June 6: The Day the Earth Stood Still

"A remake of the 1951 classic sci-fi film about an alien visitor and his giant robot counterpart who visit Earth."

The Day the Earth Stood Still is a ridiculous movie and very unnecessary. The original film is a classic and its themes fit well with the beginning of The Cold War. Plus, the hokey, cheesy special effects of the past really played second fiddle to the actual plot, unlike this remake. The special effects in this 2008 re-dud attempt to distract from little story there is, and while they do look pretty, it doesn't make the the film anything special. Throwing in a straight-faced completely emotionless Keanu Reeves does not help one bit. The only "emotion" in the film is Jennifer Connelly's struggles at being a step mom to baby the spawn of the fresh prince, Jaden Smith and even then, it's absolutely forced and completely out of place. I'm sorry, but come the end of the world, the smallest concern should be the dynamic of a broken family. 

But I guess when Hollywood "royalty" is in a film, it has to be relevant. 

The story follows an alien named Klaatu (Reeves) who comes to earth in an attempt to save mankind from itself. He represents multiple alien civilizations that have looked down on our planet and have come to the conclusion that we have become too dangerous not only for ourselves, but for the universe.  It is Klaatu's mission to see if mankind has the ability to change from its violent ways and learn to exist in a peaceful society. Arriving with Klaatu is a giant, organic robot thing (Gort in the original), that wields apocalyptic powers of destruction. After the character building and the "villian" introduction, the story really goes nowhere. Connelly's character, Helen attempts to be the voice of reason for the human race and begs Klaatu to save the planet. I am not lying when literally nothing of importance happens after Klaatu's arrival. It's shocking how the filmmakers thought they had an actual story on their hands as the second half of the film does nothing but display some very good special effects.

As well as starring one of the world's greatest special effects himself. 

The Day the Earth Stood Still does nothing for the sci-fi genre. I actually blame this film as being a large reason we haven't seen more big-budget sci-fi blockbusters in the last few years. Yes, it's that bad. Instead of being anything exciting or game changing it's just dark, depressing, and dead on arrival. There is no emotion to this "epic" and a plot that doesn't help the fact. I would definitely not recommend this film nor would I have recommended it being made to begin with. The original is great and is a classic for a reason. It's surprising that a sci-fi film made in 1951 can still be 10x better than a movie that came out in 2008. Hollywood, that shows you that every damn thing from your past doesn't need to resurface as a shiny new remake. Let the past be that.. the past, and let us look back at these classics without having a bad taste in our mouths from what comes out today. 

The Good:

special effects that are pretty good at times, but are a little over-the-top in other parts

The Bad:

Keanu Reeves giving his least-emotion filled performance of his career... which is saying A LOT

The Ugly:

absolutely no plot or depth to anything that goes on in the film and really makes you care less about the future of the planet 

Overall: 3.2/10

Trailer: