The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008): Movie Review

First of all, this movie review will not be compared to the original movie which was made in 1951. Why? Because I haven’t watched it yet. So this movie is reviewed on it’s own. Let me admit something first, when I first saw the trailer of this movie, I was expecting the movie to be about something else, and the movie turned out to be something else. Was it good though? Yes it was. The movie did give me a little surprise because of what it was actually about. Anyway, this science fiction movie stars Keanu Reeves as Klaatu and Jennifer Connelly as Dr. Helen Benson. As the movie poster suggests, the movie was released on December 12, 2008 in the United States, Canada and Australia. The movie grossed about $31 million dollar on it’s opening weekend itself in the United States. The film was a financial success and has grossed over $230 million dollars worldwide. Very nice numbers for this movie. And I must say that it did earn it.

The movie is directed by Scott Derrickson and he did a good job. Although I am still confused about the first part of the movie. I don’t really know what it has to do with the movie. So if someone could explain it to me, that would be great! The cast on the other hand, was amazing. What else can someone expect? The main character of the movie is the guy with the awesome black suit and glasses, although using that costume in this movie will be totally inappropriate. And the heroine, is the sweet lady who helped the huge green guy calm down. This all translates to; Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly both performed great in the movie. The movie could have been directed a little better though. I’m not saying that it wasn’t well directed, I’m just saying that it lacks a few things, that most people should be able to look past. The storyline was also good, but like I said before, I don’t quite understand what the first part of the movie means. The movie also has very nice special effects and it’s worth checking out. Another thing that I liked is the lack of a love story. Yes, almost every movie like this has a side love story, but not this one. And besides, having a love story will also be too much of a distraction in this movie.

Here’s the plot of the movie taken directly from Wikipedia. There might be SPOILERS, so please be warned. S indicates the start point and F indicates the end point of the plot. Begin highlighting from S and end at F to view the plot.

S“In 1928, a mountaineer (Keanu Reeves) encounters a glowing sphere while on an expedition in the snowy mountains of India. He then finds himself awakening after a sudden loss of consciousness, with the sphere now gone and a scar on his hand. In the present day, Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), a Princeton professor, and other scientists are hastily assembled by the government in order to formulate a survival plan when it is feared that a large unknown object with a speed of 3×10⁷m/s is due to impact Manhattan in over an hour. Nothing can be done about it because a vital military satellite has been disabled. The object is a large spherical biological spaceship, which slows down and lands gently in Central Park. A being (taking on the appearance of the man from the opening scene of the film) named Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) emerges from the sphere while accompanied by a large robot. Klaatu, a representative of a group of alien races, has come to assess whether humanity can reverse the environmental damage it has inflicted on planet Earth. In the ensuing confusion, Klaatu is shot, but survives. The large robot activates and proceeds to disrupt all electrical systems in the city of New York, including many of the defense systems that the military has mustered in a perimeter around the spaceship. Before it can do any further damage, Klaatu orders it to shut down. While recovering from his injuries, Klaatu is detained by Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates), the United States Secretary of Defense, and is barred from speaking to the United Nations. Klaatu manages to escape, and he soon finds himself eluding the authorities throughout northern New Jersey, specifically Newark and the forested Highlands, with Helen and her stepson Jacob (Jaden Smith).

Meanwhile, the presence of the sphere has caused a worldwide panic and the military manages to capture the robot after it thwarts their attempts to destroy the sphere using unmanned aerial vehicles and Sidewinder missiles. Klaatu decides that humans shall be exterminated to ensure that the planet — with its rare ability to sustain complex life — can survive. He orders smaller spheres previously hidden on Earth to begin taking animal species off the planet, and Jackson, reminded of Noah’s Ark, fears that a cataclysm is imminent. The robot, dubbed “GORT” (Genetically Organized Robotic Technology) by the government, is the subject of experiments within an underground facility in Virginia when it transforms into a swarm of self-replicating insect-like nanites that begin destroying everything in their path back to Manhattan (a classic “Grey Goo“), including a large contingent of the U.S. Army and the Giants Stadium.

After speaking with Nobel Prize-winning Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese) about how his own species went through drastic evolution to survive its sun’s demise, Klaatu is convinced by Helen and Jacob that humans can change their ways and are worth saving. The three go toward the sphere in Central Park, where Klaatu warns that even if he manages to stop GORT, there will be a price to the human way of life. The nanobot cloud arrives before they can reach the sphere and they have to hide under a bridge. There, it is revealed that Jacob and Helen have been infected by the nanites. She pleads with Klaatu to save Jacob. Klaatu saves both of them by transferring the infection to his own body, then sacrifices himself to stop GORT by walking through the nanites to the sphere and touching it. His actions cause the sphere to emit a massive pulse which stops GORT, saving humanity, but at the price of all of Earth’s technology becoming apparently useless and immobile. Klaatu disappears, and the giant sphere leaves Earth.“F

And if you didn’t read the plot that had massive spoilers, here’s a spoiler free summary of it;

“Klaatu, a representative of a group of alien races, has come to Earth to save Earth.”

That pretty much what the movie is about. If I give in a little more detail, it might spoil the movie.

So, what made me watch this movie? Well, one of the main reasons is because Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly were in it. Another reason was because I thought that the movie was going to be about something else. At least, that’s what I thought when I watched the trailer. There was also a lot of bad responses to the movie because of it being compared to the original movie from 1951. But that’s just responses from the critics. The important thing to me has always been the same; the movie entertained me. Overall, even though the movie was not what I expected it to be, it was a great movie and it kept me interested throughout the whole entire movie. And if you are wondering if this movie is a rental type or a purchase type; it’s definitely a purchase type movie.

Final Verdict: 4 / 5