The problems for this remake are no different than that of any other; they must pay homage to the original in some ways but also bring something new to the table. Although it certainly does the second it is none the less inconsequential. It’s strange because what happens on-screen should by all rights be exciting, thought-provoking and engaging but it all falls prey to character clichés (such as the development of the relationship between Jennifer Connelly’s character and her step-son) and generic and convenient plot points (things seem to happen only to serve the inclusion of the spectacle). A film like this never works if it sacrifices many things in lieu of one and unfortunately The Day the Earth Stood Still is guilty of this.
Keanu Reeves is pretty much the perfect choice to play Klaatu. The emotionless, stiff, exacting nature of the character matches the limited things Reeves has to offer as an actor. At first it seemed like a ridiculous casting decision but when pondered a bit more it actually makes perfect sense. Connelly is basically interchangeable in her role as a scientist; it really could have been played by any half-talented actress out there. She’s not bad; she does what she has to do but it’s simply that Actress A could have been swapped for Actress B very easily. And Jaden Smith (yes, Will Smith’s son), although a good performance for his age (he’s actually turning out to be a great little actor) it’s the character that’s the problem. It seems like he’s only there to input all the clichés that are associated with a little boy character including nagging at his step-mum, asking countless questions and only being there to add a character we can, in the basic human sense, root for. This is reminiscent of the film as a whole; things only seem to be there for the sake of it rather than feeling genuinely warranted.
From the advertising one would think that the film is chalked full of action sequences and special effects. But apart from the glowing, orb-shaped spaceship towards the beginning of the film there’s little special effects to be found until the last half hour or so. Which would be fine if you want to save it for one big climax but instead it’s like they loaded up all examples of the expensive effects that they had and fired them out one after the other after the other towards the end of the movie. After the second example of something being destroyed it gets to the point of boredom – “Okay we get it! You spent a lot of cash on this movie, move on!”
Article comments
1 - phoebe
haha I like this movie. Got engaged! I love Keanu to beging with.
And I'm gonna watch this again and this time in IMAX!!!!