The Day My Mind Stood Still
December 9th 2008 15:07
World premiere! Epic fail?
Sweet Neo, what were they thinking?! I caught this at a press screening just a few hours ago, and man it saved me a night! (I intended to see it with friends later)
The Day the Earth Stood Still has a valid ecologic thought in it's core, and a dilemma that you should know by now if you have seen the trailer: will mankind destroy it's environment on Earth? Should we perish to keep the miracle of life intact on this planet?
Sadly that's about it for this movie. That's all it has to offer, a promising and interesting seed in a laughable, naive shell that's festering with logical bugs. I must say that I was somehow entertained even though. But the source of entertainment came from the anticipation of the next foolishness, or seriously intended, but hilarious line. The laughs were definitely at the wrong spots, and the plot was so thin that it almost became a parody of itself. I wonder what the box office results will be for this worldwide premiering sci-fi movie with a huge star as the lead.
A flop would be better. It's cruel to say, knowing that every movie project has tons of workhours and effort behind it, but if this kind of movie can become successful, then the movie business will fade a few shades. I'm not saying this is the new low, because there are definitely much more dismal moving pictures (Disaster Movie, Meet the Spartans etc.), but a mainstream blockbuster type of movie shouldn't sink below a certain level, and this does easily.
Greetings Earthlings! ... I must go to McDonalds asap...
The "story" tells of an extraterrestrial force landing in Central Park (and other places later) without warning. A group of scientists including Helen Benson (Jennifer Connely), an astrobiologist are gathered to come up with something. Not much thought is put in it, what is their exact mission, why are they bought on site to an unknown extraterrestrial possible threat? Doesn't matter, we never see the other scientists again after Helen bonds with the human formed representative (snatched circa 80 years earlier from the Indian mountains) of the aliens, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), who posesses superior mental powers over machinery. Just like in the original 1951 movie, he arrives with a giant robot named Gort, who is a bodyguard and doomsday machine combined. There is an annoying sidekick (Jaden Smith), Helen's stepson Jacob who is supposed to be the "emotion" in the story, but he is really a nuisance. As the inevitable end draws near, they move from point A to B to C, sharing wisdom about second chance and the good side of mankind along the way. The device of destruction turns out to be a pumped up biblical punishment, and once again the ending won't be a surprise. Emotion triumphs, there is still hope, we can become better, yes!
I'd love to believe in these things, but if they're presented as a joke, then it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and the whole concept of the movie crumbles.
I was expecting a strong-average sci-fi based on the original. Let's be honest, the 50's movie is hammy with todays standards. Although the moral code is strong in both pictures, the delivery of the story is very shaky. It's not 2001 A Space Odyssey nor even Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Ok, then it must be full of action, right? Wrong. It's a moralizing drama with just a few drops of action, but done as a scientific stronghold built from Armageddon and The Independence Day type logic. Let's be honest, logic and science are not the strong points of those movies, to put it very-very politely.
Should you see it? Only if you want to have a hilariously bad experience. It's so dumb that it's funny, so I can't say it's not entertaining.
4 out of 10
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