It is forgivable that the two versions of this film differ greatly in emphasis. The 1951 version was filmed at the height of the Cold War; hence its emphasis was on defusing the warlike postures of the great nations of Earth at that time. In 2008, by contrast, the Cold War has receded in memory and import; the portending ecological crisis is the focus of this version.
There's nothing wrong with bringing in the ecological crisis — as long as it doesn't drive out geopolitical crises, for they are still around. A truly memorable treatment would have blended them.
| Major Cast | |
|---|---|
| Keanu Reeves | as Klaatu |
| Jennifer Connelly | as Helen Benson |
| Kathy Bates | as Regina Jackson |
| Jaden Smith | as Jacob Benson |
| John Cleese | as Professor Barnhardt |
| John Hamm | as Michael Granier |
| Kyle Chandler | as John Driscoll |
| Robert Knepper | as Colonel |
| James Hong | as Mr. Wu |
| John Rothman | as Dr. Myron |
| Sunita Prasad | as Rouhani |
| Juan Riedinger | as William Kwan |
| Sam Gilroy | as Tom |
| Tanya Champoux | as Isabel |
| Rukiya Bernard | as Student |
| Alisen Down | as Laptop Woman |
| David Lewis | as Plainclothes Agent |
| Lloyd Adams | as Agent Driver |
| Mousa Kraish | as Yusef |
| J.C. MacKenzie | as Grossman |
| Kurt Max Runte | as Civil Engineer |
| Daniel Bacon | as Winslow |
| Richard Keats | as Helicopter Scientist #1 |
| Bill Mondy | as Helicopter Scientist #2 |
| Judith Maxie | as Helicopter Scientist #3 |
| Reese Alexander | as Sergeant |
| Serge Houde | as Scientist #1 |
| Lorena Gale | as Scientist #2 |
| Stefanie Samuels | as Guardswoman |
| Richard Tillman | as Army Sergeant |
| Camille Atebe | as NYPD #1 |
| Thomas Bradshaw | as NYPD #2 |
| Terence Dament | as NYPD #3 |
| Patrick Sabongui | as Soldier #1 |
| Jacob Blair | as Soldier #2 |
| Shaine Jones | as Soldier #3 |
| Jake McLaughlin | as Soldier |
| George Sharperson | as Cop |
| MPAA Rating: | PG-13 |
| Production Companies: | Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation * 3 Arts Entertainment * Dune Entertainment III * Earth Canada Productions * Hammerhead Productions |
| Distributors (USA): | * Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (theatrical/Blu-ray/DVD) * Home Box Office (TV) |
| Languages: | English | Mandarin |
| Release Date (US): | 12/12/2008 |
| Running Time: | 104 minutes |
| Domestic Box Office: | $79,366,978 (05/02/2009) |
| Foreign Box Office: | $153,726,881 |
| Production Budget: | $80,000,000 (Est.) |
| Crew | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRODUCED BY | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
| DIRECTED BY: Scott Derrickson | |||||||||
| Writing Credits (WGA): | David Scarpa (screenplay) Edmund H. North (1951 screenplay) Harry Bates (story) |
||||||||
| Original Music: | Tyler Bates | ||||||||
| Cinematography: | David Tattersall | ||||||||
| Film Editing: | Wayne Wahrman | ||||||||
| Casting: | Heike Brandstatter Mindy Marin Coreen Mayrs |
||||||||
| Production Design: | David Brisbin | ||||||||
| Art Direction: | Don Macaulay | ||||||||
| Set Decoration: | Elizabeth Wilcox | ||||||||
| Costume Design: | Tish Monaghan | ||||||||
Spaceguard has detected an object approaching the inner solar system at a speed of "3 times ten to the seventh meters per second."1 Further observation shows it will impact Earth; in fact, its impact point will be New York City. No evacuation is ordered, because less than two hours remain. But the president and vice president move to "undisclosed locations," leaving the secretary of defense in charge, and the military makes what preparations it can. Those preparations include assembling a team of scientists. Astrobiologist Helen Benson is one of them; she is plucked from her house with no notice, leaving a neighbor to care for her adopted son Jacob.
The team is flown to a point near New York City, where they wait tensely as a military officer gives a countdown. But impact time passes with no effect. Shortly they learn the object is slowing down. They watch as a glowing sphere settles in Central Park. And there is silence in heaven for enough time to run a commercial (but of course there is no commercial, for this is a movie...)
