'The Day the Earth Stood Still' review

slime0204 from northside - April 07, 2009 at 3:49 AM

I was waiting for will smith to pop his hand out of the ground and amerge from the cemetery scene! Badly directed movie but good story line, will smith's son was totally contradicting himself through out the movie.

saturnyx from Silvis - March 06, 2009 at 12:49 PM

Great movie the best sci fi movie in years . bettter than the cliched independence movie. I do hope that real aliens do invade someday and take my ex wife with them!!

moviesrule from South Side - January 03, 2009 at 10:06 PM

Why does the editor bash Keanu Reeves so much?? He is a great actor and played the role of klattu (however you speel it) very well.

movieman from NYC - January 02, 2009 at 1:19 PM

One has to wonder wther the movie critic for the Tribune actually saw the movie or heard about it second hand. Or maybe he is agitated about the "inconvenient " message the movie is putting out there. First off, Klaatu never said he was a friend of earthlings, just a frined of the earth, which is correct...he's here to save the planet. Then he blabbers on about GORT blowing things up. Well gee, he's protecting Klaatu from the hair trigger humans who tend to shoot first and ask questions later. I guess it escapes Mr. Pias that self defense doesn't make you the agressor (many lessons for today in this). And actually Cathy Bates' character doesn't necessarily want Klaatu dead. she's doing what the naive President instructs her to do. As for one of the major messages of the movie....people usually wait until a crises before changing...it couldn't be more correct.

sloopjohnb from suburbs - December 27, 2008 at 12:46 AM

This was a big dissapointment and not a very good adaptation of the original movie. The original movie is a great story with a lot of hart and character. The orignal version also has a terriffic music socre from Benard Herman (Psycho) where he uses an unusual electronic msucal instrument known as the Theremin. The new version relies more on special effects than storyline and characters are never fully developed. Instead of suspending our disbelief we find it very difficult to believe. The Hollywood machine missed the boat on this one. Big stars and big effects don't make a good story. I also was dissapointed the new version left out a great scene where the Patricia Neal character (Jenifer Connelly) faces Gort and utters those famous earth saving words "Klaatu barada nikto." As far as Gort goes, what were they thinking?

Bonecrusher from Earth - December 26, 2008 at 10:04 AM

Why does Hollywood have to keep ramming their social agenda up everyone's a$$?! I'm so sick of being preached to. Why is half of the movie (at least) devoted to this dysfunctional relationship between a mother and her biracial, insufferably rude kid? I paid to see a classic movie remade with today's CGI effects and got some lame a$$ Hollywood agenda that apparently keeps telling us all that 'We are going to force you to accept our agenda that ALL relationships must be between members of different races. We don't care if the film isn't even about this, we are going to MAKE IT about this until you climb on board with us and try to brainwash the rest of the country into accepting our view on something not even remotely related to this movie'. Guys, we don't care! IT WAS A SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE ABOUT AN ALIEN INVASION! We'll formulate our very own opinions on our society and what WE feel is appropriate, thank you.

scorpio53 from New Mexico - December 22, 2008 at 8:47 PM

Gort is not killed he's transformed into metalic locust who were very much alive. I guess you didn't notice buildings and people disappearing right before our eyes. If anything Klatu killed the locust by touching the sphere just before he entered it. See them movie again and this time pay attention.

scorpio53 from New Mexico - December 22, 2008 at 8:37 PM

I'm a baby boomer who was lucky to spend Sundays with my parents watching "Science Fiction Theater" On several occasions I got to see the original "Day The Earth Stood Still" In fact I gave my husband a poster of the original movie with Micheal Rennie and Patricia Neal. The original done in black and white (common for that era) was frightening in that the message was the same ... Human being destroy mother earth without conscience. Then the cold war was our concern and nuclear bombs in the wrong hands. The remake carries the same message with alot of re-writes. I love this remake. Keanu Reeves has been blasted by movie goers and critic alike, but why? He is playing an alien inhabiting a human body. He plays to character and his director is his guide. I love Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connely and Jaden Smith. What more plot are you talking about? The plot line is that Klatu (Keanu) is here to save the planet earth and rid it of it's parasites (humans). This is not Othelo.

darkdennis from vegas - December 21, 2008 at 7:11 PM

Hey tomw! So they killed Gort? Any other movie surprises you might want to spoil for the rest of us?

Tomw from none - December 21, 2008 at 10:37 AM

Absolutely the worst movie of the year. The film is totally untrue to the original work, and the first film. They KILLED GORT. How could they do that. No one was killed in the short story, or the first movie. This misguided work has Klaatu as the reaper for no good reason. The original story was about mankind being stopped from exporting his nasty ways to the other inhabitants of the galaxy. We were given a warning by Klaatu. What an awful remake of a great story.

Bronks2x from South Jersey - December 18, 2008 at 2:21 PM

Goofy, goofy...utterly goofy. The moral of the story, according to Hollywood..."Dirt is good...people are bad." So if you want to start eliminating people from the planet that are doing it harm. Start with the screen writers guild.

