Starring: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith, John Cleese, Jon Hamm, Kyle Chandler, Robert Knepper, James Hong

Directed by: Scott Derrickson

20th century Fox

The Official Site of The Day the Earth Stood Still

Discuss The Day the Earth Stood Still on the boards!

The Day The Earth Stood Still does the unimaginable. This remake of the classic film that thrilled fans with its futuristic message of paranoia during the cold war, tackles a broader, ecological dilemma, and manages to make it both fiercely interesting and remarkably boring at the same exact time. Expecting the audience to be dazzled by a great idea (that’s been great for 50 years by the way) and explosive visuals, The Day The Earth Stood Still seems to think we won’t notice the missing ending or one-note conflict. The truth is the Earth was standing still because we all fell asleep waiting for something to happen.

That is perhaps a little unfair to say as the movie moves quickly in the beginning, introducing you to the important players, the global threat, the alien presence, and their intentions with Earth before you can catch your breath. I thought all of this was incredibly well done. They’re constantly showing us new takes on alien encounters and alien technology all with an air of fear and the unknown (even if movie trailers and TV spots have already given you a basic idea of what to expect.) It's a sci-fi geek's wet dream right there on screen for you to just soak up and try to wrap your head around.

But... nothing happens. There's next to no satisfaction in terms of seeing the alien threat in action. Images of a semi tractor-trailer and Giants Stadium being devoured by an unidentifiable grey cloud of destruction in the trailers are very impressive. I hope that's enough for you to get your fill though, because that's basically the turkey, stuffing, cranberry and potatoes of this visual post-Thanksgiving feast. Plus - you're on a diet so there's no dessert.

Now, this is not to say that the effects are bad. Other than the robotic sentinel GORT being a little too polished (but as bad ass as the old school fans want him to be) and the emergence of the alien representative Klaatu (a purposefully wooden Keanu Reeves) into our atmosphere being clearly computer generated using the old Matrix life models, visually the film is stunning. The alien spheres are somewhat generic but are oddly beautiful in their own swirling, glowing, dust ball kind of way.

I swore I would try and not make comparisons to the original but it bears mentioning that they’ve dropped the film’s most famous line. There's no "Klaatu barada nikto" fail-safe command so that our heroine can save the day. This leaves Jennifer Connelly little to do other than be a good mother and try to convince Klaatu that the human race isn’t retarded. (EDIT: a few readers have alerted me that the line is briefly used in the early part of the movie though it’s very quickly and so softly that I didn’t even notice it. Regardless, it’s not used as a plot device as well as in the original which is unfortunate.)

I've resigned with myself that this is a concept that might not be able to have a truly satisfying conclusion. It's a unique alien invasion story in that they're not the bad guys, we are. As an audience whom do you root for - The species that you're part of or the species that's doing the right thing? Any movie that can make you ask yourself those kinds of questions deserves to be watched, but it also deserves a better ending.

Rating: 5 out of 10 - The film has a very strong start, even through the point where the previews reveal a little too much, but ultimately fails on being a truly impressive sci-fi adventure. It feels like a really well produced episode of The Twilight Zone instead of the blockbuster spectacular it was intended to be.

Nope. As visually interesting and intellectually stimulating as I find this film to be, it is too bland and boring a tale when you break it down. Those dazzling effects and ideas will lose their luster the more you’re exposed to the film. Honestly I’m kind of hoping they make a sequel so they can combine everything they’ve got going for themselves with an adventure worth going on.

This joke came to me while watching the film. I was befuddled at how unimpressive the film decided to conclude. It’s a little more impressive then the comic makes it out to be but it might as well have been this lackluster. With a story this big you have to end big and this movie rolls credits long before you’ve heard a satisfying explanation of anything that just happened.

That said… this joke might be more for the folks that saw the movie this weekend then casual stopper bys. I thought of trying to over explain the joke but realized it is what it is and that I should leave it be. Hopefully you saw the movie this weekend and had a similar reaction to the film that I do in the comic. Thank God the movie did decent box office.

The Invasion - The Invasion is another classic sci-fi remake featuring top notch talent state of the art visuals. Now, the film was not very well received at all but I found it to be a lot of fun and extremely tense throughout. Body Snatcher remakes are all about that constant air of paranoia so in my mind they nailed the movies true intent. The Day the Earth Stood Still seems to have gotten lost in the visuals.

X-men Origins: Wolverine - Part of Earth’s campaign in the last week was promoting that the first full trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine featuring Hugh Jackaman donning those pointy claws and famous mutton chops for the fourth time on the big screen. I’m a huge fan of Jackamn, and I’ve always thought he was a good fit for Wolverine so it’s a huge thrill to see both his willingness and excitement to return to the character that made him famous. That said, I’m not sure this later trailer shows us anything to get excited about just yet.

We get a glimpse at the supporting cast including an extended look at fan favorite Gambit played by Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) and there are one or two action set pieces including Wolvie getting launched off a flipping car towards a helicopter that look pretty awesome. I wonder how that helicopter thing will work out!? Don’t wonder too much because I’m reasonably sure it’s the same helicopter that we saw earlier in the trailer exploding behind Wolverine in as he walked away in slow motion. It’s not a knock out trailer but it’s still exciting to see one of the greatest comic book characters of all time back in theaters.

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Tune into The Triple Feature tonight where the guys and I will be talking about the Sean Penn film Milk as well as the Golden Globe nominations and any question s you folks should choose to send in. I’m surprised at some of the nominations but it’s definitely an interesting list they’ve put together. At the very least it gets me excited about this last month of movies waiting to be seen. Stuff like Benjamin Button, Doubt and The Wrestler are all top priorities for me and they’re all being embraced by the award shows. That’s a pretty good sign right? Thanks so much for reading, everyone. More soon!