History YMMV / TheDayTheEarthStoodStill2008

* HarsherInHindsight: The reason Giants Stadium is destroyed by nanites became '''harsher''' when the stadium was demolished from February 4 (one month after the stadium's final game on January 3, 2010) to August 10, 2010.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Humanity. We're supposed to appreciate we're heading down a road that would result in GaiasLament, and we need an appropriate wake-up call. However, when up against [[ScaryDogmaticAliens the disportionate madness of Klaatu]], and his cognitive dissonance bordering on unwillingness, to accept Earth is indeed the planet humans call "home", do you sympathize with people for not building weapons and technology that can expel what is essentially a race of exoplanet ecoterrorists.

* {{Anvilicious}}: "Stop [[GreenAesop destroying your planet with primitive technology]] or we will stop all your technology. And that's only because HumansAreSpecial [[HumansAreBastards Bastards]]."

* UncannyValley: Used deliberately with Klaatu. He has little or no texture on his face, and Keanu pulls off the role of an alien learning human behavior and getting it just close enough (but not perfect) to be unsettling brilliantly.

* EsotericHappyEnding: Klaatu agrees to spare the Earth and humanity, but only after he generates an EMP so powerful that it stops ''all'' technology on Earth. Given how technologically-dependent our whole society has become, it's guaranteed mankind will plunge into a dark age. Current agriculture is unsustainable without industrially-produced fertilizers, meaning billions dead from starvation at the least. But at least Jacob finally called Helen "Mom", right?

* FridgeHorror: If you thought humanity would just go on and survive relatively unharmed by the events of the ending without any electricity, think again, as [[http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=29682 this article explains]]. Many millions of people will die. People [[TheyWouldCutYouUp on the operating table would wake up in due time, find they're still opened, and die.]] Aircraft would spiral out of the sky, while people stuck at sea would die within weeks. Mass starvations and famines would occur without the technology to mass-produce food and send it across the globe, while preventable diseases and common moderate to serious injuries would mean certain death without modern medicine to save patients. Without any fuel or means to control them, [[StuffBlowingUp Nuclear power plants, Traditional oil, gas and coal-fired power stations, and chemical plants would explode the world over, poisoning the landscape.]] Anyone caught in areas where the dead nanomachines litter the ground [[RazorWind now risks being cut to ribbons by billions of what amount to miniature razor blades the moment the wind blows.]]
** The article goes on to posit what might happen if the surviving humans were to find a way to get around not having access to electricity; the day everything stood still would be incorporated into new religions, and [[FantasticRacism across every continent, humans would grow to both fear and hate the ones who came from the sky and took everything from them.]] Provided humanity finds a way to recreate [[SteamNeverDies the Industrial Revolution]] and bring back steam power, electricity may eventually be regained through the use of turbines and Faraday cages; eventually, if some semblance of normality is gained, any future alien expeditions may find Earth to be far from a paradise, but with great swathes of its surface a poisoned, irradiated hellscape [[MoreDakka bristling with weapons of all kinds]] and a bloodied, but not disarmed dominant species waiting, potentially with the means to get the upper hand...

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Keanu Reeves really puts effort into his performance and many agree that he captures Klaatu's inhuman nature perfectly. Reportedly he loved the original and wanted to treat it with as much seriousness and respect as possible. In fact the only reason the famous KlaatuBaradaNikto is said ''at all'' in the film (and even then it's barely noticeable) is because [[DoingItForTheArt Reeves insisted on saying it]]; the filmmakers [[CanonDefilement didn't want it said at all or even alluded to]].

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Various characters from the government and military are depicted as being callous, paranoid, and inhumane when they immediately imprison the injured alien visitor and attempt to interrogate him about what he's doing on Earth. Even though the viewers are supposed to be disgusted with their behavior, there's one minor problem; Klaatu is indeed planning to destroy the entire human race, taking all of a day and a couple interviews to verify it as the right course. [[ProperlyParanoid The "inhumane" government officials were completely correct to treat him as an enemy.]]

** Except that he ''was'' initially open to negotiation to call off the planned attack, and she scuttled that possibility without a second thought.

