Siwilliams
Fleet Captain
See the movie yourself, the reviewers apparently were not watching the great movie that The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008) is. Seen it twice now
The Day the Earth Stood Still - Grading & Discussion
- Thread starter Agent Richard07
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See the movie yourself, the reviewers apparently were not watching the great movie that The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008) is. Seen it twice now
i went to see it today expecting very little after reading the reviews.i thought it was really good and about as faithful a remake as you could do in 2008! i was pleasantly surprised.
Really? Shit. What a bummer.
I guess the aliens never read S.M. Stirling's Emberverse stories if they thought doing that would help.
Review from SFX magazine, which I would agree with mostly. Giving the film 3 out of 5 stars
http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=film_review_the_day_the
http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=film_review_the_day_the
I thought it was a decent movie with a really good sci-fi movie hiding somewhere inside of it.
Keanu was good as Klaatu.
Jennifer Connelly was below average. The little kid was atrocious. "DAD WOULD KILL HIM KILL HIM KILL HIM!!!" "He's not THAT kind of soldier" my ass, Connelly.
Kathy Bates as Secretary of Defense was worthless too.
I got a kick out of the guy from Prison Break showing up as some general. That guy is awesome.
Keanu was good as Klaatu.
Jennifer Connelly was below average. The little kid was atrocious. "DAD WOULD KILL HIM KILL HIM KILL HIM!!!" "He's not THAT kind of soldier" my ass, Connelly.
Kathy Bates as Secretary of Defense was worthless too.
I got a kick out of the guy from Prison Break showing up as some general. That guy is awesome.
I just got back from seeing the movie and thought it was really, really mediocre. +
There was nothing special to it, no particular reason for it to be made or seen.
It just seemed to miss so many opportunities for good story telling.
If it was an essay, I'd give it a C.
There was nothing special to it, no particular reason for it to be made or seen.
It just seemed to miss so many opportunities for good story telling.
If it was an essay, I'd give it a C.
Just got back from it. I've never seen the classic 1951 movie so all of this is new to me. I thought it was quite average, with Keanu not doing a bad job but it wasn't good either. I found myself wishing for the guy who was in Speed in terms of personality because he seemed almost just like Neo. The kid was atrocious (Which is sad because he was so good in the Pursuit of Happyness) and the story was just decent. It did however make me want to go see the original.
Average
Average
Spoilers of course:
Wow, even better than I expected it would be. Although the original is as ingrained in my 38 year sci-fi brain as anyone's, I'm not so narrow-minded that I can't see that the new film has a lot going for it over the original.
1. Superior threat. No I am not just talking about a cooler robot. The threat as laid out in the 1951 took up a total of 5 minutes in the middle and 2 minutes at the very end of the movie, it didn't leave a lot of room for surprise, horror or contemplation. It boiled down to a superior power laying down the law over potential military threat from Earth.
In the new movie, the threat is more broad based. While military powers can come and go--and as of 2008, the World military threat has lessened outwardly and inwardly--the movie uses the more subtle but universal problem of human stewardship over the Earth. Basically its a gray goo scenario, whereby the human presence is eliminated while Earth's animals are reintroduced so it can start over. I think it also rings true as a better way of judging the human race. It would probably be many years before the Earth would be a threat to any of the "other planets" in Klatu's organization as in the original.
2. More believable human story. Yes, the original was good, but its not remotely believable today. A stranger wouldn't be allowed to watch a kid for example. It also was less personal..the characters weren't very developed, as if Rob Wise wanted to keep the characters at arms length. Connelly was great in her role as a widowed scientist! Keanu as usual makes a great non-emotive character.
3. More realistic alien. Rennie was amiable as an Klatu, but Keanu was more alien! This was carefully established in the first 3rd of the movie. It was of my favorite elements.
4. Better technology. Obviously this is a given. Nano-tech is a more probable way of explaining the capabilites of Klatu and co.
5. Better use of the title. OK so everything stopped on Earth for 30 minutes in the original...in the new movie, the whole ending is about humans probably having to find new and cleaner methods of surviving on the Earth. All infrustructure is burned out or ruined! It was the price to pay for saving us.
6. Professor Barnhardt! I loved how he was integral to the story!! In the original he was basically useless.
7. G.O.R.T. A great use of what sounds like a silly name today. I enjoyed the more believable testing and unexpected dangers of the giant robot.
