Thread: The Day the Earth Stood Still

I just got this movie out of the redbox movie dispenser yesterday too!

Im not gonna lie, I thought the movie was a little lame. It wasn't Keanu's finest role. That intentional monotony in his voice was driving me up the wall.

Whats that boys name? Will Smith's son? Um, I'm not feelin' him either. Maybe it is just becuase he had a braty chatacter... but he's not a great little actor. I wish Dakota Fanning would stay young forever. She was the perfect child star. She could've played the bratty kid role in this wonderfully. But anyway I digress.

As far as the story line... Eh...

I mean the general idea behind the movie, the very concept of it... is all fine and good. But I dislike how they mapped out the plot.

I haven't seen the Original film though... the old black and white movie that this one is based off of. Maybe the new one follows closely to the original?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day...ill_(1951_film)

Well if they followed the old version of it, then that might be way it wasn't really that good, if they followed the old one. But the animated parts in the movie was actually really good, maybe they focused more on how things would look, than the acting... Maybe

I went and watched this one while it was in the theaters and to say that I was disappointed is an understatement; I was absolutely disgusted. Now, just to clear this up, it did not closely follow the plot of the original. If it had it would have been a much better movie. The original was a masterpiece; the closest one can get to cinematic perfection. Now to take that and turn into into what I had to endure 104 minutes of? Despicable, downright despicable.

The plot was basically the original with half-baked plot changes, shoddy acting, and a brand new moral that didn't fit the action on the screen. Klaatu was excessively violent (a far cry from the original). This was what first made me uncomfortable. Then there was another discrepancy. While an entire alien race may send a single ambassador to another planet, they most likely would not send someone to single-handedly decide whether or not to completely wipe out an entire species. If a planet that supports life is so preciously rare, how much more so is any intelligent life found on that planet? Such a decision would not be taken so lightly.

World Peace please was the message of the old, Save the Environment the message of the new. Wonderful how far we've come, eh?

I liked it, I thought it was interesting. I didn't like how they focused so much between the little kid and his step mom. Not really what I would expect in an Alien movie.

Now, just to clear this up, it did not closely follow the plot of the original. If it had it would have been a much better movie. The original was a masterpiece; the closest one can get to cinematic perfection. Now to take that and turn into into what I had to endure 104 minutes of? Despicable, downright despicable.

After seeing the old one, I must say.... it was, in all honesty, a better movie.

The effects were horrible and yet, VASTLY entertaining. There were things that I thought the newer film improved upon. But only subtle differences, and only where the direction of the story was concerned, NOT the acting. The classic film had much better acting. By far.

I enjoyed it. I have seen both movies, the classic and of cores this one, I have also read the origenal book which is of cores far better then any movie. I thought this movie did rather well, all be it taking place in todays day and age for the adiance to have a connection to it. The acting was the only thing that was flawed really, still good, but not great either.

My only real gripe is that they show the Predator A and Predator B Reaper drones in the movie as well as in other movies having jet engines... I work for the compeny that makes these as a drafter, I can tell you right now, those drones don't have jet engines, only the Predator C Avenger has jet engines... Thank you.

Well, I just came across an article about this on Cracked and they really say it perfectly.

Original:

Debuting way back in 1951, the film is about an alien, named Klaatu, and his big clunky robot, Gort, who land their spaceship in the middle of Washington D.C. with the intention of delivering an important message to the world. Humanity gets off on the wrong foot by shooting him, and eventually Klaatu ends up on the run from the U.S. military while he tries to find a way to communicating with the planet.

Klaatu is portrayed as an affable and friendly alien, while the majority of humans we see in the film are paranoid and suspicious of his intentions. It is, of course, an allegory for the Cold War, where people's hostilities are overriding both their common sense and their common humanity. Klaatu is less than impressed by how he's being treated, but he still tries to see the best in Earth. Even when he demonstrates how powerful he is, he does it without killing anyone, and it's only after the poor guy eventually gets gunned down does his robot buddy get angry.

Remake:

The problem with this version is in how Klaatu is portrayed, besides the fact that Keanu Reeves was chosen to play him. Instead of being a likable spaceman, he's just as hostile and suspicious of humanity as they are of him. Instead of continually trying to deliver his warning, he gives up after the first attempt and just decides to wipe humans off the Earth instead. Yeah, we know you got shot and all, but come on, that's a little bit of an overreaction.

So with Klaatu on the warpath, it's up to the generic female lead, her spunky kid and John Cleese to convince Klaatu that humanity is worth saving. Of course, that only happens after Gort does a ton of damage and kills a lot of people. Sure, there's an environmental message slapped in there somewhere, but it's still the optimistic and hopeful humans stopping the hostile and violent alien. It's like they tried to put all of the pieces of the original film in here, but they got all scrambled up somehow.