MovieChat Forums > The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) Discussion > Are Some Of You Legitimately Insane?

Are Some Of You Legitimately Insane?

posted 9 years ago by FModerators
14 replies | jump to latest

I'm serious. How do you not see how mediocre this film is and calling it mediocre is being kind? The massive flaw at the beginning of this film is enough to write it off as garbage. You have an object that is going so fast that it's supposed to vaporize everything so you send your team to the site so they can die first. This stupidity is not something that can be overlooked. In a science fiction film there are plenty of aspects that require the audience to suspend disbelief, but this is not one of those situations. How the director or anyone else working on this film did not point out this error I'll never know. Now add on the fact that Jennifer's character does not flip her $h!t at the fact that her stepson has been left behind to die. You pick me for this mission and then I find out my home is ground zero! This film was terrible.

[–] starwolf 9 years ago

Yea, it's terrible but sending a team to the site, while perhaps useless, isn't preposterous. The object was moving so fast it would have been bigger than the dinosaur killer. It would have mattered where on Earh the team was - everyone was going to die.

Since the .team would die anyway along with everyone else it doesn't matter where they went.

Just one more stupid irrationality in a movie full of stupid. If you give any part of this movie half a rational thought you find stupid.

[–] FModerators 9 years ago

Yea, it's terrible but sending a team to the site, while perhaps useless, isn't preposterous. The object was moving so fast it would have been bigger than the dinosaur killer. It would have mattered where on Earh the team was - everyone was going to die.

The purpose of gathering up all those important people was to have a team in place to deal with the aftermath, so sending them in helicopters to hover within eyesight of the impact makes absolutely no sense. If everyone was going to die no matter what we did then it also made no sense to gather up these people so they could be given a ringside seat to their death. It's a huge flaw and there is no legitimate way of explaining this away. Had Jon Hamm's character explained to the people in the room that the object is probably a space craft because it has changed direction and speed and he wanted a team to be there when it landed that would have made sense, but right up to the moment the team was in eyesight they were under the impression that the object was some sort of comet or asteroid.

Since the .team would die anyway along with everyone else it doesn't matter where they went.

Really! So if you are going to die you would rather be forced by the government to leave your family so you could die ringside with a bunch of strangers? Seriously think about your logic. The film has a massive flaw within the first 10 minutes and it never recovered. I would love to ask the director how he did not see this flaw, because it was so obvious...well to most people. I don't have a lot of confidence in Doctor Strange knowing this guy is at the helm. I'm thinking it will probably be right up there with Green Lantern.

[–] starwolf 9 years ago

You are making good points, but let me add that a lot of people under orders don't necessarily get to choose where they will die.

I agreed it's silly but you went a step further with preposterous. So let me ask, you really can't see the US government doing something so silly and potentially useless? If you do, then it's not preposterous.

But, like the rest of this barely warmed over rehash of a superior product, it IS silly and useless.

[–] FModerators 9 years ago

So let me ask, you really can't see the US government doing something so silly and potentially useless?

Not this silly. Not even the government is dumb enough to put together a team to deal with the aftermath of an impact by sending them in helicopters so they will die immediately. Even the scientists would have said no. Someone working on this film should have had the balls to point this error out.

[–] starwolf 9 years ago

Not this silly. Not even the government is dumb enough to put together a team to deal with the aftermath of an impact by sending them in helicopters so they will die immediately. Even the scientists would have said no. Someone working on this film should have had the balls to point this error out.

If that is your opinion then you are right in calling it preposterous.

I think the government is that silly, but that's just my opinion.

[–] cleverfox 8 years ago

Umm, sounds like you folks comparing the object discovered hurtling towards earth to be another "global killer"; yet in the opening minutes - after the object is analyzed - it is concluded that it does NOT share any characteristics of known meteorites, comets or asteroids so it has to be alien in origin. Thus, why would anyone suspect they would be killed? They knew it was being steered in and THAT required intent.

