’t enough.

Smith as Jacob is playing the role of a boy still grasping the death of his father. The only problem with this is that his hostility was more irritating than the acts of a distraught kid.

There are small roles by Jon Hamm as Michael Granier, a scientist who is also on the side of the alien and John Cleese as Nobel winning physicist Barnhardt. He has a conversation with Klaatu on the altruism reminding him we deserve a chance.

I actually thought the large robot GORT was pretty cool.

This film was taken from the 1951 sci-fi classic of the same name.  For its time, the original film was cutting edge with its version of space ships and robots built on themes of war.

This version’s theme is based on man’s destruction of the environment in which we lives. “The situation has reached a crisis point and life on the planet itself is at stake because the humans are killing it,” Reeves says. “Klaatu comes to Earth to assess whether or not human beings are capable of changing their behavior, or if ‘the problem’ needs to be eliminated.”

TUBS OF POPCORN: I give “The Day the Earth Stood Still” three tubs of popcorn out of five. There are a few scenes that could be eliminated because they seemed a tad silly, like using small weapons on a huge sphere, or maybe it’s just me.

12-12-08 is the day the earth stood still!