The original The Day the Earth Stood Still was flawed in many areas, but it delivered the goods. It is one my list of favorite sci-fi flicks. The film tells the story of an alien who comes to Earth to warn us that we don't stop fighting aliens would step in and destroy us for their own safety - kind of a "do as I say, not as I do" proposition. This was done with one of the clearest uses of a Christ figure in cinematic history.

Today, since everything needs to be "re-envisioned", there's a new version coming our way.

In the old days Hollywood was doing what it could to answer the threat of international communism by equating both sides of the Cold War. This time, since the good guys won the Cold War, there needs to be a new enemy. I heard early on that since the Hollywood leftists have recast themselves from being secretly red to being in-your-face Greens, the bad guy is now humanity because we don't recycle enough. That's right good ol' Global Cooling....er, Warming...er, Climate Change. That's right, the alien comes down to tell us that we don't start treating Mother Earth better, they're going to kill us.

If you're not already doing it, this is where you should be groaning.

This trailer certainly appears to support that rumor. The alien Klaatu (played by Keanu Reeves - it seems the production is not focusing on great performances), apparently refers to himself as a "friend of the Earth" and the final line of the trailer he says "If the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the Earth survives". At least the greens are starting to get around to their actual agenda - kill that pesky cancer known as mankind.

To everyone who agrees with that last line, all I have to say is:

You first.






Screenwriter: David Scarpa (The Last Castle)
Director: Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose)
Actors: Keanu Reeves (The Matrix), Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), Kathy Bates (At Play in the Fields of the Lord), John Cleese (A Fish Called Wanda), and Jaden Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)

Labels: film, global warming, Jaden Smith, Jennifer Connelly, John Cleese, Keanu Reeves, movie trailer, Scott Derrickson