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Thoughts on THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL...
SPOILER ALERT !!
Hey folks, Harry here... Here's our first impressions that have come in on THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL remake. It doesn't look promising... I recommend buying the new Blu-Ray and saving a punishing experience.
I saw a preview of TDTESS in London and it is all kinds of awful. I'm a fan of the original and I can see that they were going for the same tone but it fell flat. Stilted dialogue, awkward product placement, occasional hand-held camera wobbles (within an otherwise traditionally shot scene), absolutely no humor even attempted and underwhelming model work left me cold.
On the plus side, John Cleese was surprising good in a short serious role. It's his best work since Silverado. And Keanu was inspired casting. If anyone ever looked like human movement, speech and emotion were totally alien concepts, it's our boy.
Cheerio,
Henrik's
The following review from LoquaciousMuse - who has reviewed many times in the past - is more forgiving, yet feels it just feels less than adequate. That said - the Muse's stuff on Klaatu Barada Nikto and its use are... mind-numbingly pointless. The following is filled with spoilers...
Hey, LoquaciousMuse here again. Not sure if this review is good enough to get posted, but thought I'd send it your way anyway. Ultimately the film left me...confused. I love the original and had a lot of conflicted feelings about this remake. If you use it, please link to my blog, www.allthingsfangirl.blogspot.com. Might wanna make a note that the review is filled with spoilers.
Thanks!
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Saw The Day The Earth Stood Still last week. My thoughts still aren't fully formulated, but I wanted to get something down.
Let me begin by saying this isn't a bad movie. It's not horrible, not laughable, not the blight in the history of science fiction film that so many of us, especially fans of the original, were expecting. In fact, the first two thirds of it are actually pretty good. The film is enjoyable & interesting and comes frustratingly close to pulling off the impossible (properly modernizing a classic) but in the end, it just falls short.
***Minor Spoiler Alert***
What does this "remake" (I prefer reimagining in this case) have in common with the original? There is a woman, there is a boy, there is a (sort of) robot & there is an alien. Alien & Robot land on Earth. Robot reacts immediately to violence with retaliatory violence. Alien is taken away by government for questioning. Alien escapes. Alien represents the universe & has a message for the Earth...sort of. Woman & Boy end up knowing Alien better than any other human knows him. There is a Dr. Barnhardt that speaks with Alien. Alien leaves planet at end of film.
And that's it. May seem like a lot...but let me tell you...it isn't. There are some nice homages to the original that made me smile (you'll know them when you see 'em) but overall it was very much a different film that might have definitely would have made more sense had it been approached as a sequel rather than a remake. But if we get into the ridiculousness surrounding unecessary remake versus appropriate sequel we'll be here all day. Let me just point out that the original ends with Klaatu SAYING HE WILL COME BACK AND EFF US IF WE DON'T CLEAN UP OUR ACT (but in that charming classically trained British actor way) and oh hey, look at that, we're still blowing each other up. A sequel set in real time, 57 years later would have been amazing. Muh. Anyway.
There are a lot of big changes. Besides what we all could have predicted - get to know fleshed out Woman & Boy early on, Klaatu sort of has powers, bigger fx, a more destructive Gort - the film goes further than the obvious. The big changes are Klaatu's reason for being here, why he looks human, a certain huge decision he makes that only he can undo and the state of the Earth when he leaves.
***BIG SPOILER ALERT***
(To elaborate, Woman isn't a secretary. She's a scientist. And she doesn't have a swell gentleman caller. She has a dead husband & a stepson who likes to give her a hard time, but really, he loves her. Hrmm. Klaatu controls electric currents. That way he can fuck shit up AND un-fuck shit up. Plus Gort can dissolve into rapidly multiplying silver bugs that destroy everything they touch. Klaatu came to Earth because humans are destroying it and if they can never change (which he deduces they can't), they must be wiped out. Process to wipe them out begins. He sees Woman & Boy hugging & crying and realizes humans aren't all bad and wants to save them. Unfortunately there is a cost. He stops the death of all people by...doing something involving his spaceship. All electricity stops as he leaves. Humans are left to start over again. We think. It's unclear.)
***END OF BIG SPOILERS***
***Minor Spoiler Alert. Again.***
Overall, the new ideas introduced are pretty cool and the updates to the classic material works. Where the film fails is the last third or so. All of a sudden it starts going in a direction that just doesn't make sense. The big disappointment for me was WHY CANT HE STOP GORT BY SAYING KLAATU BARADA NIKTO (even though I could have SWORN I heard him say it at the beginning) ???? And why that one random rushed death? And why did it remain a death when the alien next to you can bring people back to life with his electrical current power? WHY NOT stick to the original structure? Was the ending not Hollywood enough? I thought the ending to the original was perfect. Relevant, harrowing, horrifying, and an important warning - it had so much of an impact because Klaatu's reason for being there isn't revealed until the very end. In this film, that is scratched for a big exercise in fx, followed immediately an ending so abrupt and anticlimactic, that the audience is left utterly unsatisfied and with A LOT of questions.
