The Day the Earth Stood StillRated PG-13
Running time: 1 hr 40 mins
Cast:
Keanu Reeves
Jennifer Connelly
Jaden Smith
Kathy Bates
Critical Consensus:
** out of *****
(20% Fresh Rating!)
Mikey @ The Movies Official Rating:
1/2* out of *****
The Premise:
A remake of the 1951 classic sci-fi film about an alien visitor and his giant robot counterpart who visit Earth to save it from mankind.
MY REVIEW
Wow, this movie was awful! At least for me it was, I can't speak for other people of course. Talk about being dissapointed by a film. I won't lie, I was kind of excited to see this movie, believe it or not I had high hopes for it despite what the critics were saying. We all know by now that you can't take a critics word for much anymore, which goes for me as well readers. Don't let my words spoil the fun of a movie for you, we all have different tastes. But I hate to say it, the critics got it right this time. Day the Earth Stood Still really is one of the most incoherent movies of the year, and for me one of the very worst.
We only get about an hour and thirty five minutes of film and story here, so there's quite a bit to pack in. We literally have no clue what is really going on, and why these "aliens" are on Earth until one hour into the movie. That only leaves thirty five minutes for everything to unfold. Well why are they here? **SPOILER ALERT** They are here to wipe out humankind to save the planet Earth. We have been destroying it for to long, and the Earth is a vital planet in the solar system. So these aliens have come to destroy us to save the planet. **END SPOILER ALERT**. The alien who appears to be in charge is an unnamed one played by Keanu Reeves (Speed, The Matrix). He eventually tells the reasoning for him being on Earth to a human he quickly grows to trust played by Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind, Blood Diamond). We also have the side-story of the government trying to stop these things at whatever cost, and this is led by the Secretary of Defense played by an odd choice...Oscar winner Kathy Bates (Misery, Primary Colors).
That all may sound simple enough, but really it isn't. These story is so scattered about and sporadic. Like nothing seems to happen for a while then bam...something happens and we are left thinking, "Wait...what just happened???". The story throws out these big plot details but sort of leave out any coherent explanation to anything. Things just happen, people suddenly figure things out and we as an audience are just simply supposed to understand. I'm not saying a big budget alien flick has to have a brilliant and intelligent story (although those are usually the better alien movies) but come on...give us something that can connect us to the movie. The movie has a not so hidden message that we are slowly killing the Earth and we need to be punished. OK so we can connect on that level right? No, because no one in the movie really seems to care. We don't see many moments where the human race is actually scared of what's going on. We only see brief glimpses on news channels. We have no clue how the humans are responding. So why should we as an audience feel connected or even give a hoot?
What's even better than that? Well I'll tell ya! By the end, the fate of the WORLD rests on Connelly's characters ability to persuade Reeves alien to just stop and go home. Yes, this was the big plan to save the entire WORLD!! When bombs and guns don't work, leave it to a random person to simply talk him out of it. I could understand if she had to talk a crazy guy off the edge of a roof...but an alien that was sent to destroy us? COME ON! Listen it's not that it's unrealistic, that doesn't bother me of course. It's just the silliness of the story idea. She's supposed to show this alien that people can change, which is great, really it is, but for a movie like this? Most people don't want to see that. They want to see huge action sequences and many explosions. We don't get much of that. Usually it's not best to depend on a moral solution in a movie about aliens.
The movie looks great, most of the time. Which is why I gave the movie a measly half of one star. The visuals are fantastic. I wish I could say that the visuals saved the movie, but I can't. Because the special effects were a mere side plot and didn't come up that often. There was maybe two or three semi-action scenes in the last thirty minutes. We didn't even get enough time to relish the wonderful effects. The movie didn't use them to it's advantage. In a way, I think I felt gipped. However, when we did see cool action scenes or some form of visual effect, they were great!
The performances were OK, but nothing special. Keanu Reeves...I just could not take him seriously here. Well, I normally can't take him seriously. However I feel his cliched persona we all know and love fit perfectly. Playing an alien doesn't require the great acting chops of a more capable actor. Jennifer Connelly is good, and actually better than I've liked her before. Jaden Smith (Pursuit of Happyness), Will's son, was adorable and was as good as he could be with the dialogue he was given. Kathy Bates was just....miscast. I really just did not like her very much in the few scenes she had. I'm sorry, but that was just an icky choice.
