There have been plenty of alien invasion movies made in the last fifty years or so. Many people will argue that they are largely a metaphor to explore our collective fears of mutual nuclear destruction. But as we move towards a world free from the fear of indiscriminate atomic bombings, can these metaphors still pack the same entertainment punch? The remake of a classic, "The Day The Earth Stood Still," proves the answer is a resounding "yes." It's well known that many of the science fiction, alien invasion type movies in the fifties and sixties were metaphors for the ever increasing and overhanging threat of complete destruction due to nuclear war. The original movie addressed this directly, as the invading aliens came to give Earthlings a warning to either stop fighting or face the wrath of the aliens. As with the original, the aliens come as representatives of a group of planets. But the Earthlings were in danger of not being included due to their bad habits. In the original movie, the bad habits were warfare and nuclear stockpiling. In the remake, the bad habits are ecological mistreatment of our own planet. Our story starts out with several scientists being rounded up by some military or government personnel, we're not sure which. They aren't told the exact reason, only that there is an impending problem, and the government officials aren't sure what to make of it. The scientists are shocked to find out that there is some object hurtling towards Earth, and if it isn't stopped, it will easily destroy everything. They all brace for impact, and of course nothing happens. The object turns out to be a giant space craft. As the contact entity exists his ship, he is shot by a trigger happy soldier, and we meet Gort. The giant robot, who is of course, the alien's guardian. They take the representative to a government hospital, where he is to be interrogated. They get a few answers out of him, but he isn't here to answer questions. He is here on a fact finding mission. Is the Earth worth saving, or not? This is his mission, and based on how he is treated when he first arrives, his instinctive answer is that the Earth should be given a fresh start. And by giving the Earth a fresh start, he means to kill all the people, and let the Earth slowly repopulate itself. Not good news for the current Earthlings, to be sure. But a strange thing happens to this seemingly purely logical alien from who knows where. The various people that he meets on his run from the authorities convinces him that Earth people are pretty decent, on an individual level. He concludes that because people are good, we deserve a second chance. But unfortunately, events have been set into motion which he may be unable to stop. He tries for a compromise, one that may be inconvenient, to say the least, but is much better than complete destruction. This remake, while touching on the same principles of the original, manages to introduce some modern issues. All in all, it's worth seeing, but not worthy of a spot in your own personal library. This one is definitely a rental.
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