The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

Director: Scott Derrickson
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates

Synopsis:
An alien emissary makes contact with the Earth and judges the humans unworthy of their planet.

Impressions:
Ugh. This bloody movie... Unless the point is to highlight the hypocrisy of the sanctimonious extraterrestrial prigs who harp on humanity's destructive ways while unleashing their giant death robot, the moral rings a bit hollow. I remember watching an episode of Star Trek with similar aliens and Kirk calls them out on their bull, but no such luck in this taxing excuse for a movie. I perhaps find this movie more unbearable than some trashy Z movie because so much money was thrown into it. I will say that given people's criticism's of Keanu Reeves' acting style, casting him as Klaatu is a fairly canny choice. That doesn't make me like the character any, though, an inconsistent mess who has no business pulling the high-and-mighty act on us. Then there's Jenifer Connelly as the obtuse civvy rebel-without-a-cause scientist and don't even get me started on Jaden Smith as the absolutely insufferable kid. (I'm not a big fan of the younger Smith, but I'll admit that even the best child actor couldn't have saved that execrable garbage heap of a character.) A lot of money was thrown into the CG, which shows some decent evolution of the tech but still looks incongruous and fake. Except perhaps as riffing material, there's not much redeemable about this steaming pile of crap. While there are many films with far less technical proficiency, few tick me off as much as this, so a more level-headed reviewer might score it a bit higher. I, however, hope this trash never darkens my door again.

Rating:
Burn It