Robert Wise: my hero.
There are times when I hear a song on the radio and I think, damn, that’s a good song, who wrote that? And I find out. Then, a few years later, I hear another great song. Turns out to be the same songwriter. Then I find out that I’ve been hearing great songs by the same person for years, and just didn’t know who that was.
So, I just had another songwriter experience, only this time it was for Robert Wise, director.
I mean Sound of Music, The Andromeda Strain, West Side Story, The Day the Earth Stood Still?
So I’m sorry to report that the remake, due out on the 12th this month looks terrible. I’m only judging by the trailers. Two things scare me.
One: The Klaatu character says, “If the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the Earth lives.” Uh-oh. You mean some aliens invade, and seeing how we’re “ruining the planet” decide to wipe us all out? You’ve got to be kidding. This is about as bad as a story line gets. Trite, i.e. another environmental sob story with no real fact, no real subtlety, no real thought. Incoherent, i.e. how do you “save” Earth by murdering 7 billion people?
Two: Based on the massive amounts of dramatic CG, they should have called the movie, The Day the Earth Got Really Frenetic and Noisy.
I sure hope I’m wrong. But I think a lot of people on this project owe Mr. Wise an apology.