So being the nerd that I am, I had to see TDTESS opening night. Understand, though, that I went into the film completely biased against it. The trailer had me pretty upset when I first saw it months ago. It was clear that the original 1951 film’s thoughtfulness was being replaced with flashy swarms of nanobots, explosions, and gratuitous CGI, but the main reason I disliked this new version before even seeing it was the question, Why remake a great film?
 Gort 2008 |
I have previously reviewed the original DTESS as one of the great, must-see classic films for being ahead of its time. Baby Boomers often tell me about how much the original film scared them as kids, but when I see it, I only see a positive, redeeming film.
 Klaatu and Gort 1951 |
TDESS is a cult favorite among geeks. Announcing “Klaatu Barada Nikto” is a surefire way to gauge how hip another nerd is (bonus points for knowing what other films the saying has appeared in). I believe the quote makes an appearance in the 2008 version, but it’s so distorted and alien as to be unrecognizable. Unfortunately, this is also how the rest of the film pays tribute to the original.
1951’s Klaatu comes to Earth to deliver an important message about the human race’s place in the cosmos. 2008’s Klaatu has simply come to kill us all. His reasoning is that planets capable of supporting life are too rare to let the human race kill this one; however, Roger Ebert best articulates why this is faulty logic:
The aliens are advanced enough to zip through the galaxy, yet have never discovered evolution, which should have reassured them life on earth would survive the death of mankind. Their space spheres have landed all over the planet, and a multitude of species have raced up and thrown themselves inside… the aliens plan to save all forms of life except the intelligent one.
Both the 1951 and 2008 versions cleverly acknowledge that teachers and academics are the true leaders of the human race, but in the 2008 version it is the humans who must teach Klaatu this rather than 1951’s Klaatu having to teach us this fact by refusing to meet with world leaders, instead choosing to assemble an audience of professors to deliver his climactic speech.
And what’s wrong with having some dialogue? The best segment in the 2008 DTESS is when Klaatu debates a Nobel Laureate played by John Cleese about the future, or lack thereof, of the human race. The vastly superior extraterrestrial who has traveled light years to exterminate the human race gets completely schooled by the Earthling Professor. Klaatu, for all his powers, isn’t very bright in this remake.
He’s also a hypocrite, judging us for being violent and destructive, and then proceeding to use violent and destructive methods against us. 1951’s Klaatu was far more powerful than this new kid on the block. He had an unstoppable robot that he preferred not to use, could make the Earth stand still just as a demonstration, and never had to kill or harm anyone, because the truly powerful know that, “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”
When you remake a great film, try to do it with a little more competence.