As for the performances - the casting was pretty right on. Half the time Jennifer Connolly was on screen I was just plain in awe of her. Terrific actress and mindbogglingly gorgeous. Are we sure she's real? Jayden Smith can cry on cue and is pretty cute, so I'll let that one slide. Jon Hamm is a perfect human being. John Cleese, though only in one scene, was an inspired choice for Barnhardt. And Keanu. At first I was unsettled by this choice in casting as Michael Rennie was so charming & delightful in his icy, unearthly ways. Keanu's Klaatu (band name anyone? maybe? no? okay.) is cold & kinda hostile, more or less the stark opposite of Rennie's take. But considering how this film differs from the original, it works. He speaks in non emotional, Vulcan-like tones (I've been watching a lot of Trek: TOS lately to educate myself), making sure to hit every word carefully. The easiest acting role of all time? Maybe. But easy looks good on Keanu.
This film ends up being mostly about the beauty of humanity and how we are worth it, despite all our flaws. And you know, it could have been so powerful. This film COULD have been beautiful and it frustrates me all the more because it came so close, only to give up two thirds of the way through...and here and there before the final third, but we won't get into that now.
All I can say is please go see it so we can talk about it, both what we liked and what made us crazy. Still having trouble figuring out how I feel about it all and would love to hear some opinions!
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This is an update I added to my blog post on the subject. Don't know if you would need to use it here, but in case you would, here it is
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UPDATE:
Found an article on the changes made for the remake here. Pretty illuminating stuff actually. Here's the bit about Klaatu Barada Nikto
"One crucial element that made the 57-year jump from the 1951 version to the 2008 remake was the iconic line "Klatuu Barad Nikto" - the alien command that prevents the unstoppable robot Gort from unleashing destruction upon Earth. Actor Reeves stated that he was surprised not to find that line in the script when he first read it, but he and the director ensured that it made it into the final film (although it's during a loud scene where some viewers may miss it). To enhance the impact, several techniques were used, including having Reeves memorize and pronounce the words backwards, which were then reversed to put them in the right order. The final mix overlays this upon double-reverse upon a take of Reeves reading the line in the usual order. (UPDATE: Although the line is in the film, it is buried in the mix beneath a ton of sound effects: to a casual viewer it may be apparent that the alien Klatuu is speaking in his native language to Gort; only fans will recognize, just barely, the specific words.)"
So I did hear it mixed in at the beginning! Listen for yourself after Klaatu first gets off the ship & had to stop Gort. Though still doesn't explain why he can't say it later to stop Gort...
Sounds like a Blu-Ray rental to me... Harry
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+ Expand All
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party likes it's 2006
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not only because they may be plants, but because they may be the opposite and be someone like DannyGloversDickBlood
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Isn't a review at all!
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because I don't
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Ha. So it's not only the TalkBackers that do it, eh?
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It always seems that the big alien movies have a great first 2 thirds and fail in the last third.
I will still watch it thou. -
Sad, but not surprising. I'm STILL going to see it though....get it? I'm a fucking idiot.
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I mean, will anyone really think this is going to be good when they buy their ticket?
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cancer research or saving the rainforest or curing male pattern baldness or researching what is up with Donald Trump's hair. Why can't studios take a deep, deep breath before they do stuff like this?
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... because you don't recycle! Death to your human race! Death, I say!"
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And now I look like a madman. Well, I'm onto you AICN. I see what you're trying to do. Tomorrow you'll post the same article three times and when I comment on it, you'll delete the two extra articles to make me look mad again.I'm not mad! I'm not mad! I'm off to watch "The Love Guru" again. Surely 2008's best movie!I'm not mad.
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I say at the end there that you didn't need to post that mind numbingly pointless part, just in case it you found it to be as mind numbingly pointless as I suspected.
Just posted it on my own blog cause I was a. sure I heard it when we first meet Klaatu & Gort and b. didn't understand why it wasn't a bigger part of the movie.
Hah, but it's okay, I can take it. -
Reminded me of "the day after tomorrow". Big effects but incredibly bland and boring looking. Couldn't careless about it.
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I guess I'll have to watch it again to see what the fuss was about. All I remember is that Gort rules all.
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because I see those 'two' reviews aren't near as bad as AICN is probably hoping for and praying for (asking 'tank' for the Gods every single minute...)! Still pumped to see it and the longer review was posted at IMDB boards last week. There are a few others there and they doesn't sound near bad. With sure, it isn't like the original (amen! ), but it isn't crap either.
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In the Remakakon? Fool! You have doomed us all. Now the nanites will overwhelm us!
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I just wrote my review last week, but there is one up at imdb that is similar and agrees that the film really falls apart 2/3 of the way through
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...soon to be followed by J.J. McHacknotalent's rebooting of Trek next year. Pitiful, Hollywood. YOu guys can turn out movie masterpieces like The Dark Knight and Wall-E, but every time you re-animate the dead with some remkae, reimagining, reboot, recrap whatever ... you wind up making a pant's load full.An original idea in Holywood today would be one of the signs of The Apocolypse, right ? That is all.
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"And Keanu was inspired casting. If anyone ever looked like human movement, speech and emotion were totally alien concepts, it's our boy."