ChiTownBoy from Marriemont - December 17, 2008 at 9:53 PM

Goodness, you think what could have been done with the remake if they has stayed closer to the original script from the 50s. War and terrorism could have been the subject of this one. There could have been some discussion about government knowledge or involvement with UFO's. Skip this one and go view the original.

Chancie from Las Vegas - December 17, 2008 at 2:14 AM

This movie did nothing other than to further prove hollywoods love affair with radical left-wing political agendas. Horrible movie.

Dee from Forest Park - December 16, 2008 at 8:01 PM

The ending was so..........weak!!!!!!!!! It was pretty good until the end. Not work the money!!!!!!

R9 from ghetto - December 16, 2008 at 1:32 AM

it wasn't that bad. we humans still haven't learned anything. the concept of the organic placental spacesuit was cool. Klaatu's sentinal could've been more alien in design. the only letdown was the end. i was expecting an "Abyss" type 'lesson to heed' message; but then everyone would've cried 'no originality'. we humans will never learn.

Pantero from Hayward, Ca - December 15, 2008 at 5:05 PM

They blew this one, trying to put there own spend on this iconic movie. Leaving out the classic lines, "Klatu barrato nickto" (something like that) was a waste. I might have forgiven some of the proding crap. The kid was the best thing in the movie. The movie was stunning. The modern movie maker is so caught in techno tricks this miss a good story. The eco thing was cool, the was they resolved it was, "oops, we ran out of ideas or money".

MarkD40 from Kansas - December 15, 2008 at 4:45 PM

An object is hurtling towards Manhattan from space and the government assembles the top scientific minds available locally and on short notice to help handle the horrific aftermath of the collision. Where do they put these essential people to wait for the imact? Why in a helicopter hovering directly over the site of the impact of course. The alien from this ''spacecraft" requests a visit to the UN to speak to the global leaders. The president of the United States goes into hiding and leaves virtually all of the decision making to his sec. of state who refuses this request, and rather than ask him any really basic questions she has him brought to a facility and has him hooked up to a LIE DETECTOR! Like they are going to be able to interpret the readings they get? There are a number of other examples like this bit you get the picture. DUMB, DUMB, DUMB!

DANNY BOY from OLD TOWN - December 14, 2008 at 11:44 PM

it was terrible, it started out good and was all down hill after that, and what a terrible ending, the original was such a classic it is a shame on how it was ruined with the inappropriate advertising and the interracial marriage.

dante from norcal - December 14, 2008 at 4:19 PM

Not only was this film poorly written, the eerie music composed in the original score in 1951 by Bernard Herrmann was certainly missing. Herrmann used the Fox Studio Orchestra and featured an instrument in the composition called a theremin (looks like a carpenter's saw) providing spacy sounds before synthetic instruments were even invented. The music in the original score added depth and imagination to the story by pulling in the audience into a visual and audio experience transcending the real to the surreal. The remake is an insult to the original and should have been aborted in the editing room.

RVM from Illinois - December 14, 2008 at 8:53 AM

Time stands still while watching this movie.

yours from mine - December 13, 2008 at 11:47 PM

I enjoyed this movie up until MacDonald's golden arches slid into view as a reflection on the protagonist’s windshield. If as the movie points out, humanity must be erased to save the earth I think it only fitting that MacDee’s logo was there as an exclamation point to this message.

shortbus from San Jose - December 12, 2008 at 8:44 PM

An 'unfortunate remake' to go along with Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' as propaganda bookends. They twisted, nay mangled, the elegant original's story to deliver a politically correct version littered with tired 'tipping point' hot air. Spare me the environmental speech and try to simply entertain, please. But this movie commits a far worse crime than propagandizing...it's boring.

Eor from North Carolina - December 12, 2008 at 3:14 PM

Having seen the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still" in 1960(nine years after it's release), this movie niether timely or funny. This is a comedy,right?

2live from indahood - December 12, 2008 at 2:39 PM

How does Keanu Reeves still get work? He's one of the worst "Actor's" on the screen. In fact, if I were an actor I would be angry to be in the same business as him. I hope his agent gets most of Keanu's money.

Ironic Mike from Here - December 12, 2008 at 12:53 PM

I saw the Original at a Classic Movie Theater a few years ago. When I saw some previews on the Web starting a few weeks ago I started thinking, “Are they nuts or what?” If ever there was a case of Hollywood earning its title of Hollyweird, if there ever was product showing just how disassociated the Left Coast if from reality, this movie is among the Top 10. I hope it earns as much money as “Redacted” made earlier this year. :^(

zippy from Dallas - December 12, 2008 at 12:29 PM

I was so disappointed in this movie. I loved the classic original and had hign hopes for this new one. This just proves that a movie made 57 years ago in black and white with no digital special effects can out perform and out entertain a multi million dollar poorly directed and written spin off remake. Simple and clean would have been so much better but Hollywood has to over cook everything it seems. They burned this one!