DVD Reviews

The Day the Earth Stood Still (3-Disc Special Edition) – Blu-ray Review

By Patrick Luce Apr 14, 2009, 12:55 GMT

Epic action and mind-blowing effects rock the planet in this thrilling reinvention of the sci-fi classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still. Keanu Reeves portrays Klaatu, an otherworldly being whose arrival on Earth triggers an unstoppable series of events that threaten all of mankind. In a desperate attempt to save humanity, governments and scientists race to unravel the mystery behind the visitor’s appearance. When a woman (Jennifer Connelly) and her ...more

1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still is true sci-fi classic. Sadly, this remake doesn’t even come close to that status. The movie is decent and manages a few thrills, but falls short of having the impact of the original. Instead, we get yet another save the Earth’s environment story and the stiff acting of Keanu Reeves.

Thankfully, the film looks fantastic on Blu-ray – which helped hold my interest through the rather slow-paced plot. Fox also does a solid for fans by releasing the movie in a 3-Disc edition that includes the Blu-ray version of the classic film. I was bored watching the remake, but felt like a kid again when I popped in the 1951 version. It is still a great movie, looks beautiful on Blu-ray, and I geeked out watching it in all its classic sci-fi glory.

Directed by Scott Derrickson from a screenplay by David Scarpa, the remake sees Reeves handling the iconic role of the alien Klaatu – who comes to Earth to see if the humans have screwed the planet up so bad the rest of the universe needs to wipe us out so the Earth can start again. He brings along his giant robot for defense and to help erase man from the planet after a meeting with another alien at McDonalds (no I am not kidding).

On his mission (and on the run from the U.S. government), Klaatu is aided by Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) and her step-son Jacob (Jaden Smith). Helen is part of the group of scientist brought in by the government to investigate Klaatu’s arrival and helps him escape the base when SecDef Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates) wants to get a bit extreme to motivate Klaatu to talk.

The film basically becomes a bit of a road movie with Klaatu, Helen and Jacob (who think the army should just blast the alien) traveling to spots for Klaatu to launch more of his ships for the planet’s animals (think Noah’s Ark but a glowing ball) to survive the human destruction. Helen finally convinces Klaatu to go talk with Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese) in a last ditch effort to talk him into giving humans a chance to fix the Earth’s problems.

Meanwhile, the army is trying to deal with the giant robot and the alien locust like plague that Klaatu launches to erase humans from the Earth. The movie’s slow pace ramps up towards the ending as Klaatu, Helen, and Jacob rush back to his ship (another one of the glowing balls) to try and save the world.

Hollywood is remake happy, and this is another example of a film that should have been left alone. The original classic film is still relevant (even with somewhat hokey special effects by today’s standards), and the message important. This remake is a decent film, but doesn’t seem to really have much to offer.

Reeves delivers his normal stiff acting (which often seems like he is reading his lines straight from a cue card off camera), and seems to be almost asleep during parts of the movie. His Klaatu was a bit of a blend of the burned out performance of Constantine with a little Neo from the Matrix. He isn’t horrible in the movie, but never really tries to make the character more than a cardboard cutout.

I guess it stands to reason an alien with his intelligence and technology wouldn’t be too interested in conversing with lowly humans, but it seems he could have some emotion. Maybe Klaatu is actually a Vulcan.

Connelly is pretty good in the film, and I really enjoyed her character. She has to balance her scientist side with that of a step-mother to a kid who lost his father. She cares for her step-son, but doesn’t quite seem comfortable in the mommy role. As the film moves on, her love for Jacob is put to the test – which gives the film and its characters a little more depth.

Klaatu also has to deal with conflicting thoughts about Jacob and the fact that he will be killed along with all the other humans. This shows some development on the character’s part given at the start of the film he doesn’t think twice at the lost of human life.

Derrickson does a good job with the movie, and giving it a different look and feel from the original. The film is slick on Blu-ray, and the special effects managed to hold up under the crystal clear picture. The alien locust look good as they eat their way through everything, but the giant robot looks a tad too CGI (although he does look more believable than the original Gort).

The Blu-ray also comes loaded with special features which takes you behind the cameras and show how the film was crafted. It also features Picture-in-Picture looks at Klaatu, Gort, and the alien technology. There are also features on watching the skies, the environment, and how the filmmakers re-imagined the classic film.

Although I was disappointed with The Day the Earth Stood Still, the film looks really good on Blu-ray and does have moments of entertainment and thrills. Personally, I still prefer the original movie, and I applaud 20th Century Fox for including it in the release. Thanks to the inclusion of 1951 version, the Blu-ray is well worth picking up.