REVIEW AND COMPARISON: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, 2008)
The Day the Earth Stood Still is a science fiction film classic: using the genre to make commentary on the real world by capitalizing on the UFO phenomena, nuclear annihilation, and the threat of communism brought to light by the First and Second Red Scare. The original story it was based on was called “Farewell to the Master”, published in Astounding Science Fiction (October 1940) — before America officially joined in the Second World War. I have vague recollections of this movie bouncing around in my head, where the alien gets shot by the US military (SPOILERS for a 73-year-old movie) and starts the film’s conflict. I have even less memories of the 2008 “re-imagining” and I saw that one in the theaters. We already know the negative connotations of using the phrase “re-imagining” to describe the project tanked the 2008 film, but does it still have any merit or message like the original? Today we’re comparing the 1951 film and the 2008 re-imagining, because I am still flabbergasted at the hubris of mankind displayed in both films.
The 1951 version starts out on a warm sunny day, where the world is abuzz at the strange craft circling the globe at 4,000 mph. It’s not one of ours, so most Americans didn’t care…right up until it landed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Two occupants come out to speak with the leaders of Earth: Klaatu (Michael Rennie, Omar Khayyam [1957], The Lost World [1960], Tower of Terror [1941]) and an 8-foot-tall silver robot named Gort (stunt actor Lock Martin, Invaders From Mars [1953]). When Klaatu produces an object that looks like a scalp-scratcher, he is shot by an understandably scared and nervous soldier. Gort snaps into action and destroys all weapons within sight using an eye beam. Once all weapons are neutralized, Klaatu explains the item mistaken for a weapon was a gift for the President of the United States before he is carted off to be examined by medical officers. The alien visitor Klaatu— human in every way but in origin — doesn’t stick around long, escaping and blending into the human populace using the name “Carpenter” to meet some people.
By chance, “Carpenter” meets beautiful widow named Helen (Patricia Neal, Breakfast at Tiffany’s [1961], Operation Pacific [1951]), her son Bobby (Billy Gray, “Father Knows Best” [TV-CBS]), and Helen’s self-centered fiancée Tom (Hugh Marlowe, World Without End [1956], Between Two Women [1937]) on his way to speak to the leaders of the world to share his message. Instead, Klaatu ends up meeting Dr. Barnhardt (Sam Jaffee, Ben-Hur [1959], Battle Beyond the Stars [1980]), a world-renowned scientist trying to know more about the situation. It isn’t long before they become fast friends with an idea to save the world. Sadly, the US government isn’t gonna let an alien run amok on American soil, and they run Klaatu down and kill him. It’s up to Helen to save the day as Gort is ready to destroy the Earth due to Klaatu’s death. The alien told her the key phrase to stop the attack…and you know it too if not from this movie: “Klaatu verada nikto”. Gort goes into rescue mode, retrieving Klaatu’s body and bringing the alien back to life using technology on the saucer. Klaatu has to say something before he zips off to his galactic brethren among the stars (edited for brevity):
“It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you.”
This line resonated with the 1950’s movie-going public, fresh from their second World War in 25 years and living with the threat of MAD (mutually assured destruction). It was a lesson: there’s always someone bigger to push you around. It’s been years since I watched the movie in part or whole, but something jumped out at me: the organization which Klaatu’s world is a part is policed by robots with sole power and authority on violence, giving organic beings the time and energy to devote to other profitable pursuits without the sacrifice of freedoms save the freedom to act irresponsibly. The obvious counter is people are denied the opportunity to defend themselves, even when the threat is of a non-violent nature — the robots always neutralize the physical aggressor. “It’s not perfect, but it works,” Klaatu says.
The robots are making the call to scour Earth clean if we don’t shape up — NOT the organic beings with room for compassion, but the robots they created— with the power to destroy planets than cannot be turned or rejected. Such a coincidence is an oddly appropriate one when you look at the main star of the re-imagined movie, some 57 years later.
