Review of The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) by James C — 05 Dec 2012

When an alien lands in America, the human race soon finds out that the message he has come to deliver could mean the end of everything.

Here we have another example of when the Hollywood movie machine decides to remake a classic movie, and the viewers are presented with a high budget failure. The original version is a seminal classic of the SF genre, and is one of those films that really, really didn't need remaking, but (of course) this didn't stop someone from deciding that it needed updating. The plot follows the same basic idea, but the changes become more and more noticeable as the movie progresses, and none seem to add anything new or memorable. The movie starts off slowly, then picks up a little in the middle, becomes a complete CGI fest towards the end and the climax is abrupt to say the least. The major change for this viewer was the character of Gort, and though he does slightly more in this version, he just feels like a complete cartoon and has lost the mystique of the original incarnation. The acting is nothing more than standard and even Keanu Reeves seems slightly more wooden than normal. All in all this is substandard remake that should have never been considered, and though it is viewable, it should really only be watched if you have never seen, or have no love for the original version.