By Peanut
Helen (Jennifer Connelly): You said you came to save us.
Klaatu (Keanu Reeves): I said I came to save the Earth.
Helen: You came to save the Earth... from us.
You came to save the Earth from us.
I'm going to dispense with the formalities right at the top: Last night I watched a craptacular movie called The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008). Not only was it unoriginal (based on the 1951 "classic" -- though to be honest, I'm not a big fan of the original either), it was also preachy and one-note. Humans are violent; their nature is destructive; they won't change their ways. If I'm gonna listen to a robotic actor saying "It's in your nature to
destroy yourselves," I want him to be playing an actual robot.
So basically Klaatu (Keanu) and his alien crew are an extreme extraterrestrial version of Green Peace. Klaatu brings a couple of giant glowing spheres with him to earth, which he uses to collect samples of animal species before initiating the extermination of humanity. (Thank you, screenwriters, for the unnecessary line about this being a real-life "Noah's Ark.") Not sure what happens to all the plant life, though. I hope they're immune to swarms of nano-bots that apparently can eat glass and steel (see: the destruction of Giants Stadium, which was featured in the trailer and is pictured below.)
The message here is clear: Stop polluting the world; stop ignoring global warming; stop destroying each other and the only planet we have...before it's too late. It's a message that's been conveyed by much more intriguing and entertaining vehicles in the past -- even schlocky sci-fi flicks like The Day After Tomorrow. I don't disagree the with the legitimacy or urgency of this story's moral. I just wasn't moved in any way by The Day the Earth Stood Still. And for a movie that seems like a call-to-action, that's about as bad a criticism as you can get. 0.5 PB Jar (out of 3)
Destruction of Giants Stadium by a cloud of nano-bots: 3.0 PB Jars (out of 3)
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