logisticslad

On Saturday,

defenestrator and I saw a matinee of the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still at the IMAX theater. I thought that it certainly wasn't as good as the original, but it had some good parts on its own.

This version was all about environmentalism. The aliens want to wipe out humanity because we can't be trusted to take care of the Earth. Keanu Reeves gets to stretch his acting ability by playing Klaatu, the emotionless alien. John Cleese has a charming cameo as a Nobel winning scientist. Kathy Bates plays the US Secretary of Defense and it was a shame that the script didn't give her more to do. Jon Hamm did ok in a supporting role and Jennifer Connelly and the kid gave solid performances. The script was a bit hokey at times, but there were some fun parts. Gort was unnamed in this film but extremely resonant with the original alien robot. They played up the superpowers of the aliens and that was cool. I enjoyed the gov't conscription of the scientists at the beginning of the film and would love for that to happen to me some day :-) In the end, Klaatu is sufficiently impressed by human nature that he gives us a second chance and it is by no means clear that we'll succeed. But that is exactly where we are with our current environmental efforts today. I felt that it had something important to say, but could have been better executed. All in all, I give it one thumb down and one thumb up.