Classic! -
OMG I CANT WAIT!!!!!!!
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thatd be balls.
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than these ones on the web. AICN doesn't like the "holy moly gwaly untouchable TDTESS" remake, so this place won't be a reliable choice for 'real' opinions. For what I read until now, it isn't half bad as some folks here wanted it to be.
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Dec 09, 2008 7:04:57 PM CST
I've seen te original and am keeping an open mind about this.
by slder78
Why? Look, I've never bought into the argument that any work of fiction is so good that it should never be reinterpreted. If Hamlet can be remade ad infinitum with people other than Olivier in the lead, then surely Star Trek, TDTESS, and others can be as well. You can fault them for their execution, but don't fault them for the attempt. If the movie suck I'm more than willing to say so, if it doesn't then all the better. Enough of this "Hollywood has no more original ideas BS." Case in point, Batman Begins, the SECOND version of the death of the Wayne parents.
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had landed in Hollywood and ordered everyone there to stop making crappy movies and broadcasting them into outer space.
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Good Lord, Harry. You're such a whore. You could have just said "rental," and we can make up our minds on how we want to see it, or not see it. We don't need you guiding us like some old, senile grandfather always trying to tell us how to live our lives. I'm overreacting, probably, but still...
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I'll see it, but I'm not expecting much.
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... like they did in the original film?
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I don't know about anyone else, but I thought the first half hour or so of the Cruise War of the Worlds was absolutely great.
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Did you drive your sleek machine over the Jersey state line to find a Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain?
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Something tells me I'll stumble across it on HBO someday and immediately lose my lunch.
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Come to Earth to stop the asteroid 65 million years ago? That was a much greater threat to sustained life on Earth than humans currently are.
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There's *already* a band called Klaatu. They've been going since the 70's. Mook.
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That's hilarious!
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pretty much from day one when we first heard they didn't want to have Gort in the film and they added him at the last minute because we called bullshit??? I'm going to by the Blu-ray original and skip this sack of shit
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Like the way Dr. Zoidberg says it?
Why the fuck have I not seen the original?! -
Why, exactly, any alien race would care that we are supposedly causing our own world to die is anybodies guess. At least in the original the alien's reason to consider destroying us all is because we might have infected their idyllic existence with our human pugnacity and violence. At least that is somewhat believable -- though, it always begged the question that if peace was their goal, why did the aliens have to do it at the point of a gun and threats of genocide, but whatever.
How narcissistic is it that now humanity’s pollution can’t just destroy the whole planet (no the Sun can’t have any effect. It has to be all about us.), but now the WHOLE universe? Talk about The Me Generation run amok.
So, a little pollution, a casually tossed plastic bag, a smoke stack or two, that is enough to destroy the Earth and commit genocide for the alien race in this new version of “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”
Talk about a god complex! This movie has it going in spades.
Also, so these aliens cross the universe and land in … the US? Where we have more trees now than during the Revolution? Where Al Gore and every school is preaching environmentalism? Where every community has recycling? And where the President-Elect says he will bankrupt coal electrical plants?
The US, not China? Where they have 3 times as many people. Dump their waste willy nilly. Have far far less emission controls than the Western World. And who’s Premier has said “You in the West are trying to go back to the windmill. We cannot afford that.” No it has to be all the fault of the U.S.
Further, these aliens can cross the galaxy to get to us. Why the Hell don’t they just give us their environmentally sound technology? So, they have the answers, but they’re going to kill us all (peaceful aliens that they are) instead of just sharing it with us. Buggers can’t even give us a hint.
This movie is a joke.
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I was referring to "Keanu's Klaatu" and it wasn't meant to be taken seriously. I know the band Klaatu very well :)
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right in the middle of his power zone. he would have knocked it out of the park.
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Nice balance.
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Dec 09, 2008 8:13:50 PM CST
You recommend buying a Blu-Ray instead of seeing at the theater?
by dreamwriter
$25 to buy a Blu-Ray (online price) rather than $8.50 to see it at the matinee?! I don't understand. Even if it's a crappy movie, wouldn't it be best to see it where it looks the best?
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The original made sense. The aliens didn't want us weaponizing space because they were worried we would threaten their planets. That's a simple and logical motivation to send Gort and Klaatu here: we were a threat to them. In contrast, if we destroy our own planet, the aliens are not threatened in the least. We die, they go on. Problem solved.
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JIZZED - IN MY PANTS!
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"How narcissistic is it that now humanity’s pollution can’t just destroy the whole planet (no the Sun can’t have any effect. It has to be all about us.), but now the WHOLE universe? "Are you kidding? George Bush is capable of destroying not only the entire universe, but each and every alternate universe and pocket universes within! Soon, the waters shall recede and we will have no fear of Gort's wrath. /sarcasm
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How about people that aren't fans of the original? I'd like to see a review from someone who hasn't seen the original.
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it looks like what you could imagine a Grey Goo event would be like
Out of control nano-assemblers / disassemblers
Or in this case weaponized in a scorched earth scenario -
why aren't you complaining how they changed it from the short story when it was made into a movie the first time?
Most of the complainers also complain how I am legend was different from the novel.