And, FWIW, everyone knows that it was an asteroid impact that gave rise to the dinosaurs - about 230 million years ago - and another asteroid impact - about 60 million years ago - that took 'em away . . . RIGHT? (In fact, the earth was formed by large and small body impacts over its first 3.5 - 4 Billion of its 4.5 Billion years of age). And I'm sure there will be other "Large Body Impacts" to come which will wipe out humanity and clear the way for the next species to inhabit the planet. I mean, > 95% of all species which have inhabited the earth since it formed are already extinct and that's just over the past 500 Million or so years - life didn't exist before then. And if we get lucky - spared another asteroid hit - the next ice age predicted to occur in ~ 18,000 - 20,000 years, and extend to the fall line in Georgia, will clear some of the population.

Klaatu, and other alien life forms interested in sustaining planets which can support complex life, might want to invest some time and technology into creating additional "complex life sustaining" planets. Mother Earth is middle aged and expected to die rather quickly when our sun begins dying in another 4.5 Billion years - give or take a few hundred million years or so.

[–] kpddukpoki 8 years ago

but they also said it's coming to Manhattan and probably will wipe every thing out and also pointed out that evacuation was impossible. So sending the team there is still ridiculous.

[–] Jecht_Sin 8 years ago

That stupidity has nothing to do with science fiction. In the movie it was a decision made by politicians. Since George W. Bush was in charge at the time of filming it even feels plausible. The only difference is that Bush would have started a preventive war against Alpha Centauri.

[–] starwolf 8 years ago

And your buddy Hillary would have voted for it, so what's your point?

[–] Jecht_Sin 8 years ago

I am not an Hillary supported, I am not even American. I am just saying that the amount of stupidity shown by the George W. Bush administration(and Tony Blair. And Silvio Berlusconi And.. The French were right, thought!) is pretty much in line with the one in the movie. I am still waiting to see the infamous Iraq's WMD. Same for the Anthrax. But I do see what ISIS is doing and the consequences we have in Europe right now because of it.

The parallelism in the movie (more about the preventive attack of the "invading alien force" - which was not - than just about sending the team there) is quite evident. The movie has a political agenda. The mistake of sending the team (made by the politician in charge) just added some fuel to it. Anyway, not a Science Fiction hole.

[–] starwolf 8 years ago

Neither you nor I have seen the CIA's support for their claims that the Iraqi military forces had Weapons of Mass Destruction, and we won't see them for several years.

However, according to the CIA document titled "Prewar Status of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction" (March 1991)

The report asserted that Iraq apparently believed that it needed chemical weapons both as a deterrent and to fulfill its role as "protector" of the Arab world. There were strong indications, according to the report, that Iraq was prepared to use chemical weapons in any conflict with the United States. The author(s) characterized Iraq's biological weapons program as "the most extensive in the Arab world." With respect to nuclear weapons, the report concluded that Iraq probably had the capability, if combined with clandestinely acquired foreign technology, to develop nuclear weapons in the late 1990s. Iraq's ballistic missile program was "the most advanced in the Arab world," the report also concluded.

Another report that same year concerned Project Bablylon, the Iraqi supergun (components of which were seized by the United Kingdom.)

Did Iraq completely dismantle all of this capability and stop development of the SCUD into a ballistic missile? Evidently, the CIA didn't think so and had enough evidence to convince Bush's administration and gain Congress' support for an invasion. (See, it wasn't just Bush, it was Congress that approved it based on evidence presented.)

My point is not to say the war was necessary or justified - just to say neither you nor I was the one sitting on the hot seat and hearing what the intelligence agencies were saying.

Further, according to a report in the New York Times published in 2014, over 5,000 chemical warheads where found in the invasion. Chemical warheads are, of course, weapons of mass destruction.

However, the popular narrative, repeated early and often by idiots such as Sean Penn and Michael Moore, had already gone out that nothing was found.

[–] jamotide 8 years ago

The WMD thing is mostly to ridicule, I agree it is silly, of course we had to assume they had chemical weapons, we supplied them.

[–] mariakelly-04164 8 years ago

This movie was a waste of time, money, and energy. The 1951 version was perfect.

[–] Satan2016 (25525) 4 years ago

Given that it's velocity is c/10 you know it's not natural. By the time we notice it we only have a couple of hours to prepare for global destruction.

Even more stupid is that Greenpeace Aliens would know how to travel between stars!