Rating of
1.5/4
The Day the Earth Stood Still (the bad one)
kcvidkid - wrote on 12/16/08
I know, I know. It was a huge mistake to watch the original version before the remake. But I had no expectations that it would compare. I just hoped it would at least be a nice, Sunday afternoon diversion. I never anticipated that I would absolutely hate it!
I actually held hope at the beginning. Well, not the VERY beginning; I could immediately tell that I wasn't going to like the idea of the aliens having been here forever and taking Keanu's DNA. Did they really need to explain why the alien looked like Bill (or is it Ted)? But after that, when he arrives in a gummy suit that peels away to reveal his humanlike body. I thought, o.k., I like how they're going to update the story to translate it from 1951 to 2008.
But after that point, there was not one thing I liked about the movie!
I hated the sphere of light instead of a spaceship. I hated that there was more than one of these spheres and that they had been on Earth for millenia. I hated the kid, even if he is Will Smith's child. (Although he played an important part in the original, I didn't even remember him after the fact; that's how less annoying he was!) I hated the reason for the alien arrival; wait, did they ever give a reason? I hated Gort. I hated that he was giant (and computer-generated). I hated that they removed him from the landing site; well, that was kind of cool. But I hated that he was composed of tiny bugs that swept across the world obliterating everything in their path. This earth certainly didn't stand still. Until the end. After the aliens left.
Let's face it, a movie like the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was impossible to remake. Why would you even want to? Sure, there are parallels of paranoia between then and now. But if you're not going to capitalize on them, what's the point? This version is neither smart enough (nor dumb enough, for that matter) to be in the least bit necessary. I only pray that in this case it is the box office cash drawers that stand still.
