The Day the Earth Stood Still

In this colorless remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic, Keanu Reeves—looking particularly dour and somnolent—plays Klaatu, an alien visitor who takes human form and lands his spacecraft smack dab in the middle of New York's Central Park, only to have his initial parlay with Earthlings rudely interrupted by trigger-happy members of the NYPD. Seriously wounded, Klaatu is brought to a secret military installation for questioning, but escapes with the help of top scientist Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), whose annoying brat of a stepson (Jaden Smith) would just as soon see the spaceman behind bars—or worse. Klaatu, it turns out, is here to destroy humankind for its crimes against Earth's environment (yes, it's the death penalty for global warming), and it's up to Helen to convince our would-be executioner that we deserve a second chance. Half-heartedly directed by Scott Derrickson, The Day the Earth Stood Still not only signally fails to generate suspense, but it's also full of unintentional humor. Filmmakers who rework popular, iconic movies often feel compelled to “improve” upon the source material, but few re-do's have so thoroughly missed the point of the original as this one. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by writer David Scarpa, the production featurettes “Re-Imagining The Day” (30 min.), “Watching the Skies: In Search of Extraterrestrial Life” (23 min.), “The Day the Earth was ‘Green'” (14 min.), and “Unleashing Gort” (14 min.), two minutes of deleted scenes, a gallery of art contest winners, stills galleries, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is the bonus picture-in-picture track “Klaatu's Unseen Artifacts” and a “Build Your Own Gort” interactive experience. Included in the “3-Disc Special Edition” on DVD and Blu-ray is a bonus digital copy of the film and a copy of the original 1951 movie. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a disappointing remake.] (E. Hulse)