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A ministry of the ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP Ministry) A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Christian Ministry. www.capalert.com/ Entertainment Media Analysis Report A service to His little ones through you in His name by His Word MAR29008  (2008), PG-13 [Lite PG-13*] (1hr 39min) With Comparative to the 1951 Original The #1 Christian entertainment media analysis service on the Internet. We give you OBJECTIVE tools NO ONE ELSE CAN to help YOU make an informed decision for yourself whether a film is fit for your family. Over 1200 analyses for parents, grandparents, pastors, youth leaders and more. |
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(While the Scriptural references are certainly not subjective, my commentary may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)
 Cast/Crew Details Courtesy Internet Movie Database Production (US): 20th Century Fox, 3 Arts Entertainment, Earth Canada Productions Distribution (US): 20th Century Fox Director(s): Scott Derrickson Producer(s): Paul Harris Boardman, Gregory Goodman, Erwin Stoff, Marvin Towns Jr. Written by: David Scarpa (Screenplay) Cinematography/Camera: David Tattersall Music: Tyler Bates Film Editing: Wayne Wahrman Casting: Heike Brandstatter, Mindy Marin, Coreen Mayrs Production Design: David Brisbin Art Direction: Don Macaulay Viewed on Fox Home Entertainment DVD  This analysis report is sponsored by the congregation of The Chapel of the Good Shepherd and E&HP. Hollywood has portrayed for years that people will act like criminals and thieves during mass disasters such as in The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008). Such is not likely the truth. I prepared a white paper for a commercial nuclear power company to forecast the response of people to mass evacuations. Studying numerous actual disaster evacuations revealed that people did not generally respond with looting and mayhem: that people generally respond more in organized camaraderie and self-sacrifice; that looting and such did occur (more by individuals than "mobs") but to a much lesser degree than implied by Hollywood; that looting is more associated with rioting and other forms of civil unrest than disasters. So much for Hollywood's movies being like "real life" which so many youths have tried to claim in defense of the content of films. Manufactured looting with mayhem with disasters is just one example of the false "teachings" of movies. So, as I have preached for years, using films to teach not how to behave too often teaches how not to behave. Further, for so long movies have been given so much credit for being like real life that real life has become like the movies. Real life cannot be learned at the movies. It takes a lot more than exposure to manufactured life in film to learn how to manage life. I could go on and on with example after example but won't. I am certain the caliber of intellect of our readers is quite capable of capturing the intent. The film's Nobel prize winner Dr. Jacob Barnhardt (John Cleese) said "At the precipice [edge of disaster] we change." What Dr. Barnhardt is referring to is we as a people seem to change our destructive habits only when we are faced with destruction ourselves. Quite a poignant point indeed. Visiting alien Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) tangently touches on Dr. Barnhardt's profound wisdom with "If the earth dies, you [mankind] die. If you die the Earth survives." That is the theme of the entire show ... that man must be eliminated from the face of the earth so the Earth may be restored and made ready for some other worthy life form since, as Klaatu claims, there are so few planets in the universe capable of supporting complex life forms. Such is Klaatu's goal in this 2008 "remake" of the 1951 classic of the same title. With the help of a supremely powerful robot named GORT, Klaatu's goal in the 1951 version was to reduce the planet to a "burned out cinder" if man took his violent aggressions into space. But this time, in 2008, Klaatu's goal was to rid the planet Earth of mankind and save earth from mankind. The film opens in 1928 and leads the viewer to believe an extraterrestrial globe about ten feet in diameter came to earth to obtain some DNA samples from a human in order to plant one of "theirs" on the earth to start the process of eliminating man from the earth. The man who provided the unwelcome theft of his DNA looked strangely like the quintessential character, Klaatu, who arrived on Earth 80-some-odd years later in a globe the same as but much larger than the one in 1928 to begin global homicide. Astronomical observers noted a object near Jupiter traveling at 3e7 (30,000,000) meters per second. The speed of light is 3e8 (300,000,000) meters per second (actually 299,792,458 meters per second or approximately 186,282.4 miles per hour). First thought to be a meteor or comet of unprecedented speed the object changed course, heading for Manhattan, New York. If the object hit the Earth at that speed it would mean total obliteration of the Earth. But when the object approached the Earth it slowed down and landed in Central Park. Now this huge translucent ball-shaped space ship with what looked like global electrical storms inside it lay silent and motionless in Central Park. Of course, the government gathered massive ordnance to combat what is perceived as a threat. The government also amassed a large group of scientists to provide technical and scientific support services. Enter the picture Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), the counterpart for Department of Commerce secretary Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) of the 1951 version. The stage name is just about all that is common between the two Bensons. In this 2008 version, Dr. Benson of the New Jersey based Princeton University is an astrobiologist who was "abducted" by the government for reasons of national security to be part of a team of scientists to study the space ship. So