Remember that soap box I was on earlier about how remakes were just bad in general? Well, recently Fox decided that The Day The Earth Stood Still needed to be remade and decided to slicken up the timeless masterpiece with overwrought CGI, a story with more plot holes than you could count and the dude who played Neo in The Matrix Trilogy. Said remake turned out to be as putrid as day old sewage so my advice for you, gentle reader, is to check out the original, which is a classic.A flying saucer lands in Washington D.C. and the alien onboard, named Klaatu, wishes to meet with every government on earth. He refuses to reveal the reason why he came until he can talk with the governments. After his request is denied he seeks to understand the people of earth and soon befriends a young boy and his mother. As the military continues to search for him he unveils his mission to a few, unsure if he will be able to deliver it to the world.
The film was not an action-packed thriller with a marauding group of alien invaders looking to conquer earth with their death rays. Instead, it was the tale of a peaceful alien attempting to teach the people of earth that their ways and methods of war and powerful nuclear weapons could ultimately lead to their destruction. Also the film carried a message about how man’s intolerance of those different from themselves and fear of the unknown were nothing more than destructive stupidity which needed to change. Far from being excessively preachy the films’ messages of tolerance and understanding were universal and timeless. There were excellent special effects and Michael Rennie’s performance as Klaatu was extremely convincing.
Grade: A
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