The Day the Earth Stood Still

I do believe that The Day the Earth Stood Still deserves some credit for crafting a science-fiction story that prefers to move along at a slower, more deliberate pace. It’s a science-fiction film that explores elements of humanism and a call for peace and understanding. But that’s about where my enthusiasm for this film begins and ends.

The cast is game, the effects are top-notch for their era, and it’s beautifully shot, but it’s also tepid, high-minded, and a bit of a bore to get through. The symbolism gets a bit heavy-handed at numerous turns, Klaatu (Michael Rennie) plays out like an outer-space Jesus, bringing about a peaceful gospel and call to forming a loving brotherhood of man. Except that he also threatens that humanity either gets its shit together, or face destruction. This doesn’t really brush against the religious symbolism. What else does God do a lot of in the Bible than demand obedience of his whims or threaten dire consequences for disobedience?

Yet the film also demands that the world learn to get on with each other in a peaceful cohabitation. Here is a film made during the height of paranoia in the Cold War that questions what the hell are we doing, and offers a jaundiced view of where we might be headed if we continue on this path. The narrative gets muddled, and the pace gets a lost tedious if you try to critically think about the confused religious allegory married to the call for peace. It works decently enough as a message movie, and there’s things to admire here, yet I’m not entirely sold on its status as a beloved classic.