But the original story wasn't called TDTESS, and it wasn't about aliens delivering an ultimatum.
It was just kinda weird, and showed just how aliens, would, you know... be alien.
And in this case infinitely more powerful. -
Haha, if someone reviewed it on this site who hadn't seen the original, they would get raped in the comments...learned my lesson from my Star Trek post...that being said, I'd love to read a review from someone who hasn't seen the original too! Let me know if you find a link.
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The trailer looked toooooo much like another Independence Day. And until I see it in theaters, I'm standing by that opinion....
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So it sucks. I'm avoiding this hard... Die Hard with a Vengeance type of hard.
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how much does Blu-Ray pay you for the stating the brand every chance you get?
"sounds like a blu-ray rental to me" shut up fuckwad. -
You usually keep such things on the down low, and it can be hard to tell. But have made the leap into Blu yet? I'm Dying to know!
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Did you have to specify a "Blu Ray Rental?" As if we didn't know. I swear, That Blu Ray player gets your dick harder than your wife does, that's for sure.
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Whoaaaaaaaaaaa...
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but I wouldn't call her gorgeous.
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as well as environmental awareness. I'm not some buttfucking republican. But, as soon as the TV commercials tipped it's hand and said, "It's about the environment!" I had roll my eyes. That's just so damn easy and cliched.
While I tepidly agree with the above poster that "humanity is left to start over" is an interesting idea, Wall-e already did it this year and did it way the hell better. -
I am wondering why you (or one of the other moderators) don't review this, and why the coverage of The Punisher was so minimal? Is it not available yet? or will you wait for the Blu Ray? Even if you think it looks bad, that didn't prevent full reviews of Four Christmases, The Love Guru, The Happening, Twilight, etc. I'm fairly new to looking at AICN but there doesn't seem to be much to this website at the moment other than odd little quotes about old movies (Forest Gump, TPM). Is the site more aimed towards covering more 'serious' movies (Frost/Nixon, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire)?
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In the intro you urge people to wait for the Blu Ray as this will save the "punishing experience", but parts of the second review seems fairly positive and contradict this; by saying "The film is enjoyable & interesting and comes frustratingly close to pulling off the impossible (properly modernizing a classic) but in the end, it just falls short" and "new ideas introduced are pretty cool and the updates to the classic material works." Both these comments seems pretty positive to me. All films have large flaws if they are analysed intensly enough (The Dark Knight, Quantum of Solace) but I would take far more notice of your opinion and of your website if you had seen the movie before twice patronisingly telling people to avoid it in the theatres.
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Jennifer Connelly was really hot in The Rockateer and whatever that movie was where that guy was locked in the Target store all night with the boss' daughter. She's still hot, but she always plays emotional wrecks. She's become a really good actress. I'd love to see her in a comedy.
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That was Career Opportunities. J-Co riding the mechanical horse is STILL one of the sexiest scenes in movie history. Too bad she looks like ass now.
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Seriously how predictable and cliched can you get: 'aliens are here to stop us from polluting our planet!' Hey, I'm all for recycling, reducing pollution and clean water, but man, I'm not paying ten bucks-plus to watch a live action version of Captain Planet and the Planeteers.
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Why in the hell would a polluted planet Earth be a threat to some alien space-faring civilization? If anything, said alien race would look at a decaying planet Earth and collectively shrug. Moron screenwriters...
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Seriously, has a big budget science fiction movie ever had a worse set of trailers? If they can bore you in a two minute trailer, why would you want to watch a 2 hour movie where those clips came from? Add the fact that it a hokey anti-global warming cautionary tale (didn't The Day After Tomorrow teach anyone anything that Global Warming is not entertainment?) and I personally think this movie is the biggest must MISS movie of the season. I may not even watch it on DVD or cable when it comes out.
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Because I was going to say the exact same thing.
The irony here though is it's probably 1 billion x more watchable than Twilight. -
...who hasn't seen the original. There's nothing more annoying than a "big fan of the original" that's going to dog on the new version no matter what.
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i'm addicted to sci fi so i'll probably go see this
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for there to be just ONE remake, JUST ONE that is an actual scene for scene remake??
This film should have been THAT remake!! -
*robotic voice like robocop* Pick up your garbage bitch or you will be incinerated where you stand.works for me
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I wasn't gonna see it anyway. Perhaps aliens should start coming and warn us to stop remaking movies..?
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If you speak crazy ass retard!
"The final mix overlays this upon double-reverse upon a take of Reeves reading the line in the usual order."
The fuck does that mean?
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Klatu, Verta... Neeeh(cough, cough)
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I had no intention of seeing to begin with.
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Would I buy the bluray instead of seeing it in theater? Pay $20 more for a shitty movie, sounds like a plan.
This post brought to you by HBO. -
Does anyone actually think Harry's really gonna just wait for rental? This dude see's so many shittier movies than this will probably be (though it looks pretty damn bad) and he is an avid fan of the source material. I call bullshit, he's probably already got his tickets.
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Well, Psycho came fairly close to a shot to shot remake but the less said about that the better.
