Jennifer Connolly plays Dr. Helen Benson, an astrobiologist who’s been yanked out of her comfortable academic existence when a bunch of mysterious government men show up on her doorstep and whisk her away from her home and adopted son. She’s taken to a military base, where Benson--along with her colleagues from other scientific fields--learns that an unidentified object is approaching earth, and it’s not an asteroid. Tracing its trajectory, the military discovers that this unknown object will hit earth, New York City, specifically. But to the surprise--and relief--of everybody, the object doesn’t slam into New York City, instead it lands in the middle of Central Park.
A hazmat suited Benson and her colleagues--along with their military escort--find
themselves face to face with a giant, glowing alien sphere. When a being emerges,
with his hand held out to Benson in apparent friendship, he/she/it is gunned
down by a trigger happy soldier. And that’s when everybody meets the mighty Gort
for the first time. And big, bad Gort’s not a happy camper. Where the
original 1951 version of this film preached against the tribalistic, war-like paranoia that humans were afflicted with then, this new version is more eco-friendly for the 21st century.
Instead of a cautionary tale against what made Michael Rennie’s original Klaatu
fearful when he saw people substituting fear for reason, this modern day Klaatu,
played with equal outer worldly intensity by Keanu Reeves, has come to save the
earth’s environment from the evil human race who have polluted it. Earth is only
one of a handful of planets in the cosmos that can support complex life, and the
human race must be eliminated so that the environment can heal. But the problem
here is that while the original so effectively got its message across that it still rings true today,
the new version doesn’t really elaborate on its own message too much. One gets
the feeling the team behind the remake simply choose the enviormental message
simply to tack on the latest hot-button issue of the day.
The 1951 TDTESS made sure to show us the paranoia of that age within the
citizens--that, and the fact that Michael Rennie was an extremely sympathetic
character made the viewer come around to his point very quickly.
But Reeves’ Klaatu is basically an interstellar hitman who sets out to
exterminate the human race--which is actually somewhat understandable, since he was shot
down the second he stepped out of his spacecraft. Yet Reeves’ cold performance does
nothing to make his Klaatu as sympathetic as the original, so it’s very hard to
feel compassion for him and his mission.
Connolly is very good, as always, in a
more progressive spin on the Helen Benson character--as is John Cleese, who
plays the Sam Jaffe part of the Einstein-like scientist who tries to persuade
Klaatu that the human race is worth saving. And the new Gort, fortified by
today’s advanced CGI tech, is one mightily impressive bad ass who’s a lot of fun to watch.
But if only the filmmakers behind the remake had spent more time clarifying
the message of their film--instead of settling on just making another ‘gee whiz’
popcorn flick--the new The Day The Earth Stood Still could have been every bit
as much of a classic as the original is still considered to be today.
--SF
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