 | |
List Price: $29.99 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 1735
Released: April 7, 2009 |
| Our Price: $8.25 |
| Used Price: $2.48 |
|
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 7-APR-2009
Media Type: DVD
Description of The Day the Earth Stood Still (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition):
Impressive special effects are the key selling point for this big-budget remake of Robert Wise's classic 1951 science fiction parable about an alien visitor who delivers a chilling ultimatum to the leaders of the world. Keanu Reeves, who seemed ideal at first blush but ultimately turns into another case of miscasting, steps in for Michael Rennie as intergalactic watchdog Klaatu, who with his robot Gort (now super-sized), promises global destruction unless the powers that be unless drastic measures are undertaken regarding the Earth's environmental issues (or so one assumes). Jennifer Connelly is largely wasted in the Patricia Neal role of scientist/single mom assigned to study Klaatu, who offers a somewhat chilly father figure to her son (a grating Jaden Smith). Connelly isn't the only fine actor in the cast left standing idle while director Scott Derrickson's effects team constructs eye-popping scenes of wholesale mayhem; Mad Men's Jon Hamm, Kathy Bates, John Cleese and Rob Knepper are all adrift in the aimless script by David Scarpa, which never even fully explains why Klaatu is so bent on blowing us to smithereens. That lack of focus, as well as the B-movie quality of the dialogue (say what you will about the effects in the Wise version, but the film was polished from top to bottom), all help to cement what science fiction fans have been muttering about the film since its inception; the original film needed no high-tech updating --Paul Gaita
Stills from The Day the Earth Stood Still (Click for larger image)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
Silly Propaganda 
2009-11-26 - This profoundly silly movie recasts the nuclear anxiety of the 1950's as environmental anxiety for today. Almost every radical environmentalist position has been blended together into a FX-infused shout: "watch out, or the planet will get you!" I don't mean to be snarky about this, but hasn't Keanu overdone the poker face a bit by now? I don't want to say that he can't act, but.... oh well, at least he doesn't act. I was sorry I wasted precious time out of my limited life on Gaia to watch this one!
Pretty Terrible 
2009-11-25 - If you are of a certain political persuasion, you may enjoy this movie. For the rest of us, this movie was pretty terrible. There was a line in the movie that was continually used to explain the unexplainable. The line was: "Only when humans are brought to the precipice will they change." Evidence is pouring in now that the Earth is cooling, so the question must be asked: if we are brought to the precipice will we become so irrational that we will believe data that is not sustainable over the long haul? That's possible, but I don't think it was the intention of those who made this movie. In my opinion, the only way to make bad movies like these is to sell it to the studio heads and investors with the idea that it will proselytize a specific viewpoint that is difficult to get out otherwise. The movie itself is one of those movies that continually promises greater scenes to come, until the movie is over and you realize that moment never occurred. The cliche moments of "aliens attack" movies are all in play here. Humans are dumb and dangerous, the military is useless in stopping the aliens, and only a scientist (or a reporter in some movies) can stop or stall the inevitable. Then, of course, you have the naive, cute kid that figures it all out with a degree of logic that the bloodthirsty adults never considered. Nothing new here, nothing entertaining here, but I've watched a lot of these movies so I may be a little biased.
Turn Brain Off and Be Entertained
2009-11-24 - ** SPOILER ALERT **
While I enjoyed the Blu-Ray Fx experience, I'll have to agree with other reviewers who attempted to apply any kind of logical thought in understanding the premise and outcome of the movie. For example, if the aliens had this voodoo Science capability to permanently 'turn off' technology world-wide, why all the preliminary drama with the threatened genocide. As for the casting, Keanu Reeves took wooden acting to a new level, Jaden Smith is an excruciatingly untalented child actor; obviously the beneficiary of Nepotism, and all the characters wearing a uniform were straight out of a bad saturday morning cartoon. The only cast member who didn't phone it in was Kathy Bates as she singularly avoided being a ridiculous caricature. Aside from all the negativity, the Fx and pacing was sufficient to move it out of the dud category but just barely.
Yuck. . .
2009-11-24 - So it's not enough to have political correctness run amuck in our own culture; now we have extraterrestrial morality police? And if we don't take care of our planet the way "They" think we should, they're going to beam a few galaxies over and zap us? And, to be spared, all we as a human race need is a tearful Jennifer Connelly to plead, "We can change! Trust us!" If all of the above floats your ecco-friendly boat, then by all means pull up a chair and watch this hapless remake of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.
Now they did get the lead role right; no other actor can bring a blank, disinterested, often clueless expression to a gig like Keanu Reeves. But after awhile not even Reeves's sophomoric ambivalence can salvage a story spinning steadfastly into a cosmic black hole of utter nonsense. From the silly antics of Gort the Indestructible Robot to a Kathy Bates-led military obsessed with blowing everything up to a swarm of metallic termites (no, I haven't been drinking, but this film sure tempts me) gobbling up matter like freshmen around a keg, this is a (forgettable) film screaming to be ignored.
The special effects? Eh. Okay. Pretty good. But even a supermodel needs substance; at least, every once in awhile. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL lacks substance, and tries to overcompensate with lots of nonsense. Blech. Beam me up, Scotty.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning
Hollyweird should stop calling these "remakes" of classic movies, because
2009-11-23 - they really aren't.They are huge stinkers. Just call it another name, they don't have to pretend it will be as good as the original. The title for this could have been Gort, Keanu barrada nikto. So, if anyone has seen and appreciated the original will know what that means. Will hollyweird ever realize ya can't repeat the same success with a classic movie by "Updating" it. Because, when you "update" the whole story line is changed and therefore it is no longer the "same" story line. Ok, Keanu isn't much of an "actor" anyway, and is that the woman Ben Aflack is married to? He's prettier than her, and that annoying kid, was that one of Will Smith's offspring? High tech, CGI and lots of noise, does not make up for a bad script and bad acting.