8. Probably obvious, but the new movie reflected modern culture more than the 1951 movie does. Its usually a central reason for a remake.
Shortcomings: Fairly minor: I wondered WHY they sent multi-discipline scientists in survival suits to was supposed to be asteroid impact site! They also hovered so close they would have been destroyed at impact.
They used air-to-air sidewinders to hit a ground based target.
Why was the Secretary of Defense more prominent as a character than a leading science advisor or a higher ranking politician?
In short, this is one of the more intelligent SF movies of the last 15 years. Not only worthy of the original but I believe it surpasses it.
Wow, even better than I expected it would be. Although the original is as ingrained in my 38 year sci-fi brain as anyone's, I'm not so narrow-minded that I can't see that the new film has a lot going for it over the original.
1. Superior threat. No I am not just talking about a cooler robot. The threat as laid out in the 1951 took up a total of 5 minutes in the middle and 2 minutes at the very end of the movie, it didn't leave a lot of room for surprise, horror or contemplation. It boiled down to a superior power laying down the law over potential military threat from Earth.
In the new movie, the threat is more broad based. While military powers can come and go--and as of 2008, the World military threat has lessened outwardly and inwardly--the movie uses the more subtle but universal problem of human stewardship over the Earth. Basically its a gray goo scenario, whereby the human presence is eliminated while Earth's animals are reintroduced so it can start over. I think it also rings true as a better way of judging the human race. It would probably be many years before the Earth would be a threat to any of the "other planets" in Klatu's organization as in the original.
2. More believable human story. Yes, the original was good, but its not remotely believable today. A stranger wouldn't be allowed to watch a kid for example. It also was less personal..the characters weren't very developed, as if Rob Wise wanted to keep the characters at arms length. Connelly was great in her role as a widowed scientist! Keanu as usual makes a great non-emotive character.
3. More realistic alien. Rennie was amiable as an Klatu, but Keanu was more alien! This was carefully established in the first 3rd of the movie. It was of my favorite elements.
4. Better technology. Obviously this is a given. Nano-tech is a more probable way of explaining the capabilites of Klatu and co.
5. Better use of the title. OK so everything stopped on Earth for 30 minutes in the original...in the new movie, the whole ending is about humans probably having to find new and cleaner methods of surviving on the Earth. All infrustructure is burned out or ruined! It was the price to pay for saving us.
6. Professor Barnhardt! I loved how he was integral to the story!! In the original he was basically useless.
7. G.O.R.T. A great use of what sounds like a silly name today. I enjoyed the more believable testing and unexpected dangers of the giant robot.
8. Probably obvious, but the new movie reflected modern culture more than the 1951 movie does. Its usually a central reason for a remake.
Shortcomings: Fairly minor: I wondered WHY they sent multi-discipline scientists in survival suits to was supposed to be asteroid impact site! They also hovered so close they would have been destroyed at impact.
They used air-to-air sidewinders to hit a ground based target.
Why was the Secretary of Defense more prominent as a character than a leading science advisor or a higher ranking politician?
In short, this is one of the more intelligent SF movies of the last 15 years. Not only worthy of the original but I believe it surpasses it.
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The remake has a 22%, unless you were trying to talk about the original which does have 85%.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/day_the_earth_stood_still/
You're right, that must have been a different link to the original! I am really surprised! This is one of the top 5 remakes ever.
Edit: I expected a knee-jerk reaction but this is ridiculous.
RAMA
Actually,this movie is a surprise.I paid my $8.75 expecting a Nemesis style letdown,and was rewarded with a really well-thought remake.
Its not gonna top the original,but the new TDTEST(how awckward!) stands as its own movie.
Fave parts are when the military puts a case over G.O.R.T. and the soldier radios that 'they're still here.." Lol...
I don't know about you guys,but does anyone else think the desk placement right in front of GORT's laser eye in that underground lab sucks hardcore lol.
I also like the modern nano-plague interpretation.Like locusts in the Bible,but they eat our modern harvest of buildings and technology instead of food.
It does have an unfinished feel to it,but it'll have a comfy home in my movie collection.
I reccomend it,even to die hard fans of the original (like my parents).
Its not gonna top the original,but the new TDTEST(how awckward!) stands as its own movie.