Tanks, troops, and artillery surround the sphere. Dazzling light shines from its lower portion, and something emerges. The bright light makes it hard to see it clearly, but it looks alien. Helen cautiously approaches it. Suddenly a shot rings out, and the figure falls. A towering automaton emerges from the sphere and disables the people with high-intensity sound. It bends over the fallen figure and something passes from its hand. Then it straightens up and the sound dies away.
The injured being is rushed to a hospital, where a surgeon cuts through its outer covering and removes the bullet. He watches as the gelatinous ("blubbery") outer covering sloughs off, revealing a human body: Klaatu.
Some time later, Klaatu wakes up. The Secretary of Defense, Regina Jackson, arrives to question him. He answers her questions evasively. Does he represent a civilization? A group of civilizations. Where is this group of civilizations? All around you. What is your purpose here? A group of world leaders is meeting near here. I will reveal my purpose to them.
Later it develops that humanity has been adjudged a plague upon the Earth, and Klaatu is here to correct that problem. The military, predictably, makes forcible protests — to no avail. Their weapons have no effect on the automaton. Getting no good answers from Klaatu, the SecDef orders him dosed with truth serum. The scientists refuse, but Helen agrees to do it. She swaps the serum for a vial of normal saline and injects him with that. Then, Helen is escorted out. Klaatu is taken to another room, where a man with a lie detector awaits. Klaatu overpowers him, takes his suit ("42 long") and escapes.
Helen and her son get together with Klaatu. She tries to change his mind about destroying humanity, but he is adamant. Some tense moments ensue as they evade the nationwide hunt for the "escaped convict."
Meanwhile, the military has imprisoned the automaton (they've designated it GORT: Genetically Organized Robotic Technology) in a triangular cage and moved it to an underground laboratory. Their attempts to probe its nature get nowhere. Eventually it releases clouds of nanobots that look like locusts and eat their way through everything. There are dramatic scenes of stadiums and other structures vanishing in minutes.
Helen takes Klaatu to meet Dr. Barnhardt, whose argument makes an impression on our would-be destroyer. But the final decision is still some time off, and once he makes it, Klaatu has to get to the sphere in order to stop the plague of nano-locusts wiping humanity and its works from the planet.
Visually, this is a stunning film. The acting is competent, especially the performances by Jennifer Connelley and Jaden Smith. John Cleese does an impressive job as Dr. Barnhardt, but his part is too small. Keanu Reeves turns in a workmanlike performance in a role that is at times scripted over-the-top. One example is the scene where Helen's car is pulled over by a state trooper. As the trooper stands in front of his cruiser, Klaatu slams the cars together. The trooper dies. But Klaatu, drawing power from the cruiser, brings him back to life. This is completely gratuitous; Klaatu could have handled the trooper as he did the psychologist wearing the 42-long suit.2
Nevertheless, this film falls far short of what it could have been. As in the 1951 version, Klaatu asks to meet with world leaders at the United Nations. He is refused, whereupon he apparently decides humanity is a lost cause. This is hard to understand, given the powers he posesses — the more so because agents of his civilization have been on Earth for decades evaluating our progress. (I did not mention the prologue, which hints at this.) Klaatu even meets with one of these Observers in a MacDonald's restaurant.3 Nothing anyone says seems to impress Klaatu much, and he says very little to anyone except Helen. There is nothing like Michael Rennie's final speech in this version.
Then there are the scientific errors: The claimed speed of the "comet" is one, and completely unnecessary. Also, it is claimed that New York City will be wiped out by the impact, but the estimated size and mass of the object are never given. And there is the unlikelihood of the SecDef, a character in the mold of Margaret Thatcher or Madeline Albright, asking for a volunteer to administer the drug to Klaatu. Nothing incongruous about that, is there?
No, it seems this is a film in which the director put the emphasis on risky escapes, car chases, and whizzy effects rather than plot and dialogue. That's a shame, because the action and effects are well done. As in so many other cases, a little more emphasis on adding dialogue and fixing plot holes could have made the film truly memorable.
My Rating:
6 out of 10
Capsule review: With good acting, plenty of action and whizzy special effects, this is a watchable film. However, it devotes too little attention to dialogue and plot. I therefore consider it merely watchable and not at all memorable. The 1951 original, which I review here, is far better.
| IMDB Rating: 5.5 | Raters: 171,063 |
To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.