The Day the Earth Stood Still

Some of you may have seen the trailer for the 2008 remake of the ancient-yet-classic The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). It came before Quantum of Solace for me. Isn't it exciting that awkward Keanu Reeves is gonna be back in action, this time as an alien come to give earth a very important message. I'm sure peeing my pants in anticipation.

Not really. Trailer Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_bNDv0-ZrU

I'd vaguely heard of the original The Day the Earth Stood Still, it being one of those titans of sci-fi, just like Blade Runner. But we all know how Blade Runner turned out. And if you don't know how Blade Runner turned out, I'm saying it sucked. Or at least, it was not very fun to watch. Regardless, this one felt like it had a different tone going for it, so I proceeded to delve a little further...

Turns out this was based off a 1940 short story by Harry Bates called "Farewell to the Master", in which an alien (Klaatu) and his robot (Gnut) come to earth, but the alien gets shot within seconds cause humans are so damn scared of the guy. The story then revolves around what happens with the robot, who apparently freezes in place when Klaatu dies.

Short Story Link: http://thenostalgialeague.com/olmag/bates.html

The film adaptation is just that, an adaptation. Same idea, different execution. I think this movie still has some flavor some 50 years later just cause of its philosophy, which is pretty interesting enough. The original raised issues of nuclear mutual assured destruction, while the upcoming one will be about global warming. In both cases, Klaatu represents the alien race that's wondering what the hell humans are up to.

Makes you wonder how big a bunch of assholes the whole human race can be.

About the movie itself: I have a hard time judging old movies. It feels like I have to use a totally different scale. So I'm just gonna say it was relatively entertaining and thought-provoking, aside from the dashingly good-looking alien acting a bit like he doesn't belong in society and acts the creeper and basically latching onto this mother and her son, who I'd like to have hit in the mouth for not shutting up at times. But hey, it was a different era of films.

Bottom line: check it out if you like sci-fi a little bit (the thinking kind, not the action kind), otherwise, you can live without seeing it. Same probably goes for lord Keanu Reeves' version come December 12. Except he'll probably shame the sci-fi fans, too. Oh well. At least there's The Matrix.