Recently, "Quarantine", which was a remake of the Spanish film [REC] copied about 90% of it and was watchable but outside of making money, its existence was fairly pointless. -
I like my blurryvision movies
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In the trailer, everything looks like a bad CGI cartoon. When is a movie going to come along and make me say "Is that really CGI?"
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As if you're disappointment in a movie could actually compare to something like that. Pathetic little children.
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Henrik's what? That "review" is fucking pathetic. And i would never listen to someone who puts an apostrophe in his own name.
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Dude, once you've seen Blu-Ray (i witnessed 2001 for the first time this year on BLU-Ray) you really just start saying Blu Ray Rental. I just watched The Dark Knight on Blu Ray tonight, and that, along with 2001, solidified Blu Ray into my common vocabulary. Its almost involuntary really..
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Still going to see it. Oh, and jbs0209, it has been shown several times that the sun (i.e., fluctuations in solar output) cannot account for the recent global warming since the '60s. Perhaps that's why.
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Dec 10, 2008 3:11:49 AM CST
Whatever.Universal pushed The Wolfman back to November!
by derlanghaarige
Shitfuckshitfuckshitfuck! Why do they want to make me wait so long?
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...with "so i've seen this three times now and..." I'm not sure what's got Harry so repulsed.
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always looks braindead in her films these days...something about her eyes. The Rocketeer is her best film.
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Dec 10, 2008 3:33:11 AM CST
First, I have no respect whatsoever for John Cleese anymore.
by ricarleite
He is the Yoko Ono of Monty Pyton, spared the world of some 10+ years of good comedy just for his ego, and now sells out at any possible attempt he has, to either make some more bucks or satisfy his already mentioned ego. Second, the least said about Keanu Reeves, the best. Third, this is a sign of everything that is wrong with Hollywood, but we shouldn't blame them. You should blame yourselves, idiots who pay thousands of dollars on moronic, half-assed enternteinment so fuckfaces in California can buy mansions and sport cars, while the rest of the world DIES. And those who produce good products and good culture are left with those dying.
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The version they made back in the 50's that everyone is calling the original is a cool film but completely different in adaptation to what occurs in the book! The book was called farewell tot he master and it was about robots that had humans as servants! The hollywood film merely turned this into a venture on Aliens trying to warn us of our stepping into the nuclear age without first seeking world peace and they used the robots simply for destructive force! (Way to go Hollywood!) This new film is not simply a remake, it's another adaptation paying homage to the 50's film in some elements but still astray from the original novel, so who cares what these reviews say? Take the film on its own merit and stop looking at it as just a remake!
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Saw it on the site last night although didn't read the review. Kim Newman reviewed it, I know that. And he really knows his sci-fi
Haven't read any other trade reviews but am hopeful its worth seeing.
I thought the trailers looked good. Its out here in the UK today -
Damn You Michael Bay
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It's from a studio that's owned by a cunt and run by one. End of discussion.
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that this project was announced. Yup. Oh, and look, it's from Fox. Surprise.
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Crapu Bada Suckto!
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Reverse Plant!!!Reverse Plant!!!Reverse Plant!!!
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Wouldn't he be the John Lennon and Connie Booth the Yoko Ono? Is Terry Jones Ringo?
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Keanuu Barada Neo
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I mean, really. You are ALWAYS going to previews and screenings every other week or so.
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... can turn into little devouring bugs? Did that get written in before or after Indy 4?
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... can turn into little devouring bugs? Did that get written in before or after Indy 4?
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but I thought that that was such a good point that, err, it was worth making twice.
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I think what we geeks really respond to is fantastic story telling. The original movie was like an extended Twilight Zone episode...and I mean that in a good way. It had foreboding and atmosphere up the poopshute! It touched a nerve. It obviously didn't have the special effects that we have today, but what it used had certain uniqueness and cohesiveness that enhanced the story. I remember watching it as a kid and being fascinated by Gort. In the original it was the subtle possibility of immense power that the alien and Gort represented. Showing giant immense space spheres and overdone emotions take away from the emotion of the story.
I am sorry this was made. Maybe it will find and audience, but I am sorry it was made. -
are consistently filled with a maze of plot holes and spelling errors.
and now I am leaving for no raison! -
Dec 10, 2008 7:49:04 AM CST
Aquatarkusman, I always figured Gilliam was Ringo...
by shut the fuck up donny
And as for the Connie Booth / Yoko Ono comparison?..I wasn't aware Connie Booth was a contributing factor to John becoming disfranchised with the Circus..
And to be fair, take a look at a braless Connie Booth in Fawlty Towers. That beats Yoko Ono ANY damn day. -
... would have had more impact a few years ago in the midst of the Bush years. Now that Obama's coming, people are enjoying feeling optimistic for a change. It's like waking up on a beautiful, sunny morning and watching Eraserhead. It's just not the right time for it.
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And thus we have proof of why these half-assed films keep getting made. Fools.
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The day the earth stood still, but he told us where to stand
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Ha, reminds me of that part in the first episode of Futurama... where Fry goes into suspended animation, and you see 1000 years of history through the window behind him, and the aliens destroy everything... our civilization is slowly built back from nothing... then they come and destroy it again, and it repeats a second time... classic
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Where the world blows up. Total let down for this.Does Klaatu go to the rest of the world? Tell them to sit down and drink shut up juice? That would have been good.
