The Day the Earth Stood Still

An average sci-fi film with an idea and a message, but not everyone is necessarily going to be in the mood for it. Keanu Reeves impressed me the most in the film - he plays the alien in such a way that he really looks perfectly "out of it" most of the time - and I was also looking forward to John Cleese. Even though I knew his role wouldn't be the biggest... I wasn't expecting such a bark :-/ The good thing about this film is the quality visual effects, the bad thing is definitely the annoying stepson and after him the sometimes boring plot. Basically, three stars. (07/14/2010)

A worthy remake that does not put its predecessor to shame. The original was released in the 1950s, during the raging Cold War, and spoke with much more urgency, so the pleas that "We can change!" in the current version sound rather empty, but technically, it's clear that this spirited little sci-fi film has benefited from a modern coat of paint, especially in the character of the alien guardian Gort, who surpasses his predecessor in terms of impressiveness. The charismatic Keanu Reeves certainly didn't disappoint, but I'd love to shoot the whiny Smith to the Milky Way. (04/11/2009)

A big film, but with very little content. The story tries to look as spectacular as possible, but in reality it’s surprisingly mediocre and bland throughout, best evidenced by the emotionally utterly cold finale. So the only thing really worth mentioning is Keanu Reeves as the alien and a couple of visually impressive scenes that at least kept me awake for 100 minutes. Otherwise, just slightly above average sci-fi nonsense that has absolutely no chance in today's competition. (08/27/2012)

After the almost hateful reviews that absolutely trashed the second half of the film, I expected almost anything except a pretty normal ending, which is actually considerably better than Independence Day, for instance. Last year’s genre relative I Am Legend also was much weaker. In short, The Day The Earth Stood Still is unlikely to become a new classic, but if I had to pick between it and any destruction orgy from Emmerich, I would choose Klaatua hands down. The director did his work with panache, delivering many scenes with a perfect atmosphere, and if I had to complain about something, it would be the script, or rather, the family storyline, but even that was bearable. (12/13/2008)

This really was a failure. Visually weak, retarded ideas, it flashes here and there is a decent atmosphere, but otherwise the sky is gray and no rain falls from it. The frowning Reeves and his Golem bring a message from the stars, but they find themselves in the middle of a flood of clichés from traditional disaster films, including the stupid family crisis of a beautiful astrobiologist. The result is a confused ride from place to place and boring chatter about humanity to the sound of Bach and the machine gun cannonade of the US ARMY. And when there's nothing to show, we get an unraveling as if from a goofy hippie trip. This is not about simplicity of thought, but rather simplicity of presentation. Derrickson tripped up nicely with this, and his version of the sci-fi classic is neither a sexy spectacle nor a film with a solid idea. It is worth considering that in terms of balance and the presentation of a simple agitating idea, the new version cannot compete with the original whatsoever. (12/08/2008)