To wrap it up, I really disliked this film. It had no real direction or path, and the story was just so all over the place and stupid. Only think relatively good were those special effects....but that's still not saying a whole lot.
We only get about an hour and thirty five minutes of film and story here, so there's quite a bit to pack in. We literally have no clue what is really going on, and why these "aliens" are on Earth until one hour into the movie. That only leaves thirty five minutes for everything to unfold. Well why are they here? **SPOILER ALERT** They are here to wipe out humankind to save the planet Earth. We have been destroying it for to long, and the Earth is a vital planet in the solar system. So these aliens have come to destroy us to save the planet. **END SPOILER ALERT**. The alien who appears to be in charge is an unnamed one played by Keanu Reeves (Speed, The Matrix). He eventually tells the reasoning for him being on Earth to a human he quickly grows to trust played by Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind, Blood Diamond). We also have the side-story of the government trying to stop these things at whatever cost, and this is led by the Secretary of Defense played by an odd choice...Oscar winner Kathy Bates (Misery, Primary Colors).
That all may sound simple enough, but really it isn't. These story is so scattered about and sporadic. Like nothing seems to happen for a while then bam...something happens and we are left thinking, "Wait...what just happened???". The story throws out these big plot details but sort of leave out any coherent explanation to anything. Things just happen, people suddenly figure things out and we as an audience are just simply supposed to understand. I'm not saying a big budget alien flick has to have a brilliant and intelligent story (although those are usually the better alien movies) but come on...give us something that can connect us to the movie. The movie has a not so hidden message that we are slowly killing the Earth and we need to be punished. OK so we can connect on that level right? No, because no one in the movie really seems to care. We don't see many moments where the human race is actually scared of what's going on. We only see brief glimpses on news channels. We have no clue how the humans are responding. So why should we as an audience feel connected or even give a hoot?
What's even better than that? Well I'll tell ya! By the end, the fate of the WORLD rests on Connelly's characters ability to persuade Reeves alien to just stop and go home. Yes, this was the big plan to save the entire WORLD!! When bombs and guns don't work, leave it to a random person to simply talk him out of it. I could understand if she had to talk a crazy guy off the edge of a roof...but an alien that was sent to destroy us? COME ON! Listen it's not that it's unrealistic, that doesn't bother me of course. It's just the silliness of the story idea. She's supposed to show this alien that people can change, which is great, really it is, but for a movie like this? Most people don't want to see that. They want to see huge action sequences and many explosions. We don't get much of that. Usually it's not best to depend on a moral solution in a movie about aliens.
The movie looks great, most of the time. Which is why I gave the movie a measly half of one star. The visuals are fantastic. I wish I could say that the visuals saved the movie, but I can't. Because the special effects were a mere side plot and didn't come up that often. There was maybe two or three semi-action scenes in the last thirty minutes. We didn't even get enough time to relish the wonderful effects. The movie didn't use them to it's advantage. In a way, I think I felt gipped. However, when we did see cool action scenes or some form of visual effect, they were great!
The performances were OK, but nothing special. Keanu Reeves...I just could not take him seriously here. Well, I normally can't take him seriously. However I feel his cliched persona we all know and love fit perfectly. Playing an alien doesn't require the great acting chops of a more capable actor. Jennifer Connelly is good, and actually better than I've liked her before. Jaden Smith (Pursuit of Happyness), Will's son, was adorable and was as good as he could be with the dialogue he was given. Kathy Bates was just....miscast. I really just did not like her very much in the few scenes she had. I'm sorry, but that was just an icky choice.
To wrap it up, I really disliked this film. It had no real direction or path, and the story was just so all over the place and stupid. Only think relatively good were those special effects....but that's still not saying a whole lot.
To view this film's theatrical trailer, click this link: Day the Earth Stood Still
*This is the 165th new film I've seen and reviewed this year.
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" is very bad movie. The saddest part of the film is how the director wastes his talented cast. It is easily worst movie of the year...It is not worth to spend money on it :)
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