* EsotericHappyEnding: Klaatu agrees to spare the Earth and humanity, but only after he generates an EMP so powerful that it stops ''all'' technology on Earth. Given how technologically-dependent our whole society has become, it's more than likely that mankind will plunge into a dark age with millions, perhaps even billions of deaths. But at least Jacob finally called Helen "Mom", right?

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: In the scene where Klaatu is shown some of the good things that humans do, it would've been enough to have Klaatu say [[WhamLine that he had been on Earth before, with a different body]] to turn a [[SoOkayItsAverage mediocre]] remake into a good StealthSequel.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: in the scene where Klaatu is shown some of the good things that humans do, it would've been enough to have Klaatu say [[WhamLine that he had been on Earth before, with a different body]] to turn a [[SoOkayItsAverage mediocre]] remake into a good StealthSequel.

* AfterTheEnd: If you thought humanity would just go on and survive relatively unharmed by the events of the ending without any electricity, think again, as [[http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=29682 this article explains]]. Many millions of people will die. People [[TheyWouldCutYouUp on the operating table would wake up in due time, find they're still opened, and die.]] Aircraft would spiral out of the sky, while people stuck at sea would die within weeks. Mass starvations and famines would occur without the technology to mass-produce food and send it across the globe, while preventable diseases and common moderate to serious injuries would mean certain death without modern medicine to save patients. Without any fuel or means to control them, [[StuffBlowingUp Nuclear power plants, Traditional oil, gas and coal-fired power stations, and chemical plants would explode the world over, poisoning the landscape.]] Anyone caught in areas where the dead nanomachines litter the ground [[RazorWind now risks being cut to ribbons by billions of what amount to miniature razor blades the moment the wind blows.]]
** The article goes on to posit what might happen if the surviving humans were to find a way to get around not having access to electricity; the day everything stood still would be incorporated into new religions, and [[FantasticRacism across every continent, humans would grow to both fear and hate the ones who came from the sky and took everything from them.]] Provided humanity finds a way to recreate [[SteamNeverDies the Industrial Revolution]] and bring back steam power, electricity may eventually be regained through the use of turbines and Faraday cages; eventually, if some semblance of normality is gained, any future alien expeditions may find Earth to be far from a paradise, but with great swathes poisoned, irradiated hellscape [[MoreDakka bristling with weapons of all kinds]] and a bloodied, but not disarmed dominant species waiting, potentially with the means to get the upper hand...

* {{TearJerker}}: Jacob's futile request for Klaatu to bring back his father, and Jacob and Helen's reconciliation afterward. It's so tearjerkery it makes Klaatu decide not to destroy humanity.

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Keanu Reeves really puts effort into his performance and many agree that he captures Klaatu's inhuman nature perfectly. Reportedly he loved the original and wanted to treat it with as much seriousness and respect as possible. In fact the only reason the famous KlaatuBaradaNikto is said ''at all'' in the film (and even than it's barely noticeable) is because [[DoingItForTheArt Reeves insisted on saying it]]; the filmmakers [[CanonDefilement didn't want it said at all or even alluded to]].
* UncannyValley: Used deliberately with Klaatu. He has little or no texture on his face, and Keanu pulls off the role of an alien learning human behavior and getting it just close enough (But not perfect) to be unsettling brilliantly.
* WTHCastingAgency: Brilliant scientist Creator/JohnCleese saves the Human race. No, really.

* AfterTheEnd: If you thought humanity would just go on and survive relatively unharmed by the events of the ending without any electricity, think again, as [[http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=29682 this article explains]]. Many millions of people will die. People [[TheyWouldCutYouUp on the operating table would wake up in due time, find they're torn open on the operating table, and die.]] Aircraft would spiral out of the sky, while people stuck at sea would die within weeks. Mass starvations and famines would occur without the technology to mass-produce food and send it across the globe, while preventable diseases and common moderate to serious injuries would mean certain death without modern medicine to save patients. Without any fuel or means to control them, [[StuffBlowingUp Nuclear power plants, Traditional oil, gas and coal-fired power stations, and chemical plants would explode the world over, poisoning the landscape.]] Anyone caught in areas where the dead nanomachines litter the ground [[RazorWind now risks being cut to ribbons by billions of what amount to miniature razor blades the moment the wind blows.]]

