Day the Earth Stood Still – Region 2 DVD Review

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A remake of the 50’s classic Earth stars Keanu Reeves as alien visitor Klaatu, a “man” who comes to Earth to speak with the human leaders of the planet but instead ends up a prisoner of the US government.

Earth is highly reminiscent of The Hulk’s 2003 version, where half the film is the human soap opera (even with Jennifer Connelly in both movies with essentially the same role) and the other is generic military combat action against inhuman forces. It’s hard not to spoil the film in this review since the detail is where the film goes wrong. For sci-fi fans Earth is worth a look as a rental first but unless you can forgive the incredibly formulaic ending it’s rewatch potential is limited to being something pulled out of a collection every 1-2 years for “something different” to watch.

It’s surprising when rewatching this movie to notice just how anti-US the film is, with heavy notes bashing the American’s handling of the situation, showing they would rather experiment on the visitor and interrogate him than negotiate. There are even points made about global warming so it is a little preachy.

Extras are said (according to our press material) to include an audio commentary, four featurettes and deleted scenes on the DVD version. We are unable to confirm their quality however as they were missing from our press sampler disc.

The biggest problem to be had comes with the ending, it’s almost impossible to describe without ruining the film so I won’t but to leave you with this thought to come back to after watching the movie:

(POTENTIAL SPOILER WARNING)

Think what would happen within a few months if that happened in real life. For most people on the planet it would have the same effect as what would have happened if he didn’t do it. Think heating, think the stuff biofuel is made of and you get the point since you can’t get any of that stuff for most people without the stuff they are without. Intentionally vague for those who happen to glance at this paragraph by accident.

Day the Earth Stood Still is out on Region 2 DVD from April 20th.

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