There was very little chance that “The Day The Earth Stood Still” was going to be a good movie. We were, at best, hoping for something on par with “Independence Day” or “Armageddon” (or at least “Starship Troopers”). With Keanu Reeves apparently cast as an alien who feels no human emotions we were sure his wooden acting wouldn’t get in the way and, in a way, it didn’t – it was Jennifer Connelly’s constant and prolonged “omg!” face that was the real acting stand out. Frankly we were shocked she manged to out crap Reeves and Kathy Bates took her best shot at overacting everyone else. The only decent performance on the screen was Mad Men’s Jon Hamm as the scruffy scientist and so, of course, he was vastly under used.
The basic premise of the movie was greatly changed from the 1951 original. It needed a massive update to account for our growing knowledge of technology. The overall analogy is no longer one of Cold War invaders but now flatly laid out as environmental responsibility. It’s a noble message but given so obtusely that anyone actually effected by the message in the movie would have no idea how to do anything new to, er, reduce their carbon footprint or whatever. On the plus side the special effects were remarkable, even though the film constantly broke it’s own rules for what sort of damage the “monsters” could do causing numerous continuity problems.
The major flaw with this movie is its release date. It’s far too mindless and terrible overall to be a Christmas release. It’s also very dark with failed attempts at being heady that, when combined with being totally a brainless failure, make it feel terribly awkward as a holiday season release. If it were some mindless July blockbuster it wouldn’t feel out of place at all, but let’s just say that if the baby Jesus were to see this film he would weep and ask for his money back. [D-]