The Day the Earth Stood Still

Category: Film
Genre: Sci-Fi / Drama / Remake
Directed By: Scott Derrickson
Running Time: 103 min.

Remaking films certainly has its challenges and pitfalls. Directly comparing 2008’s The Day the Earth Stood Still to the 1950 original with no allowances would be absurd, and not make for much of a review.

As with many remakes, especially science fiction films, the concerns, fears, and hope of the era in which it was made are the driving force behind its relevance. Science fiction is about answering the question of “what if?”, so a new answer is required in remaking the film nearly 60 years later, replacing concerns of man’s inhumanity towards man with the damage man has done to the planet.

The film was reasonably well executed, keeping elements from the first but reinterpreting where appropriate. Keanu Reeves was well cast as he has the blankness and detachment necessary to truly play the character of Klatu. Gort was also nicely reinterpreted, and the supporting visual effects were nicely done as well.

The other casting was a bit off; Kath Bates seemed neither right nor wrong for the role of Secretary of Defense, but simply irrelevant. The military casting was also too much of a charicture, robbing serious moments of their impact. Jaden Smith did well as Jacob, though I found myself very much disliking his character until around the midpoint of the film. Couldn’t quite believe Jennifer Connelly as a mother figure, but perhaps that was inherent to the character rather than a performance failure on her part.

As for the film’s conclusion I think it was the right way to go, both making the title relevant (perhaps more so than in the original) and also providing the reprieve ending with out the world getting off scott free with no consequences.
All in all an entertaining film, though I think if we put half the energy into original projects as we do in remakes, we would have some much more praise-worthy material out there.

Rating: 5/10

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Category: Film
Genre: Action / Adventure / Period
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Running Time: 124 min.

This delayed sequel (quadquel?) left me feeling very conflicted. I dusted off my Indian Jones trilogy box set the weekend prior to seeing the new installment, to make sure I was going into Crystal Skull with more than just old memories and inflated expectations. Walking out of the theater, I was left with the impression that I had seen a good, enjoyable movie, but somehow, it wasn’t Indy.

Much of the altered vibe comes from breaking formula and adopting more modern (but certainly not necessarily better) conventions of cinematic story telling. The new film is set in 1957, and the key plot device involves aliens and their technology. Both of these are a problem. The spirit and vibe of the 1950’s is on the other side of a fundamental shift in the American consciousness: World War II. The world of the 1930’s Indy was largely open for the exploration, wild and surprising, with more than enough room for adventure. The world of the 1950’s has become one in which the lines on the map have been clearly marked, and mankind now has the sobering ability to exterminate himself from that very map. As for the alien elements, this seems simply too fantastic for the scope of the film. The plot devices of the earlier films, while fantastic in nature, were rooted in the human mythology of history, be it biblical or otherwise. Bringing prior alien involvement into a film almost always requires the payoff of their return or resurrection, and this felt too big, it simply overpowered the story.

Secondly, the fine balance of camp vs cheese in the earlier three films (possibly excluding Temple) falls far into the cheese side in Skull. The banter feels grafted over the story, to the point where it interferes with the pacing to an extent. There are several plot decisions that I disagreed with in this treatment, primary Mutt turning out to be Indy’s son by Marian Ravenwood (from Raiders), and second thier eventual marriage at the end of the picture. For a writer I’m sure its satisfying to bring closure and happy ending to characters you’ve created after such a long hiatus (and post trilogy sequels are often a one shot proposition); however, audiences want to see thier heroes back in the thick of things, which often runs counter to efforts towards the Ward and June Cleaver treatment.

Another poison dart in the fedora was adopting the convention of gaining characters throughout the story like luggage. By the beggining of the third act of the film the traveling core of protagonist characters was at least 5 or 6 strong, as opposed to the weaving in and out of characters and plotlines of the previous films prior to the climactic assembly. This lends a Lord of the Rings feel to things, with the mojo spread too thinly amongst the characters, so to speak.

On the technical front, the graphic treatment was simply odd in places, as if there were some intentional play at a certain “look” to the CGI background elements (take a look a the monkey sequence specifically) that simply didn’t work. Instead of looking like, say perhaps an old style matte painting, it looks like bad compositing; and I just simply can’t imagine ILM doing something that blatant by accident.

To his credit Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones) does his best to bring Indy back to us, though some Jack Ryan and Dr. Richard Kimble leak through as well (but it works). Shia LaBeouf (Mutt Williams), who showed us what he could do in Transformers, seems to be restricted by the character of Mutt who doesn’t seem to have been fleshed out quite enough. Cate Blanchett (Irina Spalko) seemed to be phoning in the role, but that may have simple been the Russian accent obliterating any subtle nuances she brought to the role.

Were it not Indiana Jones, and all the history and baggage that brings to the table, this would be a fun romp of a modern movie, something of a low impact cross between The Mummy and National Treasure (two films I very much enjoy by the way). Spielberg has done masterful work in the past and so has Lucas; I think this may be just another movie falling under the fourth film curse (much like odd-numbered Star Treks).

Rating:5/10