I want to hate this film. I really really do. You probably already do. You, like me, probably realized pretty early on that this was a brainless mannequin of a film with absolutely zero of the intelligence of the original. You, like me, probably felt that Keanu Reeves performance as an alien attempting to mimic human emotions looked a lot like his other performances as actual human beings. You, like me, probably got irritated by the prococious Fresher Prince and his forced emotional state based solely on whatever was needed to move the plot forward. You, like me, probably fell for Jennifer Connelly and her every-woman aura that conflicts so harshly with her rare beauty. You also probably realized that she was given absolutely nothing to do here but hold the Prince by the hand.
But I, unlike you, went into this realizing it wasn't going to be a direct riff on the original and far superior film. I've come to expect lower quality from remakes of classic films, and as usual that's exactly what I got. My expectations were lowered, and as such they ended up exceeded. Not because this story about an alien sent to Earth to help us save the planet but ends up with a hollowpoint to the breastplate was good, but because it was fun. That's all. Just...fun. As a sci-fi nerd, I squealed with joy when the massive GORT made his first appearance to protect Klatu. I nearly clapped when he vaporized a squadron of fighter jets, putting our arrogant military to shame. And you know what, even Keanu got in the act a little bit by squeezing out the only real bit of tension in this film during his interrogation. So what if the "moral" of the film, that we should conserve our planet before we lose it, is piledriven home so forcefully Paul Orndorff should get a writing credit. That wasn't the point.
The point was to make geeks like me giddy with delight, even if just for a few minutes out of a two hour film. And while I certainly won't recommend it, I can't in good conscience be one of the people who trashes it completely. I'll leave that to everybody else.
5/10, yeah I know I gave it a 6 on the podcast. But with more thought, this is what it gets from me now.
