Movie Review: The Day The Earth Stood Still - Remake
There have been plenty of alien invasion movies made in the last fifty years or so. Many people will argue that they are largely a metaphor to explore our collective fears of mutual nuclear destruction. But as we move towards a world free from the fear of indiscriminate atomic bombings, can these metaphors still pack the same entertainment punch? The remake of a classic, "The Day The Earth Stood Still," proves the answer is a resounding "yes."
It's well known that many of the science fiction, alien invasion type movies in the fifties and sixties were metaphors for the ever increasing and overhanging threat of complete destruction due to nuclear war. The original movie addressed this directly, as the invading aliens came to give Earthlings a warning to either stop fighting or face the wrath of the aliens. As with the original, the aliens come as representatives of a group of planets. But the Earthlings were in danger of not being included due to their bad habits. In the original movie, the bad habits were warfare and nuclear stockpiling. In this remake, the evils of humanity are our horrible treatment of our planet.
Our story starts out with several scientists being rounded up by some military or government personnel, we're not sure which. They don't know why, they only know they have no choice but to do what the government agents ask of them due to some big, vague, problem. The scientists are shocked to find out that there is some object hurtling towards Earth, and if it isn't stopped, it will easily destroy everything.
They all brace for impact, and of course nothing happens. The object turns out to be a giant space craft. As the contact entity exists his ship, he is shot by a trigger happy soldier, and we meet Gort. The giant robot who is the emissary's protector. They take the representative to a government hospital, where he is to be interrogated.
They get a few answers out of him, but he isn't here to answer questions. He is here on a fact finding mission. Is the Earth worth saving, or not? Based on his first impression, he feels the Earth should be given a reboot, so to speak, based on how he was initially treated. By giving the Earth a new beginning, he means to kill all the people, and let humanity start over from scratch. Not good news for the current Earthlings, to be sure.
But a strange thing happens to this seemingly purely logical alien from who knows where. The various people that he meets on his run from the authorities convinces him that Earth people are pretty decent, on an individual level. He concludes that because people are good, we deserve a second chance. But unfortunately, events have been set into motion which he may be unable to stop. He tries for a compromise, one that may be inconvenient, to say the least, but is much better than complete destruction. This remake, while touching on the same principles of the original, manages to introduce some modern issues. It's worth a rental, but may not be worthy of a spot on your video library shelf. This one is definitely a rental.
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