* DesignatedHero: Klaatu. We're supposed to see him as TheHero even when he has come to destroy humanity. [[spoiler:To be fair, he changes his mind at the end of the movie.]]

* EsotericHappyEnding: Klaatu agrees to spare the Earth and humanity, but only after he generates an EMP so powerful that it stops ''all'' technology on Earth. Given how technologically-dependent our whole society has become, it's more than likely that mankind will plunge into a dark age with millions, perhaps even billions of deaths. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint But at least Jacob finally called Helen "Mom", right?]]

* {{Tearjerker}}: Jacob's futile request for Klaatu to bring back his father, and Jacob and Helen's reconciliation afterward. It's so tearjerkery it makes Klaatu decide not to destroy humanity.
** Apparently, the thing that makes humanity worth sparing is our capacity for emotional schmaltz.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: in the scene where Klaatu is shown some of the good things that humans do, it would've been enough to have Klaatu say [[WhamLine that he had been on Earth before, with a different body]] to turn a [[SoOkayItsAverage mediocre]] remake into a good StealthSequel.
* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Keanu Reeves really puts effort into his performance and many agree that he captures Klaatu's inhuman nature perfectly. Reportedly he loved the original and wanted to treat it with as much seriousness and respect as possible. In fact the only reason the famous KlaatuBaradaNikto is said ''at all'' in the film (and even than it's barely noticeable) is because [[DoingItForTheArt Reeves insisted on saying it]]; the filmmakers [[CanonDefilement didn't want it said at all or even alluded to]].

* {{Designated Hero}}: Klaatu.
* {{Designated Villain}}: Secretary of Defense Regina Jackson, one of only a couple of characters who display any common sense and intelligence at all in the film.

* TheScrappy: Jacob

** The opposite is also true, the humans act out and wind up the aliens even though they had no clear weapons and were not clearly attacking them.
*** There's also the fact Klaatu decided to destroy the human race after A) he got shot when arriving at the planet, B) got his request to TakeMeToYourLeader denied by some bureaucrat treating him like some terrorist or spy, which any politician will tell you a major failure in PR and International Relationships, [[Hypocrite especially when said woman commented she was worried he might be there to colonize us, but has no idea of how much power he may have, which means a diplomatic posture is the way to go to avoid a war]], and C) talked with a DeepCoverAgent who explicitly told him HumansAreTrueMonsters [[HumansAreMorons Morons]], because we are perfectly aware of what we do to ourselves but are unwilling to do anything about it. Klaatu had come with two mission parameters: A) Try talking some sense onto human leaders, B) Consult DeepCoverAgent's opinion on the matter and B) Initiate Purge if everything else fails. Klaatu has absolutely no reason to consider us more than insane warmongers, especially when Jacob is talking all the time about fighting and killing the aliens. First impressions are everything, and Klaatu's first impression is that we're AlwaysChaoticEvil AxCrazy and self-destructive, [[EnfanteTerrible even the children]], and thus have no place in intergalactic community and are destroying an habitable planet(Klaatu also comments Earth is one of the few lif-sustaining planets his species is aware of, which implies they are worried about not being able to find new sentient life and may have faced AlwaysChaoticEvil species before; letting some crazy race destroy it beyond repair for fleeting stuff like money and politics is against the imperative of his kind). Only after talking with two scientists, best examples of mankind not being stupid warmongering greedy bureaucrats, and witnessing human compassion make him realize that we aren't naturally evil and there are people worth saving.

** She attempts to interrogate and vaguely threatens a representative of a race powerful enough to wipe out humanity just by forgetting to hit the breaks when it enters atmosphere.
** Debatable, all she wants is a battle, no matter how irrational it is.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: The military is 100% right about Klaatu, yet the film wants us to cheer against them, because Violence Is Not The Answer.

* EsotericHappyEnding: According to Website/TheAgonyBooth's [[http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still_2008.aspx recap]]. Klaatu agrees to spare the Earth and humanity, but only after he generates an EMP so powerful that it stops ''all'' technology on Earth. Given how technologically-dependent our whole society has become, it's more than likely that mankind will plunge into a dark age with millions, perhaps even billions of deaths. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint But at least Jacob finally called Helen "Mom", right?]]