The Day the Earth Stood Still: Movie Review

Most of you should know that The Day the Earth Stood Still is a remake of a 1951 film of the same name. So just a head's up for everyone that our review is in no way a comparison of the old one and the new one. Sad to say, both of us have not seen the original film. So more or less, our review is an unbiased look into a new film. With that said let us move on to the review. This film has been following a trend of Hollywood recently; that is to re-make old classic films and it does not seem its going to stop anytime soon. We just wonder what is the reason behind this and the most probable reason is that writers have lost the touch to drum up new ideas and new stories that allure audiences. Albeit most remakes are good, some just become a distant memory that people forget. Can this film actually be a great film even with a very, very high bar to match up? Can it also allure us (those audiences that have no idea what the original looked like) and make a new following for The Day the Earth Stood Still franchise? Let us see then!

The story starts off in 1928 in which we see a mountain climber that sort of resembles Keanu Reeves. He sees an orb and touches it and he blackouts. Soon, he wakes up and discovers that a part of his hand has been cut-off. Fast forward to present time, Dr. Helen Benson and a hundred more scientists are escorted and brought to a military base. Their mission is to understand an orb (same to the one we saw earlier albeit bigger) that has landed on Central Park. Soon, Dr. Benson discovers a being named Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) and that he is a representative of an order out to determine if humans should survive or not. The mission for Dr. Benson now is to convince Klaatu that humans should be given another chance before all is too late for every human being on Earth.

Now on to the meat of our review. The film has to be one of the most disappointing films of the year. The trailer was misleading at best and showed parts that truly is unessential from the film's plot. Now that would give you an idea how freak ugly this movie is that the best parts are actually almost useless compared to the film's wholeness. It for most is also very convoluted, flimsy and disconnected. It was never effective in capturing the audiences' emotions and hearts. The film also suffered from a very, very simple plot that was poorly executed. From scene to scene, it would leave at awe not from its greatness but from how the heck they released this one in the wild. The effects,while some may say are very good but for us is really sub-par and mediocre. It could have been better given the caliber of other films using CGI Technology. Gort the gigantic defense robot of Klaatu for example just looked plain and noticeably fake on screen. The best parts of the film is its philosophical ideas about humans and how life survives and thrives. It is quite refreshing yet some people might just be turned off on the very serious overtones. In the end, we just wished that the reel stood still. It was not the grand experience we hoped for and God forbid that they could have broadcasted this to space (Alpha Centauri) and let the aliens out there watch this uninspired film. Now what a way to present our civilizations to others out there right? Just miss this one okay?





Rating: 1 reel

Why you should watch it:
- some great philosophical themes that can actually make you tihnk about life's meaning and purpose

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- it is boring and dull all over
- there is a clear disconnection between the film and its audience
- lackluster effects on most parts
- not the hit that everyone was expecting it to be