The Day Seattle Stood Still

[kodalai]

Today went to see The Day The Earth Stood Still with Athena and Tassa. I'd heard it was a really bad remake, and it may have been; luckily for me it had been so long since I saw the original -- and I only ever saw it once -- that the differences and changes really didn't bother me.

Overall, though, I'd say it was a good movie -- and one that was slightly more true to the meaning of the message than, say, War of the Worlds was, though it suffered from some of the similar military-obsessive disaster-movie feeling. I'd even say that Keanu Reeves was a good choice for playing Klaatu; or at the least, it was a good choice for him; so long as he keeps on playing robots and aliens, he won't be called on to show actual human emotion.

On the way home from the movie it started SNOWING (!!) again. >E I am very displeased. As if work tomorrow needed another reason to suck... well, maybe everyone will stay home again. (More RAS calls, fun.)

Still haven't sent out thank-you-notes; am waiting for all my gifts from the holidays to reach here and have a chance to be put to use before I do so. I haven't forgotten!

Comments

[sharona1x2.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your movie review. Jay and I liked it, too. I was beginning to think we were the only ones who did. ^_~

[diatomacearth.livejournal.com]

A couple of the differences I've heard described concern me (I'm not dismissing it out of hand, but I think it's a tad disingenuous to change the aliens' concern with humanity from our destructive, warring tendencies to our poor environmental stewardship; the former seems like a more serious concern for people who don't actually live on our planet, but who know the potential of the space program. Media emphasizing the need for better care of our planet is good, so I shouldn't complain too much...but it ain't groundbreaking anymore, and it feels like a cop-out. Nuclear war isn't exactly a non-issue now, after all.

I've also heard--and this is kind of funny, it being Keanu Reeves and all--that Reeves' Klaatu is softer and squishier than the original, who was a brilliantly cool, no-nonsense cucumber. I liked the cool cucumber; I thought he made a really good alien envoy, utterly unflappable in his mission to warn humanity to get its act together, no fooling. Or else? Or else I'll shut down ever power device on your planet, kids. Yes, we can do that).

I still want to see it, though; the same review that made the above criticisms also said that the remake has its strengths, so. I supposed if nothing else, there's always a shortage in modern film and television of images of wise, powerful aliens being humanity's wake-up call not because they're destructive and hostile, but because we are.