The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Hollywood left is at it again. I am not sure how the original went, I will inquire about that. Now the left wants Aliens to come down here and force us to be kinder to the environment. The politicians can not figure it out, so a Professor is the most rationale around.

Keanu Reeves stars in this movie, he is an alien but in human form. It is not his best performance but he is near the stunning Jennifer Connelly. Too bad her character undermines the human race and warns Reeve's character Klaatu to run.

Kathy Bates performs well as the Secretary of Defense.

The movie begins in the Himalays, on the Indian side. Reeves is climbing a mountain in fierce conditions in 1928. It is snowing and windy, the temperature is probably in the negatives, not sure of the altitude. He walks into this cave and sees this glowing object. He touches it and the object glows brighter and overwhelms him. He wakes up and then the movie launches forward to the present day. Before this though, it is shown that Reeves has a strange mark on his upper right hand after he wakes up in the snow and freezing cold.

The plot is similiar to Independence Day in some respects. The difference is, that movie was not an environmental scare tactic and it was a blockbuster. In the first part of this film, there is an object approaching earth. Like the aliens in ID4, it manipulates our satellites, picks off our languages, and gathers stratetic and historic intelligence. Apparently, and sort of like the disastrous War of the Worlds, alien objects have been hiding underneath our surface for a while. But, in this respect, Day is a little more realistic. The objects in Day are not as large and night right under developed areas. This fact and detail in Worlds was just ridiculous and I did not fall for it, nor did some others that I have spoke with regarding this poor and anti-USA movie.

Similiar to Michael Crichton's Sphere, some of the best scientists and minds are gathered. This scene or movie does not have any character development. Connelly's character is an astronomer of some sort, she was put on this "vital list."

These alien objects rise out of the ground all over the world while one arrives from deep outer space at super fast speeds. These alien objects attract species on earth, like snakes, frogs, and dolphins. That is why there are more than one and located in various parts of this planet.

Humans quickly realize this object or alien being is far more advanced and our weapons and defenses have no affect on it. Yet, throughout the movie, we attempt to shoot at it and blow it up. Rather than just have a logical discussion with it. This is ridiculous, the alien form transforms itself into Reeves and the only person we have to have discourse with this alien is the SecDef. Too incredible.

About half way in the movie, with Connelly and Reeves on the run from the authorities, the truth is told. Reeves says the process to destroy the planet has begun, earth is too valuable for us to destroy it. First off, we have to fix anything we destroy and if we do not, then humans will die. As humans have died throughout the ages for all sorts of environmental mistakes. Jared Diamond's Collapse discusses past societies that have fallen off the face of the earth. In the contemporary world, humans are dying now for the same reason. Lack of clean water is one reason certain humans are dying on the planet for environmental reasons. If an alien approached me with this concern and said he was considering on wiping out all humans for the sake of the planet, I would be flattered for this alien caring that much for our home but question their morality since this is our planet. We will not destroy it, that is that. Yes, Reeve's character is apparetly in consortium with other alien species and they have decided we are a destructive species and should die since there is not enough earth like planets to go around. Too support complex life.

OK, that is allot said. This is our planet despite the aliens in this movie saying or believing it is not. They are species murderers so they are not any better than us. Also, this movie says we are a destructive species. This concept was proposed by the software law enforcement representative called Mr. Smith in The Matrix. In that movie, he said we were a plague, consuming everything around us. That is a cynical description. Reeve's character in Day has a vital discussion with an intelligent and logical Professor who successfully tosses Reeve's argument back at him. Reeve's alien admits they had to change when their sun was dying out. So during a precipice, they were forced to make drastic changes. The Professor, said sit still, give us a shot, let us do the same. He did not say, do not be hypocritical or drastic, but that is how I took it and it was insinuated. But the Professor was cordial, not flamboyant or argumentative at all. He was calm and reasonable and this impression influenced Reeve's alien character.

During these scenes, the military and our leaders were making asinine decisions. Trying to beat a magnificent force. No reason to, they were not openly hostile to us like they were in ID4. Too bad we did not have Superman around, since these aliens were this powerful. Why did Reeve's oval alien object have a large looking robot protecting it is beyond me and the other oval objects shown around the world via the net did not? Well, these aliens did kill allot of us by using tiny but voracious insects that multiplied into the trillions and moved with true force. Like a whirlwind of power.

Prison Break pyschopath Robert Knepper played the Kernel in this film. He is taking full advantage of his fame. I can not blame him, his star is bright. He should win Emmy's for his T-bag character who has and does commit about every crime imaginable in that tremendous TV show.

Day was not that good of a movie. Not as bad as The Wicker Man which was also remade. That movie was probably the worst movie in the past 10 years, it was Cage's film and how he was sucked into that movie is beyond me. He must have owed someone a favor. Last year, Hollywood remade another alien movie and it too, was a disaster. The Invasion with Kidman and James Bond's Daniel Craig was failure, but not nearly as terrible as The Wicker Man. Day was the better of the three but still horrendous. The environmentalists can not end OPEC tomorrow so they toss us into this guilt trip. I do not feel guilty, I want energy. I do not see how I could have fun and be as knowledgeable as I am and continue to learn without energy. I do not want to live in a dark world and I do not want to pay 4 times what I am paying for instant clean energy. Solar panels and wind energy are coming around. But the Barnie Frank's of the world caused this economic catastophy in the USA, this will suck money away from important energy projects to bail out out certain companies and agencies. Or anything that begs properly.

This movie was not an epic, it was not that long, the characters were weak. Connelly's character had a black child with annoying or cool dreadlocks, depending on one's proclivities, whose real mother is gone and the father died in Iraq. The politically correct movie had to point out that the father was not a soldier but an engineer in Iraq. As if the father was a gun toting soldier, his death would not matter as much. Choosing a black child to be in this movie, was a politically correct move to attract some black viewers. But this movie was weak regardless if this part was played by a white or mexican child. Not one humorous scene in this movie, I did not learn one thing either. Hollywood loves showing Reapers in movies, the remote controlled fighter plane. It was also in Eagle Eye.

I would allocate this movie one star. *