There were previews of a movie coming out in 2009 that is called "2012", in reference to the whole Mayan calendar of doom thing.  Dunno anything about the plot, but the preview special effects were sweet.  Huge ocean swell rising over mountain tops.  Watch the first preview at the link above.  Very cool.

Spoiler alert!  Don't read more if you want to see the film "The Day The Earth Stood Still" with a fresh perspective.  I broke my rule about avoiding anything with the Fox name on it and went to see the movie tonight.

First off, they can claim if they want to that Keanu said these famous three words, but I didn't hear them.  There was a garbled technosound at the beginning of the movie that may have been that phrase, but I couldn't make it out.  Yes, the beginning of the movie.  Yes, it was Klaatu that said them.  Somebody shot Klaatu as he exited the ship, and Gort activated then to protect, but Klaatu shut him down right away.  After that, we don't really see much of Gort any more.  They box him up and lower him into a missle silo.  He's a lot more menacing than the original, but he doesn't really get much play time.

Keanu didn't ruin the movie like I expected.  He didn't do much speaking at all, so that probably helped.  It was all about the special effects.  Yay!  :)

The decision is made to destroy humanity in order to ultimately save the Earth ecosystem for future use.  Small sphere ships land all over the planet.  They absorb specimens of species as a kind of Noah's Ark to save them from the coming apocalypse.  Nice touch, I liked that.  Later, though, when Klaatu changes his mind and decides to save humans too... I didn't understand just what made him choose that way.  If there was a dramatic point of ethical tension to cause it, then I missed it completely.  Keanu: "It's time to change my mind, otherwise the ending of this movie will be a real downer."  *laugh*

You know in the original when Klaatu shut down electricity on the whole planet to demonstrate his power, but he left airplanes and hospitals unaffected?  Well, in this new version, loss of electricity happens worldwide and affects everything.  We see ships in harbors... what happened to planes in flight?  Doomed, I'd guess. 

The loss of electricity is the permanent injunction against our civilization as the cost of allowing us to continue living here.  I think.  We sort of need to infer that it is, anyway.  They're not real specific.  They wind up the ending very quickly, so it's a little confusing.  I think they blew their special effects budget and had already sent all the actors home.  Roll credits, please.

Oh, and this whole eco-responsibility message for the film?  Well.... "This apocalypse brought to you by Microsoft and McDonald's.  Thank you for your patronage.  Buy more stuff!"  Okay, maybe that quote wasn't in the film.  But it might as well have been.  *annoyed snort*  Window's logos don't need to be that big.  We don't need to see the golden arches reflecting across the car windshield either.  Product placement is really out of control.

So.... overall the movie was not the train wreck that I thought it was going to be.  In spite of it being in the huge theater and only 20 people showed up at 9pm on opening day.  But I was just going for the special effects, and they were pretty.  I'm easily entertained on that level.  :)