If you think Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” showed the danger of polluting the planet, you haven’t seen anything yet.
“The Day the Earth Stood Still,” the big-budget remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic, replaces the fear of nuclear apocalypse with the consequences of our effect on the environment.
The cheesy charm of the old version has been replaces with the typical nuances of a blockbuster: computer animation and product placements aplenty. Appropriately enough, the fate of humanity is decided under the golden arches.
The iconic Klaatu is played by (gulp) Keanu Reeves, who actually seems to be at home playing a creature that isn’t quite sure how to be human.
Jennifer Connelly plays Dr. Helen Benson, who for some reason is more qualified than anyone to deal with the incoming aliens. Perpetually glassy-eyed, she always looks on the edge of breaking down completely.
Jaden Smith, son of actor Will Smith, plays Connelly’s stepson, and the two are still dealing with the loss of Smith’s father. The trio of Reeves, Connelly and Smith form a Terminator-Sarah Connor-John Connor kind of relationship, where destruction and salvation walk hand in hand.
The first hour of the movie is a masterful exercise in building suspense. The viewer is a character in the movie, as we follow Connelly from a late night trip into a government headquarters, where we learn about an imminent threat to the earth.
The special effects are very well done. When a mysterious orb appears in Central Park, the audience is standing right next to the confused New Yorkers witnessing something that humankind has never experienced.
The supporting cast is star-studded, included Kathy Bates as the Secretary of Defense and John Cleese as an eccentric astrophysicist. While the movie is essentially a three-person show, the other actors hold up their part nicely.
The movie’s failing is that is digs itself too deep in the suspense, and doesn’t know quite how to get itself out. When it hits its peak after the first hour, it doesn’t know where to go, so it tries to back out with computer-generated effects.
The movie is almost worth seeing in the theater, because a large screen and digital sound heighten the atmosphere at the beginning of the film. But whether or not $10 is worth an hour or so of good special effects is up to you.
Rating - $6.00
Showing posts with label sci-fi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sci-fi. Show all posts
Friday, December 19, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
X-Files: I Want to Believe
“The X-Files” remains one of the staples of ‘90s television. It was ahead of its time, existing in the decade before shows like “Arrested Development,” “Heroes” and “The Wire” were meant to be released on DVD, so crucial plot points wouldn’t be missed.
The show combined the police drama of “CSI,” the occult parts of “Lost” and the back and forth banter of “Bones” before such things even existed.
“The X-Files: I Want to Believe” brings Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully into the world of BlackBerrys and Google.
Six years after the series ended, we find the two agents have taken their lives in different directions, directions that don’t involve the FBI or the X-Files themselves.
Sure, Mulder is a little more jowly and Scully’s hair is blonder than the signature auburn bob that she wore during the show’s nine-year run. But the signature give-and-take between the two hasn’t lost a step, and the familiar roles of Mulder as the believer and Scully the skeptic return pretty quickly.
As soon as the five signature notes of the theme song are played and the familiar type crawls across the bottom-left corner of the screen, it won’t fail to bring nostalgia to any fan of the show.
The alien conspiracy is the 900-pound gorilla in the room, and it is dismissed quickly in the movie, allowing it to be a “monster-of-the-week” plot which can stand alone from the show.
In this day of trailers that show the ten best lines in the film, director Chris Carter kept the plot completely under wraps. This allows the viewer to go into the movie not knowing what to expect, which is a rarity in today’s cinema.
Fans of the suspense genre will enjoy the film, even if some references to the show will go unnoticed. The main plot moves along fairly quickly, but it is a little bogged down by a subplot involving Scully and her medical profession.
Gillian Anderson reprises her role very well, she is able to portray Scully’s delicate emotional state with a minimum of words, allowing her face to give a window to her mind.
David Duchovny, despite his wish to leave the series before it ended, seems like he is glad to be back to his signature role. He hasn’t lost a bit of the wry humor of Fox Mulder, and his dedication to his work that consumed him in the show comes back with a vengeance.
The supporting cast, which includes rapper Alvin “Xzibit” Joiner, Billy Connelly (“The Last Samurai”) and Amanda Peet (“Syriana”), lets Mudler and Scully take control, but they add to the film’s depth. Each one has at least one scene where they steal the focus, and this helps the film get beyond just a simple television remake.
Unfortunately, fans curious about the status of Mulder and Scully’s relationship won’t get any concrete resolution, as the film raises more questions than it answers on the subject.
At 105 minutes, the movie isn’t too long, but if the reintroductions and subplot were taken out, it would fill a normal episode of the show.
The big question with any silver screen adaptation of the television show is how it will play to both the show’s fans and the casual moviegoer.
Fans of the show should not miss the movie, even if they got tired of the alien conspiracy that dominated the later seasons. The prospect of Mulder and Scully working together on a case that defies explanation is too good to pass up.
Rating - $7.50
The show combined the police drama of “CSI,” the occult parts of “Lost” and the back and forth banter of “Bones” before such things even existed.
“The X-Files: I Want to Believe” brings Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully into the world of BlackBerrys and Google.
Six years after the series ended, we find the two agents have taken their lives in different directions, directions that don’t involve the FBI or the X-Files themselves.
Sure, Mulder is a little more jowly and Scully’s hair is blonder than the signature auburn bob that she wore during the show’s nine-year run. But the signature give-and-take between the two hasn’t lost a step, and the familiar roles of Mulder as the believer and Scully the skeptic return pretty quickly.
As soon as the five signature notes of the theme song are played and the familiar type crawls across the bottom-left corner of the screen, it won’t fail to bring nostalgia to any fan of the show.
The alien conspiracy is the 900-pound gorilla in the room, and it is dismissed quickly in the movie, allowing it to be a “monster-of-the-week” plot which can stand alone from the show.
In this day of trailers that show the ten best lines in the film, director Chris Carter kept the plot completely under wraps. This allows the viewer to go into the movie not knowing what to expect, which is a rarity in today’s cinema.
Fans of the suspense genre will enjoy the film, even if some references to the show will go unnoticed. The main plot moves along fairly quickly, but it is a little bogged down by a subplot involving Scully and her medical profession.
Gillian Anderson reprises her role very well, she is able to portray Scully’s delicate emotional state with a minimum of words, allowing her face to give a window to her mind.
David Duchovny, despite his wish to leave the series before it ended, seems like he is glad to be back to his signature role. He hasn’t lost a bit of the wry humor of Fox Mulder, and his dedication to his work that consumed him in the show comes back with a vengeance.
The supporting cast, which includes rapper Alvin “Xzibit” Joiner, Billy Connelly (“The Last Samurai”) and Amanda Peet (“Syriana”), lets Mudler and Scully take control, but they add to the film’s depth. Each one has at least one scene where they steal the focus, and this helps the film get beyond just a simple television remake.
Unfortunately, fans curious about the status of Mulder and Scully’s relationship won’t get any concrete resolution, as the film raises more questions than it answers on the subject.
At 105 minutes, the movie isn’t too long, but if the reintroductions and subplot were taken out, it would fill a normal episode of the show.
The big question with any silver screen adaptation of the television show is how it will play to both the show’s fans and the casual moviegoer.
Fans of the show should not miss the movie, even if they got tired of the alien conspiracy that dominated the later seasons. The prospect of Mulder and Scully working together on a case that defies explanation is too good to pass up.
Rating - $7.50
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