The Day the Earth Stood Still - DVD Review

For many people the original The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) was their very first encounter with a science fiction film.

I remember seeing it on late night television with my Dad, who knowing I was a light sleeper child (usually reading under the covers with a flashlight) would come and get me for viewings of what he considered “classics” of film. I might have been in second grade, but I “got” the message of the first film. I am pleased to say that the new “reimagining” of the film has an equally important message, and best of all it can safely be viewed by children. Yes it is intense, and there are some “monsters” and unexplained mysteries, but the original was the same way, and look how many of us remember it with great fondness.

In the 2008 version, a mountaineer (Keanu Reeves) in 1928 has a close encounter with a glowing sphere. He is knocked out and awakens with a strange scar on one hand. From that beginning, the story is shifted to present day. In another moment that reminds the viewer of “Close Encounters” Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Conelly) a bio-science professor has been collected from her home by the NSA and grouped with a variety of space science and earth science colleagues. They learn that a huge UFO is about to crash into Earth in Manhattan. Everyone anticipates mass destruction, and then the giant sphere slows and descends carefully, landing in Central Park. Typical of both 1951 and 2008 military is scrambled, and just as Dr. Benson is about to make contact with an odd looking creature, someone shoots it. A huge automaton emerges from the ship, but the being issues a muffled statement that sounds like the famous “Klaatu barada nikto” to stop GORT from destroying everything. The wounded being is carried to a field hospital unit, where a physician attempts to remove the bullet, and a very human looking creature emerges from what must have been a biological space suit.This is not the same film as the beloved 1951 classic, and it is not fair to make much comparison between the two.

In the 2008 film, survival of the Earth is of massive importance, and the evil facing this survival is humankind and its technology. There was a concentrated effort to make this a green film in many aspects, and the message from the alien race overseeing Earth is that it is one of very few planets in the universe able to sustain life, and human beings are killing it. Will Klaatu find enough good in humankind to let us live? Or will we be destroyed to preserve and protect all the other life forms. It is a well acted, interesting film, one that the whole family could watch and then discuss. Dr. Benson’s troubled stepson Jacob (Jaden Smith) is a typical kid, and children in the audience can relate to him, both in his difficulties, and then in his role to save mankind. Professor Karl Barnhardt (John Cleese) gives a wonderfully rich dramatic portrayal of a Nobel Prize-winning scientist whose grasp on altruism is used to try and explain to Klaatu what humans are really about. Kathy Bates is superb in her government official role as Secretary of Defense Regina Jackson.I saw this on a screener disc, so I can’t address cover art, but some special features were included. The best by far in the opinion of the resident scientist was Unleashing Gort, where Jeff Okum discusses the reasoning behind his choice of GORT’s appearance. Re-imaging the Day, looks at the differences and the similarities between the original and the 2008 version, as well as use of CGI and other technologies to issue the message of save the Earth. There are three not very important deleted scenes, an audio commentary for the film with David Scarpa, and a kind of UFO/Extraterrestrial documentary Watching the Skies In Search of Extra-Terrestrial Life. It is not the classic, but then no one should expect it to be, The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) is entertaining, and reinforces the idea of take care of the Earth or else.

Day the Earth Stood Still (Three-Disc Edition) is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for an April 20th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.