The Day the Earth Stood Still (Dir: Scott Derrickson)

Earth is a very sincere, but plodding cautionary tale about the impending likelihood of do-gooder aliens holding an intervention for Earth. Concern for the planet is popular again and we've gotten a slew of films this year to prove it from the compulsively watchable, but goofy The Happening to the superb Wall E. I appreciate the intent of these films in an age where we are treating the Earth as if it is expendable and conservation is considered unpatriotic, but the intent of Earth was not enough to save it from a thin script and stiff lead performance by Keanu Reeves as the alien Klaatu. In the movie, GORT is the automaton and Klaatu is autonomous, but Reeves is out to convince you otherwise.

The film starts out promisingly enough as an impending emergency leads to the forceful removal of astro-biologist Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) from her home by the Feds. She is sequestered to a military compound where soldiers and scientists are gathering to attempt to avert a likely disaster. But as the film settles in, we begin to find out that this story is going to hinge on the relationship between Helen and her estranged stepson Jacob (played by Will Smith's son Jaden). This isn't really all that compelling as the two don't have insurmountable problems to begin with. Klaatu will be their therapist and as helicopters explode and GORT revs up for destruction, Helen and Jacob hash it out in a tame, reasonable manner.

When GORT unleashes his fury, the film has some fun. But it's a fakey CGI fun reminiscent of the scarab attacks in the recent Mummy. Though the stakes are huge in this story--the survival of the Earth--the film never successfully creates a sense of impending doom. The army acts in predictable ways and is continually foiled by the aliens in a timeworn fashion. Kathy Bates as the Secretary of Defense is in charge of the US response and she seems only mildly perturbed by the crisis. This film is guilty of going through the motions, taking us nowhere new, and lacking a pulse. A predictable, slumping movie that trudges along to the finish line.