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is the ONLY movie to see this holiday season. The problem is, our podunk theater isn't going to screen it! I'm so pissed.
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Why is everyone trying to push Blu-ray around here. Plus, HBO, Showtime and Starz HD look a hell of a lot better than Blu ray. Just saying.
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in this movie is that there are so few habitable planets in the universe they can't sit back and watch a prime piece of real estate get trashed by its current inhabitants. There are loads of close ups in this movie that seem to have been green-screened into it so bits of fix-up dialogue can be added. it's a real missed opportunity, no thrills, average to poor effects and a real sense of cheapness and shoddiness to proceedings.
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Dec 10, 2008 10:45:54 AM CST
The Day the Earth Stood Still - An Apology for Genocide
by markwhittington
Let's see. The premise is that an alien who looks like an emotionless surfer dud comes to Earth and tells us to stop out evil ways and start behaving the way he wants us to, or he'll kill everybody. And by everybody that means everybody from Osama bin Laden to every new born baby. That is genocidal mania on a scale that even Adolf Hitler had not imagined. Sadly, neither the film makers nor most people who will see this movie will get how utterly evil this premise is. To help in that process, consider the following thought experiment. Instead of sending an army to liberate Iraq, we had sent emotionless surfer dude to visit Saddam to tell him to stop his evil ways or we would nuke every last mother's child Iraq and then started to follow through when Saddam sent Surfer Dude to one on his dungeons. I doubt that too many people would think that is a good thing.
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In the orginal it means "come get me" not for Gort to stop. It seems the current filmmmakers must had not read the orginal script. That they messed up that concept alone is bad, but the reason the earth sttod still was a demostration of the power that people trying to convinve us they had without firing a shot. They seem to miss the point of the orginal and just used it as an excuse to just blow things up. WHY?
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It was definitly and "n" word...
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'nuff said.
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What a travesty of the original this is. Gort's first appearance is cool but Klaatu and his ship are pathetic. The ending will leave you dumb-struck. Save your money and rent the original.
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Good thing he's got Mad Men to fall back on. Remind me again (besides money) why actors want to command the big screen. The quality material seems to be on television.
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Nice to know that enlightened and advanced alien civilizations think just like the sane people of the Earth Liberation Front...
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The 1st review is obviously a bunch of BS. It's obvious from the previews that the remake is in no way similar in tone to the original.
As for the 2nd review - loved the idea of a sequal to the original -
...even though the last review confirmed my suspicions about it.Yeah, there might be more trees in Conn. than during the time of the American Revolution but the new ones are part of a mono-culture tree-farm variety. hardly the same. The previously associated fauna just isn't there. Well, except for more white-tail deer and turkeys. If you want to look at environmental disasters, look no further than the almost totally dead (but previously the rookery for the eastern Atlantic seaboard) Chesepeake Bay.
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Would YOU want us as neighbors?
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...the origional's was that everything on the planet came to a halt, right? You know...STOOD STILL! All I see in the remakes trailer is destruction? WTF? If they wanted to go this route wouldnt a sequel have been more logical? A "They're back and they're PISSED!" kinda thing?
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Al Gore and Earthfirst? At least the original had a good premise; namely now that we were on the verge of becoming a space faring folk..containing Humanities violent ways from spreading.I just don't see some higher power giving a good God Damn about us leaving garbage on the moon.
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Didn't work. He made the movie anyway...
Funny thing is, when I saw the preview in the theater with my wife, she thought it was another Matrix movie. -
Oh, well.
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Okay, so I didn't exactly say every single little syllable, but basically I said em, yeah.
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Dec 10, 2008 1:56:09 PM CST
Jennifer Connolly has one expression and one expression only
by trazadone
detached ennui
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cool!
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And if he'd been here and done that, and known what the hell he was talking about? Who are they to protest me? huh?
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...the aliens realize earthlings will soon discover how to overcome the speed of light paradox and the subsequent ability to travel to other galaxies. They fear earthlings will fuck up (eventually) every planet they colonize so they'd better do something now. Hey, it sort of ties in with the original movie in that respect. That's my rationalization and I'm sticking with it!
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If he can't be Superman, surely someone can cast him as Captain Marvel. Just as long as Shitty LeBeefy isn't Billy Batson...
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she looked about 17 yrs ago: http://tinyurl.com/6zsuc2 and http://tinyurl.com/3yezdp and
http://tinyurl.com/553uem.... She looked so hot in "The Hot Spot." w/ Donny Johnson in 1990. Anybody who hasn't seen that one should look for it and watch it.
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Just
a
test
before I post -
Why the hell else would he be pimping the Blu Ray so hard. If it's a bad movie, it's a bad movie. I wouldn't waste my time at the theater or at home.
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Yeah, I said it. So what.
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Saw the movie yesterday. Lame. Not so much the pacing/acting but the lack of tension and logic. Never watched the original so I can’t comment on similarity/differences.
