“The Day the Earth Stood Still” Review

The Day the Earth Stood Still, a classic parable from 1951 with the most poetic title in all of science fiction, was begging to be updated, and so it has in this new film starring Reeves and Connelly. The new Day has spectacular effects to back up its sermon (it was preachy then, it’s preachy now) about humanity’s failings and how those might annoy a universe that’s concerned we’re about to muck up the neighborhood.

But it’s only about three quarters of a good film, a solid thriller that loses heart and ends so abruptly as to make you wonder if the screenwriter didn’t simply go on strike and refuse to provide a finale…full story [OrlandoSentinel]

The best thing in the movie is Michael Rennie, who as the courtly extraterrestrial diplomat Klaatu exudes the sad yet deeply expressive charm of a haunted Peter O’Toole. In the expensive but plodding new remake, the spaceship – now an ethereal globe – lands in Central Park, and Gort isn’t so lovey-dovey; he’s like a super-tall, obsidian Oscar statue wreaking havoc. As for Klaatu, he’s now played by Keanu Reeves, who speaks every last line in a deliberately blank take-me-to-your-leader monotone that makes him sound like a kid imitating the rote sci-fi aliens of the ’50s Michael Rennie transcended. Reeves seems to be trying to wriggle out of the charge that he’s a flat actor by acting flat on purpose. But in The Day the Earth Stood Still, he is flat. And boring. And so is the film…full story [EW] Continue Reading…