Oh, BTW, that’s James Hong, AKA Lo-Pan from Big Trouble in Little China. 
listening to Keanu speaking Chinese is like listening to him speak Don John’s lines in Much Ado–completely foreign in his mouth and vaguely painful
oh yes, recognized him right off I think he’s the go-to Chinese actor. he’s been in everything
True, but most military people back then were blue-collar folk, working from a very clear-cut us-versus-them mentality. The military is infinitely more advanced and far more nuanced. They’d be much more aware of the futility of their actions — and the likelihood of escalation going badly. 
“You think we scared them off?”
“They’re not afraid of us.”
Maybe you should consider the implications of that.
“If the Earth died, you die. If you die, the Earth survives.”
Sad, but increasingly true.
hmmmmm now it’s about saving the Earth. that’s different
yes, but I think it fundamentally changes the story–sorta rips the heart out of it
It makes a certain amount of sense. In the '50s, the most advanced technology known was nuclear. Now, we have more options. :rolleyes:
john cleese is the scientist?? I love it!
It wouldn’t have to, necessarily. But I think it would have taken a better script to salvage it, though.
Lt. Kelley!!
John Cleese is downright brilliant here. It could have been so good from this point on, but…
He does get around, doesn’t he?
that’s too bad Cleese had me interested
Keanu should’ve tried giving the kid some diamonds 
Yeah, me too. Then Klaatu resorts to casual violence to take down the helicopters, making him not much better than us. That’s where he lost me.
exactly! Klaatu in the original had such a noble presence. don’t know how much is Keanu and how much is the script, but I’m just not feeling it
Yeah, and then they start frakking with Gort. Instead of the unstoppable robot of the original, it’s just a cloud of nanobots now.
That would have been an original idea, you know, 20 years ago.
You’ll also note the complete lack of the Earth standing still, like the title.
This movie suffered from the same problem as I Am Legend: it was made by people who didn’t appreciate — or understand — the source material. :mad: