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. (14/07/2010)

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. (08/12/2008)

A surprisingly respectful remake of the original that goes a little off the path promised by the trailers. With its surprisingly intimate atmosphere, it plays the family card, which in some moments unnecessarily pulls the otherwise very good spectacle into pathos. The film is carried by excellent actors, great special effects, and by the skilled craftsman Derrickson, who can evoke both moments of absolute tension and thrilling popcorn rides where a giant black cloud takes out trucks and football stadiums. I might have expected something a little different in terms of a Christmas blockbuster, but the result is certainly not a bad one. I give it a weaker four stars. (11/12/2008)

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. (13/12/2008)

A great old-school sci-fi (in very nice visual packaging) unfortunately with a typical ending about the hope than human kind can change. I haven’t seen the original, but in my eyes Derrickson did an excellent job maintaining the idea and the feeling of the original (I’ll certainly have a look at that to confirm my thoughts), which has a timeless theme. Moreover, Keanu Reeves exceeded my expectations massively because in truth I couldn’t imagine him in a role like this. For me the best scene of the movie was the ingenious beginning which was very reminiscent of The Thing in terms of atmosphere. (21/01/2009)