Sunday, May 17, 2009

A Movie to Smack You in the Face

I can understand the science-fiction film community's desire to remake classic films. However, those remakes rarely do the original justice. I feel like the remakes rely too heavily on special effects and computer animation techniques, whereas the originals were more reliant on imagination and creative filmmaking. Unfortunately, The Day the Earth Stood Still is one of those remakes that just doesn't cut it.

If you haven't seen it, and alien being (Keanu Reeves) comes to earth to meet with another member of his alien race, Mr. Wu (James Hong), who has been living among us to determine whether or not the human race deserves to live. And why might we not be allowed to live? We abuse our planet and are disrespectful of the other living beings we share it with. Moreover, as the universe is imagined here, Earth is one of a very few planets capable of supporting life, and if the highest form of life here is not properly caring for it, then that life form may have to be eliminated to protect the planet itself.

But who goes to bat for humanity? Although Mr. Wu has decided we must be destroyed, he refuses to leave the planet to save himself because he loves humanity enough to die with it. But then we have Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), an astromicrobiologist, her orphaned step-son Jacob (Jaden Smith) and her supergenius mentor Dr. Barnhardt (John Cleese). That's right...the fate of the human race lies partly with Will Smith's kid (who is, I suppose, genetically pre-disposed to saving the world on screen) and Monty Freakin' Python's minister of silly walks. And yet, somehow, humanity gets another chance. I suspect it's that Smith DNA.

In terms of performances...sorry! I dozed off there for a second. Connelly stares pathetically into the camera with her big brown eyes as if that's some kind of substitute for effort. And, although I liked him in Devil's Advocate, I really feel like Keanu peaked when he played Ted.

But, honestly, the only film I've seen with as heavy-handed a message about how humanity is going astray was Wall-E. Watching it I felt like I was being smacked in the face with the wooden acting. In fact, I'm pretty sure if I had never seen a film before, didn't speak English, and was mostly blind and deaf, I would STILL understand that this film was a call to action to save the environment. After all, how many times can Keanu Reeves really singlehandedly save humanity?

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