Fave parts are when the military puts a case over G.O.R.T. and the soldier radios that 'they're still here.." Lol...
I don't know about you guys,but does anyone else think the desk placement right in front of GORT's laser eye in that underground lab sucks hardcore lol.
I also like the modern nano-plague interpretation.Like locusts in the Bible,but they eat our modern harvest of buildings and technology instead of food.
It does have an unfinished feel to it,but it'll have a comfy home in my movie collection.
I reccomend it,even to die hard fans of the original (like my parents).
Okay, here's what G.O.R.T. stands for... "Genetically Organized Robotic Technology".
And RAMA, that was a great review. I agree with what you had to say, especially the bit about the better use of the title, something I didn't think of. Those who either didn't like the movie or feel that they might not like it should read your rundown.
And RAMA, that was a great review. I agree with what you had to say, especially the bit about the better use of the title, something I didn't think of. Those who either didn't like the movie or feel that they might not like it should read your rundown.
You're probably talking about the movie's environmental angle, but there is another point that can be taken from this... The original, as a movie, works as classic scifi from the 1950s, but like any other old movie, it lacks the sophistication that current productions have. I'm glad we got a remake that at least gave us a modern level of sophistication.
It was, it was just so drowned out by other sounds that it's almost impossible to hear. It's right after Kleanu gets shot and Gort starts repelling all the soldiers with his mega-dog whistle.
I was pleasantly surprised by the movie after the awful reviews. It didn't blow me away by any means, but it was a decent scifi flick. I'd give it a "B."
I didn't really find the environmental message to be copped-out on. It was pretty clear what Klaatu was referring to and what the aliens were trying to prevent, so I don't get all the critical reviews that say they don't know what it is humans are supposedly doing wrong to draw the aliens ire. It's made perfectly obvious on several occasions either directly by Klaatu or by the actions of the spheres. Do people have to hear "global warming" or some other environmental phrase mentioned explicitly in order to read between the not vague at all lines?
I don't know whether to be relieved or disgusted that T-Bag will command our forces in battle against an alien menace. I don't think our first words to our new alien overlords should be "Listen here, Pretty."
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I surprisingly enjoyed the hell out it and voted above average. Having already read a couple of negative reviews I was expecting a piece of crap but was pleasantly surprised. Have vauge recollections of seeing the original in my youth but I can't remember seeing the entire thing. GORT was awesome though. Jen Connelly was beautiful in this movie...and wasn't her stepson Micah from Heroes?
Watch the first one. It makes Keanu's role even better if you've seen his source material.
He was pretty much perfect.
Ah, no wonder I missed it. Thanks!
Ugh. "Poor" here. "Awful" is more like it. Everyone except Keanu Reeves is utterly wasted. Since Keanu's best acting range these days is totally wooden, he was fine.
How can a movie fail so spectacularly at the "show, don't tell" rule? The environmental message is so incredibly heavy-handed in the tell department, but never shown. They keep telling us that the world would be better off without us, then we get the scenes (not spoilers, because they're in the trailers) of Giants Stadium being devoured and trucks encountering locust-like clouds? I hope there was a step 2 of the "cleansing" notion that we just never saw, because where's the difference between the leftovers and the original in that case? And did the metallic locusts make it to the gas tanks on the Turnpike? The movie just seemed to be preachy without any of that in practice.
We already had a massive effects thing going, would a scene inside one of the spheres showing us what the world would be like with humanity cleansed from the Earth really have been that out of place? The thing was ham-handed already with the environmental message, why not actually do something with it that might sink in? Might as well go full-out and actually show us something other than VFX eye candy.
The elements of a good film were there. The new Gort could have been really a lot more interesting playing up the "genetic" part. The environmental message is really the only way to go from the nuclear menace message of the original. But it felt like the script was pandering to the notion that if they told us something enough times, it might sink in. Klaatu's origin in the beginning is an interesting twist on the original, but it was wasted. This whole thing turned from a film that could have been something of relevance to a movie that was pointless eye candy.
Very disappointed. I'm going to dig up the original just to cleanse my palate of this tripe.