My main beef with the movie: If aliens are prepared to wipe out the human race, whatever the reason, I’d like them to give it some deep thoughts before they land and be logical about it. I don’t particularly enjoy my genocidal visitors from outer space to be so casual about their motives.
Problems with the movie: Why the (admittedly short) prologue in 1928? To show why Klaatu looks the way he does? Totally unnecessary IMO. And why, it seems to me at least, make a big deal about the scar (with camera closing up onto Reeves’ hand) after his encounter with the glowing alien globe, when it’s not brought up again later.
The scene with the other alien, who has been embedded on Earth for 70 years: His “report” to klaatu is that humanity is bad, unredeemable, and deserves to be wiped out… and then he proceeds to say that he doesn’t want to leave when Klaatu will wipe out humankind because he has learned to love humans… WTF?!? If you love them, you must have found some redeeming quality in them, right? Hence they’re worth saving, no?
The way Klaatu changes his mind about humanity: Seeing a mom and his stepson stop bickering and hug each other, all teary eyes, because they miss their soldier husband/dad is sufficient? “I see your other side now” says Klaatu. That’s it? You didn’t see that other side the previous 90 minutes of the movie? When the mom/scientist was exhibiting compassion towards you, taking great risks for you?!?! Or, to save you a trip to Earth (I mean what’s the carbon footprint of that big spaceship of yours?) you couldn’t observe that side from your lab prior to deciding to kill us all? Gimme a break.
My “nitpick” issues: The final scene in Central Park: Gort is now a big cloud of metallic bugs that literally “eat” their way trough everything in sight. They wipe out a stadium in about 12 seconds, however when they are in central park they spare the tunnel where Klaatu, the mom and stepson are hiding under. Huh?!?
The ending is anticlimactic, to say the least. And unclear (not that I really cared at this point about what was happening, which is sad since the fate of humanity was hanging in the balance). Did Klaatu sacrifice himself, which would make the movie a tad better? And did he strip humanity of all energy, electricity… as everything comes to a stand still? So we’re back to the stone age, or at least steam propulsion?
GORT (I admit to liking how it is now an acronym given to him by the army). Can’t stand his look. Obviously a personal observation but he looks… cheap. I understand he is an “organic machine” but the texture looks cheap. Like the Visual FX team spent a whole of $20.00 on him) So does his “Death Ray”.
In the end, I’m disappointed because, as much as I wasn’t expecting a philosophical treaty on the humanity and its propensity for violence, carelessness about the environment and failure to fix its problems, I was hoping for a deeper discourse about the human race. That could have been done in the scene with the embedded alien or with the scientist played by John Cleese (he has a whole of 3 lines and 2 minutes of screen time). I guess this is TDTESS for the HDHA generation. No need to bore them with speeches. Keep them entertained with SFX, some chases and explosions and, I almost forgot, lame humor (as exemplified by the army officer played by the guy from “Prison Break”.
A couple of clarifications: The aliens do not feel threatened by humanity. The reason they want to destroy us is to protect the planet (they collect specimens of all other animals… a la Noah’s Arch” before they’re about to do the deed). Earth is one of the few planets in the universe that can sustain complex life-forms so it’s worth preserving it.
The Klaatuu Barada Nikto line is in the film. Very early on, right after Klaatu gets shot by a soldier. It’s barely audible.
Maybe I should go rent the original.
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thanx man, good stuff.
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Dec 10, 2008 4:54:22 PM CST
So this movie ends the same way as "Escape From L.A." did?
by excaliburffolkes
With all modern technology disabled. Snooze. What makes anyone think that a do over for humankind would turn out any better or be much different from what we have now? This does sound like it is trying to be 2009's version of "The Day After Tomorrow", which I guess makes financial sense since that movie grossed something like $550 million worldwide.
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Acronym Definition
HDHA Hawaii Dental Hygienists' Association
HDHA High-Density Hispanic Area
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Acronym Definition
HDHA Hawaii Dental Hygienists'? Association
HDHA High-Density Hispanic Area?
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"he way Klaatu changes his mind about humanity: Seeing a mom and his stepson stop bickering and hug each other, all teary eyes, because they miss their soldier husband/dad is sufficient? “I see your other side now” says Klaatu. That’s it? You didn’t see that other side the previous 90 minutes of the movie? When the mom/scientist was exhibiting compassion towards you, taking great risks for you?!?! Or, to save you a trip to Earth (I mean what’s the carbon footprint of that big spaceship of yours?) you couldn’t observe that side from your lab prior to deciding to kill us all? Gimme a break. "
AGREED. I found that to be so trite. Humans crying? Well, now I change my mind. Blah. And yeah, that's the moment I could have sworn I heard klaatu barada nikto, but then I didn't get why he couldn't say it later, to stop the cloud of metallic bugs. and I TOTALLY agree about the ending. so lazy.
and the only thing that wouldn't have stuck out to you, having not seen the original, is the chalkboard scene. Finishing the equation is a great part in the original, so the chalkboard bit was a nice nod to that. -
getting crap reviews.
Humans crying, change the game plan then . Fuck that, increase destruction. Make it hurt. We deserve it.