important was the government's plans for Dr. Benson that they shut down their two of the four lanes of the highway to a miltary base to ensure her arrival. The 1951 Benson met Klaatu (Michael Rennie) as Mr. Carpenter quite some time after the beginning of the movie as he sought a room in Mrs. Barley's (Francis Bavier) house where Benson boarded with her son, Bobby (Billy Gray). While an Army captain was first to meet Klaatu in the 1951 version, in this 2008 version Benson was the first to meet Klaatu as he emerged from the globe spaceship. In both the 1951 and the 2008 versions the first thing that happened to Klaatu after setting foot on the Earth is he is shot by a trigger-happy soldier. Of course, the gunshot injury was much more graphic in this "modernization" of the original. In the 1951 version, Benson was not yet introduced but in the 2008 version Klaatu fell into Benson's arms after being shot. The "Klaatu barada nikto!" expression is somewhat famous but is used incorrectly in this 2008 version. In both versions an intimidating robot named GORT appeared after Klaatu was shot. In this 2008 version Dr. Benson was kneeling with the injured Klaatu in her arms as GORT (Genetically Organized Robotic Technology in this 2008 version) appeared and used high frequency sound to temporarily incapacitate all nearby humans plus some sci-fi force to disable all electrical devices. Here, in the 2008 version, the injured Klaatu told GORT "Klaatu barada nikto!" At that command GORT ceased his aggressive posture. In the 1951 version when GORT (Lock martin) appeared after Klaatu was shot, it proceeded to melt all of man's weaponry to which the injured but alone Klaatu ordered "GORT! Deklato prosko!" which caused GORT to stand down. In the original 1951 version the "Klaatu barada nikto" expression appeared when Klaatu told the 1951 Benson during a military chase to capture him, dead or alive, to tell GORT "Klaatu barada nikto" if anything happened to Klaatu. Note also that the 1951 version was based in Washington DC but this 2008 version is based in New York City, in Central Park to be precise. Klaatu is rushed off for medical aid. In the 1951 version Klaatu was rushed off to the Walter Reed Hospital. No mention was made as to where Klaatu received medical aid in the 2008 version. While receiving medical aid the surgeon finds that the alien is a being encased in a bio-engineered space suit which resembled human placenta which makes sci-fi sense since the Earth-bound Klaatu was born just a few hours earlier which does not make sense. Surgically removing the spacesuit revealed the very nude Klaatu. There is yet one more measure of the "modernization" of the film. There was absolutely no nudity of any kind in the 1951 version. Klaatu uses mental powers to escape from the clutches of the government to roam among those he plans to destroy: to implement plans of total annihilation of mankind. In the 1951 version GORT is capable of destroying all life on Earth with his cyclops ray and herculean strength and invulnerability. The 2008 version offers a diversion from that device. The 2008 GORT began annihilation of mankind by reducing himself to microscopic replicating parasites that looked a lot like crickets. But these "crickets" could consume an 18-wheel truck and driver or a colosseum in seconds. They could even consume diamond. SPOILER: But in the end Klaatu's heart softens because, though Benson's love of her son and a couple other moments of self-sacrifice of humans, Klaatu sees another "side" of humanity and deploys an energy wave from the mother ship that eradicates all the parasites. Kathy Bates as Secretary of Defense adds new dimension to the story as the eyes and ears of the President who is in hiding. Bates may be a replacement for Mr. Harley (Frank Conroy), Secretary to the President but Conroy's role is much more benevolent than Bates'. Benson's son, Bobby of the 1951 version, whose Army father was killed in Anzio, is replaced by Jacob (Jaden Smith) who takes the youthful contribution in a completely different direction than Gray. Jacob, whose mother died a year after Jacob's birth, is the son of a engineering soldier killed in the line of duty a year earlier and ten years after Helen married him. Smith promises to be a fine thespian but the writers, of course, had him being a mouthy, rebellious kid. There is another example of the "modernization" of the original. Jon Hamm serves as Michel Granier of the scientific team assembled to combat the alien threat. This character is more fill and sidekick than support but provides some connectivity between subplots. In a subjective sense, Reeves is upstaged by Connelly. She has more screen time and is undoubtedly better at her part than he at his. On to that for which most of our readers come. Immediately following is a comparative of the scoring data for both versions of this film.  One can easily see the decline of morality as shown by the much lower scoring distribution earned by the 2008 version. The shorter the column of "mercury" in a thermometer (and thus the lower the area score) the more the severity and/or frequency of assaults on morality and decency found in that investigation area. The content of the 2008 version found by each investigation area except the Drugs/Alcohol reveals a decline in the wholesomeness of the content: more assaults on morality and decency in comparison to the 1951 version. Such a decline from an original and its remake is quite common. Indeed, I cannot remember any original/remake pair that did not show a "modernization" of morality in the remake. Next are brief discussions of the content found by the six individual investigation areas. Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 This film is, as are many PG-13 films, equivalent in magnitude to the violence content of many R-rated films, not so much due to the severity of individual issues of violence/crime but due to of the number of them (see CAP Rule of 1000 for more information on this loading technique). The most scoring-expensive examples of violence include a graphic depiction of firearm assault and action violence sequences with graphic death. The surgical procedure used to remove Klaatu's "placenta" is somewhat graphic, too, as the viewer watches the scalpel penetrate the tissues and watches the tissues slough off. Also of rather graphic assault are some matters of death by the fantasy parasites, repeatedly. Though it is probably not likely such demonstrations of violence will entice the viewer into similar violence, such influence can transpose into seemingly unrelated violent behaviors. Feeding our minds with violence of any kind squarely flies n the face of God's Word. [Prov. 16:29] Impudence/Hate (I) - 73 out of 100 There is but one use of profanity in the entire 99 minutes of the film. [2 Tim. 2:16, Prov. 8:13, Isa. 13:11] The rest of the loss of the 27 of the starting 100 points of this investigation area is due to adolescent arrogance and rebellion toward fair authority and lies/deceit. [Rev. 21:8] Sexual Immorality (S) - 70 out of 100 Quintessential to the loss of points in this investigation area is the full side nudity of Reeves (or a stand-in) in two separate views. [**] One might argue that it is truth that all warm-blooded creatures are born nude to excuse Reeves' nudity. To that let me remind the defender that warm-blooded creatures do not come out of the placenta as an adult. Presenting the nudity in this film (or any other film) is no more than Hollywood milking nudity to draw the adolescent moviegoing dollar. Period. In addition, having a child speak of cohabitation as a viable option and the inappropriate touching of Connelly by a soldier as he captures her from behind each took their scoring toll. Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 90 out of 100 The only instance of drugs/alcohol is the drunkenness of the pickup driver and his passenger as they drove Klaatu, Helen and Jacob to Jacob's father's grave site. One might think "big deal" but the American College of Physicians thinks otherwise. A 2002 study by the American College of Physicians (ACP) revealed that adolescent exposure to drinking in and as entertainment undeniably leads to abuse of alcohol among underage kids. The finding entitled Relation Between Parental Restrictions on Movies and Adolescent Use of Tobacco and Alcohol reports that of 4544 youths from grades 5 through 8 of fifteen Vermont and New Hampshire middle schools (90% of the youths were under fourteen years old) only 16% were completely restricted from viewing R-rated movies. Within the ACP study population, the prevalence of having tried alcohol without parental knowledge was The researchers selected R-rated movies because they assumed R-rated movies typically present more drinking than movies of other classifications. This assumption is no longer true. The researchers were not aware of the matter of R-13 proven by this ministry in 2000 with which Harvard University scientists agreed four years later. The bottom line? The focus is that the influence of adolescent exposure to drinking (and smoking) in and as entertainment is undeniable regardless of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) classification. [Eph. 5:18] Rather revealing of the influences of the entertainment industry wouldn't you say? And emboldening children to sin with drink in and as entertainment screams of violating Luke 17:2. Offense to God (O) - 66 out of 100 Three uses of God's name in vain (without the four letter expletive) [Deut. 5:11], mockery of faith-based activities and positions, and lauding the Earth over humans were the only matters in applicable to this investigation area. Murder/Suicide (M) - 90 out of 100 Klaatu murdering a police officer by sandwiching him between two cars is the only matter of murder or suicide, Klaatu reviving/healing the officer notwithstanding. SPECIAL NOTE: I keep getting queries about how I can notice so many things in films many folks say they don't notice. This note is an attempt to help you understand. Sherlock Holmes was portrayed with exceptional powers of observation. Another way of thinking about powers of observation is attention to detail. God has given me strong attention to detail. A couple examples of this can be found in this The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008). When Helen Benson was "abducted" by the federal government with all the police cars and their flashing lights, one can see the casting of their emergency light beams through her house curtains and it is obvious the emergency lights are rotary. But not a single one of the police cars had rotary emergency lights. All of them were stroboscopic. How may of you caught that? Also, when the government agent was confirming Benson's identity when Helen told them there must be some mistake, the agent used Helen's social security number to provide the confirmation of Helens' identity. But how many noticed the number was only nine digits instead of the standard ten-digit number? I hope this assures each of you that if I make a claim of the content of a film it is indeed present. SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S) If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ] or bold. If you wish to have full context available, the Blue Letter Bible is a convenient source. If you use the Blue Letter Bible, a new window will open. Close it to return here or use "Window" in your browser's menu bar to alternate between the CAP page and the Blue Letter Bible page. CHAPTER/VERSE ***Selected Scriptures of Armour against the influence of the entertainment industry*** As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie. |
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 Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 Impudence/Hate (I) - 73 out of 100 Sexual Immorality (S) - 70 out of 100 Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 90 out of 100 Offense to God (O) - 66 out of 100 Murder/Suicide (M) - 90 out of 100 |
| There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings. |
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