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The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
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Robert Wise's alien-invasion film The Day the Earth Stood Still, released in 1951, is an iconic entry in the canon of 1950s sci-fi, thanks in part to its muted parable of Christian redemption. Fifty-seven years on, this fatuous remake ditches the Cold War/religious subtext — and even the flying saucers — in its attempt to deliver a more contemporary allegory, as spaceman Keanu Reeves arrives with a warning for humanity. At his best when dealing with the CGI-heavy action, director Scott Derrickson fumbles the plotting, which degenerates into messy confusion the moment Reeves escapes from government custody with the help of scientist Jennifer Connelly. It's a pointless remake that would be passable on its own terms but suffers terribly in comparison with its source material. The general sense is that the film-makers lost sight of what was unique about the original while they were shoehorning in the umpteenth scene of tanks being blown up by alien weaponry. JR
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Tell us what you think
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Running time
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99min
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Country of origin
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US
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Genre
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Science-fiction Drama
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Original language
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English
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Screenplay
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David Scarpa, from the 1951 film, from the short story Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates
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Theatrical distributor
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20th Century Fox
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UK cinema certificate
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12A
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UK cinema release date
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December 2008
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Film certification logos reproduced by kind permission of BBFC |
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