I hate puss Hollywood. Stupid cheese ball endings. Fuck if it's gonna end like that then Gort should just rip Connelly's clothes off titty fuck her and spray his robotic lube on her rack.
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Whole heartedly agree. Hadn't even thought of the China bit. The premise is simply absurd, and I have to hope the film flops or I'll be correcting my students for years.
As for the original, the inconsistency you cite is precisely why I would have loved to see a sequel to the original, rather than this remake. There always seemed to be more, or perhaps less, to Klatuu's kind than we'd been led to believe. -
that's the main reason I would go see it, for the IMAX effect.
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it seems that Keanua plays Snake Plisken in the last scene of Escape from LA. There goes Hollywood again with it's originality.
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Michael Rennie part? This film IS fucked in the head and now I know I don't have to see it to be sure about that! HE woulda said "robutts"!! And wait, he plays the scientist-giving-the-techy-exposition-in-a-dull-monotone INSTEAD of Keanu? Shoot me now! No. Wait. Shoot THEM now...
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The ringing of your laughter, it sounds like a melody...
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Remember how cool the alien ship was in the original? We now have a ball with some clouds inside it. No cool seemless door. Just lay hands on it and you are sucked inside. Duh!
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something terrible went wrong, indeed, towards the end of the film. (saw it yesterday).. It could have been very passable, bordering on good and entertaining, had it not been for the stupid ass, rushed ending. They came actually pretty close on this one, but alas, fucked up.
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Here's why...
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First Galactus, now Gort?
I'm sure there's a good joke about flatulence or "windbags in Hollywood," in this, but it's not coming to me.
Either way, it's adding fuel to the notion that writers (and some of the FX studios) are becoming creatively bankrupt or lazy. -
" Keanu Reeves plays Klaatu with all the expressiveness of a wok. I have never seen a wok better portrayed. "Had to laugh at that.BTW, Keanu, please stop with the beard growth attempt. Grunge is dead, and you look like a homeless dude.
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It just occurred to me: an alien visitor to earth using a human form with powers to both destroy and to heal, traveling via a large space ship - weren't those all featured in the movie "Starman" with Jeff Bridges?
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Starman was the Shit ! Jeff Bridges that dude can act his ass off !!! F all the remakes, like tdtess let get the Great Labowski part 2 written and directed before the dude get too old !!
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Whether you've seen the original movie or not, most people will think the remake is terrible, which sadly and rather predictably, it is. I've seen basically a finished version of the film recently and it pretty much is the turd many feared it would be.
Let me quantify my comments by saying I am a huge fan of the original, especially of the groundbreaking score by Bernard Herrmann. I think an intelligently written script and subtle direction either remaking or acting as a sequel to the original film had vast potential to be a really good, even great modern sci-fi flick. Even though the basic themes of mankind's global warring extending beyond earth into the Heavens is still relevant, even perhaps moreso now than during the Cold War, the decision to go with an environmental approach of mankind "killing" the planet is truly gutless Hollywood pandering to the easiest current hot button topic. And of course we get the now-popular Gitmo-style interrogation by a guy who I almost thought was a parody of Al Franken. All this heady stuff is about as deep as a puddle in Arizona.
TDTESS '08 fails big time, especially in the last 30 minutes as noted above. If anything, the more a viewer appreciates the original, the more likely they'll be pissed watching this remake. About the only thing I'd say works to any degree is the casting although I think there was many better choices for the lead role of Klaatu. The score is completely undistinguished and would fit in any action/sci-fi flick on the level of say - Fantastic Four 1 or 2. Speaking of which, there are big chunks of this film which almost seemed like barely disguised rip-offs of "FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer" and even the original Kirby/Lee comic notably in which Galact......er, I mean Gort, goes about doing some global destruction (they don't arrive in a flying saucer but a giant sphere just like Galactus did in the comic). Further, Klatuu's "bio-electric" superduper powers involve an almost Matrixesque depiction of how he infiltrates electrical systems during his escape from interrogation.
Another thing that doomed this project was the very fast production time from the moment the film was green-lit to finish. A lot of stuff was really rushed through which through a combination of studio (mis)direction and corner cutting clearly further compromised whatever remaining chance this film might of had to develop a few interesting themes and ideas.
I will add that I'm not entirely against modern remakes or re-imaginings of old beloved films. I'm probably one of the few that actually loved most of Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" redo up 'til the last 10 minutes when apparantly 15 minutes disappeared down the drain to facilitate a cheesy, rushed feel-good climax. And John carperter's redo of "The Thing" back in '81 eclipsed the original in just about every way. Of course, I understand Hollywood is about to re-make that remake................
Next on the butcher block of much-loved sci-fi 50's classics to be remade will probably be "Them." Of course the story will be updated to reflect our current fear of urban terrorism............by giant ants.
BTW, I do have the blu-ray of the original, and for a black and white film, it does look fabulous. That is the one good thing to come out of TDTESS'08. -
Dec 11, 2008 12:00:22 PM CST
The original was the first to use effects for crowd replication
by half vader
/extention - put that in your pipe and smoke it, Forest Gump!
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is what I meant before I hit the damn key.
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