How can a movie fail so spectacularly at the "show, don't tell" rule? The environmental message is so incredibly heavy-handed in the tell department, but never shown. They keep telling us that the world would be better off without us, then we get the scenes (not spoilers, because they're in the trailers) of Giants Stadium being devoured and trucks encountering locust-like clouds? I hope there was a step 2 of the "cleansing" notion that we just never saw, because where's the difference between the leftovers and the original in that case? And did the metallic locusts make it to the gas tanks on the Turnpike? The movie just seemed to be preachy without any of that in practice.
We already had a massive effects thing going, would a scene inside one of the spheres showing us what the world would be like with humanity cleansed from the Earth really have been that out of place? The thing was ham-handed already with the environmental message, why not actually do something with it that might sink in? Might as well go full-out and actually show us something other than VFX eye candy.
The elements of a good film were there. The new Gort could have been really a lot more interesting playing up the "genetic" part. The environmental message is really the only way to go from the nuclear menace message of the original. But it felt like the script was pandering to the notion that if they told us something enough times, it might sink in. Klaatu's origin in the beginning is an interesting twist on the original, but it was wasted. This whole thing turned from a film that could have been something of relevance to a movie that was pointless eye candy.
Very disappointed. I'm going to dig up the original just to cleanse my palate of this tripe.
I'm torn here but voted above average for all the things the film got right.
One of the main problems the movie has is what most modern movies do wrong: too spastic. The special effects are too hyper-real, too "woah dood, that's bitchin' cool!" for such a serious subject matter and the attempt at the desperate, almost nihilistic tone the remake shoots for. The editing is too jarring. The film jumps around like crazy at certain points.
Yet, it was trying to be smart. It seems the director and screenwriter did see this as science fiction, not science fantasy action. There were a few wishy-washy ideas that were used for impact on the audience - a throwaway line to life-sustaining planets being rare in the universe made by aliens so advanced *they should be able to make life habitats and planets at will* made me roll my eyes. That perhaps was one of the core flaws - it's yet another science fiction film where it feels as if the makers were constantly thinking to themseves "now regular good old folks don't get this science fiction stuff, so we gotta sell it to 'em".
Still, I liked it. Bits and pieces of it rose above its problems and rang true. The pacing isn't as good as the original film, and that made it have less of an impact after leaving the theater. One interesting point I didn't see anyone else bring up yet, that I did find a nice idea in the film:
I interpreted it as the alien race Klaatu represented where one and the same with the "enforcing machines" this time. They didn't authorize robocops to watch over them, they /were/ the machine enforcers: I took it as the spheres were not space ships, but the aliens themselves. The change they went through to inhabit the galaxy were transcending into machine intelligences and each sphere was an AI / body ship. The human Klaatu was essentially an avatar created as needed with a scaled-down copy of the complete Klaatu intelligence encoded into the body's brain. Gort was an intelligent but non-sentient robot servitor device.
One of the main problems the movie has is what most modern movies do wrong: too spastic. The special effects are too hyper-real, too "woah dood, that's bitchin' cool!" for such a serious subject matter and the attempt at the desperate, almost nihilistic tone the remake shoots for. The editing is too jarring. The film jumps around like crazy at certain points.
Yet, it was trying to be smart. It seems the director and screenwriter did see this as science fiction, not science fantasy action. There were a few wishy-washy ideas that were used for impact on the audience - a throwaway line to life-sustaining planets being rare in the universe made by aliens so advanced *they should be able to make life habitats and planets at will* made me roll my eyes. That perhaps was one of the core flaws - it's yet another science fiction film where it feels as if the makers were constantly thinking to themseves "now regular good old folks don't get this science fiction stuff, so we gotta sell it to 'em".
Still, I liked it. Bits and pieces of it rose above its problems and rang true. The pacing isn't as good as the original film, and that made it have less of an impact after leaving the theater. One interesting point I didn't see anyone else bring up yet, that I did find a nice idea in the film:
I interpreted it as the alien race Klaatu represented where one and the same with the "enforcing machines" this time. They didn't authorize robocops to watch over them, they /were/ the machine enforcers: I took it as the spheres were not space ships, but the aliens themselves. The change they went through to inhabit the galaxy were transcending into machine intelligences and each sphere was an AI / body ship. The human Klaatu was essentially an avatar created as needed with a scaled-down copy of the complete Klaatu intelligence encoded into the body's brain. Gort was an intelligent but non-sentient robot servitor device.