Monday, December 15, 2008

The day the Earth Stood Still reveals the importance of writers. And words.

Yes, the film sucks.

Or well, at least far from what every one would have expected.

But why?

Remember months ago that all script writers had a dispute with the way Hollywood remunerated them? During the months-long negotiation period, more and more writers for movies and TV episodes joined forces by declining to write - Yes, they all stood still.

And I strongly believe The Day the Earth stood still is a victim out of such issue.

Indeed the storyline does create big room for interesting twists. Yet, disappointingly, it just turns out straight like a ruler.

A big batch of scientists were "hijacked" within a short while to supposedly save the planet from being collided. Yet only 1 question was raised from the experts, and it was a typical FAQ in some Sci-fi movies we've seen.

The main actress, Jennifer Connelly, is a very specialized scientist with a discipline on Extra Terrestrials, yet her role in the movie is nothing more than a housewife.

While I must say the computer animation does provide us with some stunning eye-opening moments, yet sadly they still can't hide the emptiness of the whole film nor to shift, sustain a story with a nice start, let alone granting every viewer an ending that feels complete.

Because a good movie is more than stunning visual effects.

It takes a good story teller to take it to great heights.

And so happened, the majority of them are writers.

While the mass belittle the value of existence of writers in this era of visuals, it's time for each of us to wake up, to give a big bow to all the great ones remained, on Earth.

Before we could see great movies that marry visuals and words in harmony, I'm afraid we have to bear dozens of hollow ones that look nice on screen which would trigger dirty words from viewers' mouths.

Feel the power of words?