Reviewed by Lamar Kukuk
12/13/08
Remakes are an inherently
dicey proposition: the very reason people's interest is piqued by
a familiar title and story is because they tend to hold the original to
be above reproach and believe anything less than Gus Van Santing it shot
by shot (which, come to think of it, nobody much cared for either) is sacrilege.
But remaking famous films (especially the good ones) can also be a fascinating
exercise in marking the generational changes in both our society and our
cinema. If there were a Mt. Rushmore for 50's sci-fi, Robert Wise's
1951 classic The Day the Earth Stood Still would be on it, and Scott
Derrickson's perfectly cast update does the most important thing a remake
can: hold Wise's film up as a mirror to the world that has revisited
it. With more sound, more fury, and a whole new set of reasons to
believe man is about to snuff out his own existence, this new Day
proves to be an entertaining, thoughtful blockbuster... even if nobody
ever does get around to saying “Klattu Barada Nikto”.
Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer
Connelly), a widow raising her stepson Jacob (Jaden Smith), is rousted
out of her house one evening by a military escort. Turns out she's
on a list of scientists who're to be called in case of alien contact, and
a whopper of an alien contact is about to enter our atmosphere: a
giant sphere that touches down in Central Park, releasing a humanoid alien
and a gigantic robot. The alien reaches out to Dr. Benson, but is
shot by the surrounding military and whisked off to a hospital where he
sheds his alien skin and quickly develops into Klattu (Keanu Reeves), insisting
on being taken to address the United Nations. Secretary of Defense
Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates) will hear none of it, and orders him taken
to a secure facility and interrogated. Believing him to be no threat,
Helen gives Klattu a shot of saline instead of the sedative Jackson orders,
and soon enough he's escaped. Not long after, he's called Helen for
help and she, Jacob and the alien are driving around New York on a series
of errands. What she doesn't realize is that these errands are all
small parts in an alien plan to “Save the Earth” that doesn't involve saving
mankind. In fact, the military forces poking and prodding the robot
(who they've named GORT) in a secure location might want to stop before
he, you know, destroys the world or something...
The basics of The Day
the Earth Stood Still will be familiar to fans of the original, and
the specifics have been tweaked and rearranged in interesting ways.
No longer does Klattu blend in under an assumed name and his interest in
diplomacy is short-lived. The new Day is focused on the timely
challenge of bridging the cultural gap. We're quick to show Klattu
our worst, backing up everything he knows from the simple state of our
ecosystem. It's up to Helen to prove to him that man has virtues
as well as vices and is not just the destructive animal that shot him in
the park. But if that's going to happen, Jacob needs to see beyond
the alien invader and believe that Klattu too can change. It's interesting
to see a movie make the “the only good alien is a dead alien” character
a child, since the viewpoint he espouses is so essentially childish.
And, of course, Klattu's
not here to warn mankind to disarm as the 1951 Michael Rennie-played version
was. In fact, he doesn't trust mankind to do anything to save itself.
As another alien visitor (wonderfully played in a single scene by James
Hong) who's studied us for decades tells him, we can sense that the end
is near, but we can't seem to do anything about it. So instead, he
comes armed with a methodical plan to save the Planet Earth that God Himself
might admire, having used it once before. One of the most interesting
changes the filmmakers have made (David Scarpa handled the actual adaptation
of Edmund H. North's original screenplay, in turn based on a Harry Bates
short story called “Farewell to the Master”) is that there's absolutely
no sense that the world's political leaders will do anything in the face
of a crisis but make it worse. While the original Klattu actively
sought out the world's smartest man, Helen takes this one to see him (John
Cleese, brilliantly wise in a small part), assuring him that people like
Jackson “aren't our real leaders”.
But the government heavies,
while 1,000% wrong in what they choose to do, are given more interesting
motivation than they'd normally get. Jackson isn't wrong when she
sizes up the situation as being identical to the meetings of Pizarro and
Columbus with their New World counterparts, but the decisions that leads
to aren't exactly wise ones. Helen, on the other hand, is a tad too
naive, but I liked how her decision to help Klattu turns out to be the
right one for different reasons than she intended. If you can't fight
a superior force, the only thing you can hope to do is appeal to its' ethics.
Of course, as Klattu warns, there is a price for even his mercy. ******SPOILER
WARNING******** And I just LOVED the way Scarpa's screenplay proves
to be titled The Day the Earth Stood Still for entirely different
reasons than North's ********END OF SPOILER*********
Reeves is perfectly cast,
projecting an air of alien disinterest that slowly becomes a kind of cross-species
empathy without ever allowing Klattu to cease to be an alien creature “wearing”
a human body. He nails those trailer-friendly lines where his parses
words about “helping the Earth” in the face of Helen's questions about
his plans. Connelly, one of the best actresses of her generation,
is always able to provide both humanity and gravitas in genre roles and
does a great job of representing humanity's virtues while still seeming
like a real person. Bates balances her duties as a heavy who's not
an idiot very effectively. Smith builds on his strong work in The
Pursuit of Happyness, proving again to be a solid child actor.
Jon Hamm gets the rare honor of seeing “The Nice Guy Scientist” through
to the end without proving to be either a weasel or a suitor (the movie
is actually romance-free, a Hollywood rarity even on a planet with just
hours left to survive). Kyle Chandler is a delight as Jackson's oily
right-hand who, shall we say, lacks the courage of his convictions.
And Robert Knepper, quickly becoming one of my very favorite character
actors, delivers good value in all his scenes as a nameless Colonel who
seems rightly freaked out by heavy odds facing his forces.
The special effects are top-shelf:
even if GORT is a tad cartoony, he's been cleverly reconceived to go along
with a race whose technology is more biological than mechanical.
The Central Park Sphere is a wonder, shimmering from within as multiple
layers are constantly swirling around its' surface. And the apocalyptic
destruction of the final act is expertly done, although I wonder what exactly
Hollywood has against Harrisburg, PA, which is once again casually destroyed
off-screen (hopefully not while I was at work).
Purists will no doubt roll
their eyes at the spectacle, take the usual unfair cheap shots at Reeves
and poo poo the environmental theme, but they should really just stay home.
Those willing to give a Day remake a chance will find an impressively
moody, thoughtful thriller that ponders the fate of mankind without being
afraid to turn Giants Stadium to dust. It is, after all, 2008. |
