Spicezee Bureau
Los Angeles, Dec 12: Hollywood heartthrob Keanu Reeves has returned to the cinema screens with another sci-fi flick, ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’. But while Robert Wise’s original film, which was a 50’s classic, was based on the Cold War era, Scott Derrickson’s remake is the story of a life sustainable planet.
‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’ starts off with a promising flair, with microbiologist Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) getting rousted from her home by a group of government agents, who are striving to gather all the greatest scientific minds in the world.
A flying object from outer space is going to hit Earth in just over an hour. But things begin to get boring when a huge ball lands and spaceman Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) and his mechanical bodyguard, Gort walk out. Gort is basically a giant Academy Award statuette, painted pewter, with a one red shifting eye like the original ‘Knight Rider’ car. Klaatu has a warning for all world leaders that their continued aggression will lead to annihilation of the mankind by species watching from the outerspace. Klaatu’s job is to assist, calmly and methodically, in the extermination of the human race, a task he tries, with evident fatigue, to explain to his hysterical, violent would-be victims. After ‘Klaatu’ (whose powers fall somewhere between Mork and ‘ET’), shows himself in human form, nothing interesting happens thereafter.
And while there are many conversations between Klaatu and his human companions about the nature of the planet, almost nothing important is discussed. It's as if Klaatu is simultaneously considering both the obliteration of our species and a run for political office.
After sitting through the movie for about an hour, you may start ridiculing every single thing about it, however, the special effects, as impressive as they were for the time, complemented the film's message but certainly didn't overwhelm it. In the remake, the story seems to be given the least importance, after visual splendour and product placement.
As for the acting, Reeves’ intentionally wooden performance makes the film all the more soulless and boring. Even Kathy Bates couldn’t find a way to make her character halfway interesting.
Rating: Two cheers for this sci-fi flick!
First Published: Friday, December 12, 2008, 00:00