The 2008 re-imagining does everything mostly the same: it casts Keanu Reeves (the Matrix Resurrections [2021], Replicas [2018], Knock Knock [2015]) as Klaatu, an alien with a message. Klaatu’s romantic foil is still Helen, now an astrophysicist and widowed stepmother played by Jennifer Connelly (ALITA: Battle Angel [2019], The Rocketeer [1991]) caring for her young charge Jacob (Jaden Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness [2006], After Earth [2013]). Klaatu still gets to meet Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese, Monty Python’s Life of Brian [1979], Die Another Day [2002]) and most importantly, he still gets shot by the military to kick off the movie. He does have to say “Klaatu verada nikto” to stop Gort from killing everyone.
Speaking of Gort, some things did change: Gort sort of looks the same, but he’s a LOT bigger…and made up of organic metal nanites that move and fly like a swarm of locusts. Klaatu’s mission is wildly different, because he’s saving Earth from humanity’s pollution. No longer is this movie about nuclear annihilation but “ecocide”. At the end, you learn Klaatu was using satellite ships to capture animals all around the world for re-introduction to Earth once humans are gone. The US military tries to stop him, but Gort’s already going wild with his flying nanite swarms consuming all inorganic material when Klaatu is attacked. Once Klaatu has all the animals he needs like an alien Noah’s Ark, he sacrifices himself to the nanite swarm to stop Gort’s attack (and because he loves humanity now). Then the ark flies away with the animals and leaves humanity alone — but not before ruining every electronic device and machine on Earth.
This was the final straw for me, as the writer’s idea of preventing further pollution was to put human civilization back to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. In case you didn’t pay attention in world history class, we began polluting hard as our complex machines worked harder using fossil fuels. Knowing human nature, we would want to reclaim our positions to a point before we were inconvenienced, so the pollution would go even harder than before and make things worse. The writer may have thought it was a better alternative to nuclear annihilation blowing us back to the Stone Age, but that’s damning praise. It’s almost like the person who wrote the movie is an idiot and doesn’t know what they’re doing or what they’re talking about. I know why I don’t remember this movie now: I wiped it from my memory because it was so damn bad.
CHOICE CUTS:
In the 1951 version…
- Klaatu looks 38 years old but is actually 78 years old and has a powerful healing factor. The doctors are stumped as to how he looks so good, as they all have a mid-morning cigarette smoke break.
- All points basically say Klaatu’s a master thief, not an alien. Great at breaking-and-entering, had pockets full of diamonds, pushing up on another man’s fiancée (because he’s Mr. Steal-Your-Girl), and chased by the cops.
- The people responsible for casting the movie made sure that when the film talks about “world leaders” they mean ALL the world, not just the vacation spots or financial centers. People in every costume and skin color could be found.
- The religious subtext is present: Klaatu is a stranger bringing a message. He is shot by the authorities in the side TWICE. He flees to find himself among the people and calls himself “Carpenter” (because Jesus was a carpenter AND a fisher of men). He dies and is reborn. The censors noticed all of this and asked for dialogue rewrites that stand out.
- “Klaatu verada nikto” is the running gag from this movie, but some people say the punchline is forgetting the words. Go watch Army of Darkness.
In the 2008 version…
- Prof. Barnhardt’s library was a level of cluttered I only see in my life….but worse.
- The alien literally left us all in a pre-Industrial state, not just because they destroyed all electrical devices. Time to break out the Baghdad batteries!
- This movie is so forgettable, I thought the Professor Barnhardt character was played by John Lithgow (Cliffhanger, “3rd Rock From The Sun” [TV-NBC]) and not John Cleese.
- The US military gave him the acronym GORT — Genetically Organized Robotic Technology — which is stupid.
- Remakes and re-imaginings were only the beginning; now we have franchises, identity politics, blindly forced multi-culturalism, and multi-verses to mask the corporate greed and poor storytelling craftsmanship. I wonder what foolishness awaits the movie-making business 10 years down the road? Whatever awaits us, remember: the stories told to us are defined by the people holding the means of production…and if it’s not us making the story, then the story’s not for us.
