The Movie Nut

Most film critics have lists. The films we love and the films we don't. To those of us weaned on science fiction, our lists are sacrosanct. Film fanatics will argue far longer into the night about our favorite films than about politics or sports or religion.

Our lists are usually a lifetime in the making, and we closely scrutinize all cinematic newcomers. Yet truly great science fiction comes along so rarely that our lists seldom change. Stripping any film of a Top 10 position can be a highly emotional experience, roughly akin to burial at sea.

After decades of potential scifi classics, after years of advancing CGI technology, the sci-fi flick that remains No. 1—numero uno—in my own personal universe is Robert Wise's 1951 classic, "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

I'm letting you know this for obvious reasons. Despite the abysmal remake of "The Time Machine" in 2002 and Steven Spielberg's fairtomiddlin' remake of "War of the Worlds," my expectations for this one still ran high. I dreamed that, somehow,

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" would be different, would provide a relevant, reverent ode to a higher species of empathetic alien.

Klaatu, I hoped, would have aged well.

The film's message—back in 1951 and most applicable in the here and now—is worth hearing: Intentionally or not, aware or not, we're screwing up our planet. Two generations ago our folly was our haphazard use of nuclear weapons. Now we're squandering natural resources at an alarming rate. Mucking up the environment.

Back in '51, Robert Wise's original film didn't try to convince us how misguided we were. It allowed a polite, well-mannered space alien to wander about, asking questions and observing the obvious, and we got to decide for ourselves. There was a gee-whiz exuberance infiltrating Wise's interpretation of humanity's enigmatic nature. Wise managed to extract both our naive innocence and our potential for tolerance— and this back when both commies and outer space were so very, very threatening to our complacency.

Yeah, but what about this movie, you ask?

Well, it's all voodoo special effects and pompous fearmongering—and it's fractured into a thousand disparate pieces that don't seem really to connect very well or very often, as if every other scene was cut or truncated or lost in translation. It's full of eye-popping eye candy, but it's lost its humanity—the very aspect that the original so beautifully portrayed.

Unfortunately, as a species, it appears we haven't lost our fear of the unknown. Hard to believe that, after all these decades of looking up, of films like "Contact" and "Close Encounters," someone in Hollywood might assume that we'd still greet a galactic traveler with a hail of bullets.

Are we really that naive?

There's way too much military involvement in director Scott Derrickson's remake—too much fear-based, old-school fanaticism. Too bad Derrickson doesn't quite understand the brave new world we're confronting.

One could argue that the film's use of the military misses the point completely. In the Cold War-entrenched '50s, it was humanity's aggressive nature that worried Klaatu's peaceful confederation. That Klaatu should be wounded by a nervous soldier after he lands on Earth only underscores that fact.

In the updated version, it's our mindless pollution that's upsetting the cosmic order. Maybe Klaatu should be run over by an SUV, or suffocated by Styrofoam —something more in line with the problems at hand. Basically, Klaatu's shooting is rendered meaningless here. Unessential.

In the original story, Helen Benson and her son (Patricia Neal, Billy Gray) were integral to Klaatu's (Michael Rennie) decision to either obliterate or save mankind. Now, Helen and stepson Jacob (Jennifer Connelly, Jaden Smith) are little more than an annoyance to Keanu Reeves' expressionless space dude. John Cleese provides the film's only really poignant moments. There's otherwise little cohesion, little tension.

Wise's 1951 film was simplicity in motion. This one gets all complicated and jittery. Filled with unnecessary special effects and CGI, the story becomes a sadly distant distraction.

Want to see a film that truly depicts humanity—how frail we are and childlike and arrogant and blissfully unaware? Rent Robert Wise's 1951 classic and discover that even if we are only a drop in the cosmic bucket, we're perhaps an important one, both in the mirror and in the eyes of others.