by Griffin » Sun Dec 14, 2008 1:10 am
Mark C. and all,
“Klaatu barada nikto,” indeed.
Yes, I saw The Day The Earth Stood Still yesterday, 12-12, on its launch date. I shut down my own “lab” for the afternoon.
It’s a watchable film, but I think it does have shortcomings compared to the original.
The characterization of Klaatu which Michael Rennie inhabits in the 1951 original is much more accessible than the one Keanu Reeves was given or adopted, imo.
I felt that some urgency was lost by excluding the nuclear and weaponization of space issues, although the overall urgency of the earth’s stifling pollution and dwindling resources should be enough of an issue. The inclusion of the missiles shut-down during earth entry was apt, in that there is excellent evidence that the Visitants can do exactly that. I’ll pursue this on my soon to debut website. The interaction and mutually instructive exchange with the humanitarian earth scientist is still there in a shorter timeframe in this remake. This character reminds me of TTB. The choice of a Monty Python alumnus to play him in this version may be making an additional statement of some sort. John Cleese does give a good performance as Dr. Barnhardt, although I prefer Sam Jaffee in the original. Besides Jaffee’s own humanitarian sensibilities helping to inform the role, his Gunga Din-Kipling-High Lama associations add something too. The multi-national group of compatriots in Gunga Din brings another group somewhat to mind, and the Tibetan connection tends to resonate with this Flow Forum in certain respects as well. In addition to being an actor, Jaffee also had an engineering and math teaching background. Sam’s first name at birth was Shalom -- meaning peace and wholeness, which is a good encapsulation of the film’s basic “message to earth” as well as that of the Visitants. The 2008 version of TDTESS begins with a short scene on a high mountain in the Karakorum range. This also resonates in that there are interesting mysteries in that general region, still to be explored.
Anyway, I hope the new film does well since it contains a message worth considering. As TTB well knew, imho, the film is an interesting mixture of reel and real life.
As ever,
Griffin