The Day the Earth Stopped (2008) (V)

User Rating:

3.1/10   

Director:

C. Thomas Howell

Writers:

Darren Dalton (written by)
Carey Van Dyke (written by)

Release Date:

9 December 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

By night they will come, by day we will be gone.

Plot:

Hundreds of massive intergalactic robots appear in all of the world's major capitals with an ultimatum: Prove the value of human civilization or be destroyed. |

Plot Keywords:

Block Blunder | Giant Robot | Military | End Of The World | Action Hero

Cast

C. Thomas Howell	...	Josh Myron
Judd Nelson	...	Charlie
Darren Dalton	...	Prewitt
Sinead McCafferty	...	Sky
Bug Hall	...	Man
Cameron Bender	...	Sam
Jonathan Sanders	...	Aide
Lew Knopp	...	Davis
Reiko Kaneshiro	...	Lisa
Jason Ellefson	...	Dr. Shankman
Graham Denman	...	Urchin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lynn Beaudoin	...	Terrified Woman
Branwyne	...	Mourning Woman
Ben Brock	...	Champs O'Fallon
Scotty Carlisle	...	Guard
Brandon Clutton	...	Spec Ops #7
Theron Cook	...	Guard #3
Stephanie Greco	...	Agent
John Harley	...	Guard #7
Warren Henry	...	Spec Ops #3
Todd Honig	...	Man Running
Daniel Inkeles	...	Agent #2
John Karyus	...	Terrified Man
Tyler Koster	...	Spec Ops #4
Brian Krow	...	Spec Ops #2
Jeff M. Lewis	...	Jeff
Shelby Lewis	...	Church goer #2
Thunder McQuaid	...	Lt. Tuck Pendelton
Jake Miller	...	Spec Ops #1
Jake Miller	...	Spec Ops #1
Patrick Ian Moore	...	Guard #6
Alejandro Mora	...	Guard #5
William Morey	...	Dr. Will
Abigail Digna Prendes	...	Sky Baby
Jessica Prendes	...	Church goer
Jose Prendes	...	Guard #4
Holly Slater	...	Woman Running
Raj Thiruselvan	...	Drunk Man
Dustin J. Trost	...	Running Irishman
Prince Pheenix Wade	...	Guard #2

MPAA:

Rated R for some nudity.

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Singing Springs, Angeles National Forest, California, USA

Company:

Earth Stopped

Trivia:

"The Day the Earth Stopped" appears to be an homage to "The Day the Earth Stood Still". The two films parallel each other not only in title but in basic story, with the mecha-like Monoliths taking the place of Gort.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At the end of a scene where no cars are supposed to work, a police car appears passing by in the distant background.

Movie Connections:

Version of "McHale's Navy: The Day the War Stood Still (#2.1)" (1963)

about as crappy as it looks - if it quacks like a very quick get-rich rip off, it is

C. Thomas Howell used to be an actor that seemed to be a next-big-thing kind of deal in the 80s, with roles in ET, The Outsiders, The Hitcher and Red Dawn... then something happened: he became a common garden variety character actor. And then something else in the past several years: he took whatever job he could get, or could try and drum up quick. In this case The Day the Earth Stopped is not only a rip-off, it's a rip-off of a *remake* of the 1951 Robert Wise The Day the Earth Stood Still. And make no mistake this is about as clear a get-some-quick-money-quick s*** going on here, no more no less. It's got a plot about as thin as an anorexic twig and less brains than I could think to count. It sometimes sprouts a moment of odd clarity among the many, many dumbs scenes (one of them definitely not being a 30 second birth that happens in the back of a van during a chase and then an immediate resurrection of the dead-from-childbirth mother by McCarthy's hot Klaatu rip-off alien - or is it her male counterpart that's Klaatu?)

Who keeps track when a totally clean baby is born thanks to bit-part-but-MAIN-CHARACTER-on-video Judd Nelson? It's directed with the flair of a 4 year old finger-paint from an AIDS infected oil derrick. Crew lights pop up constantly in a shot (sometimes as an "intentional" effect, other times it's just plain damn laziness), the roof of the set can be seen many times, the crew is seen running up to a black truck (me and my friends just had to chuckle at the lack of any money to fix something like that), and the beginning and opening credits alone spell what certain doom awaits with the *slow* crawling. The robot aliens and nuclear fall-out scenes are, to say kindly, completely unrealistic when compared to other baffling and stupid alien-robot-nuclear-fallout movies.

Did I mention the acting? Good Lord! Maybe the most random reference to Angelina Jolie EVER, plus, um, Judd Nelson? What did Howell do to drag you into this? Maybe a cookie? This is tripe, but maybe not the worst ever made.... just bad enough to leave that "horrible" taste in your mouth. Howell could've done worse, and I'll be damned to an undisclosed circle of hell if I live to see it. Maybe it's just worth picking up the video box at Blockbuster to read the back and see a "quoted" review (I put quotes on quoted since it was probably the director who wrote this blurb) which says "In the epic tradition of Transformers and Independence Day." Can you say yikes sandwich with a side of WTF/ha-ha dressing?