Year: 2008         
Director: Scott Derrickson

i went into The Day The Earth Stood Still with a completely open mind.  while i have seen the original, it was many years ago and i honestly don't remember it at all, so i had no expectations about this one.  well, that didn't help, cause, expectations or not, this thing was pretty crappy... 

human beings are a violent and aggressive people who are going to end up destroying themselves and their planet because they can't seem to get along peacefully, or some version of that, is a pretty standard sci-fi theme, and one that The Day The Earth Stood Still is happy to use as well (as was that piece of junk The Invasion to name another crappy remake of a classic 50s sci-fi film).  however, while i think the theme is a valid one, it does need to be approached with some kind of originality and intelligence that this film just didn't have.

not only was the theme tedious and melodramatic.  but, so was the movie itself.  i was actually pretty bored for most of the second half of the film (once i saw where it was going and had no interest in the characters or the story and no fun action to at least mindlessly enjoy either).  the film is a one note movie and completly superficial at that.

i am a big fan of jennifer connelly, and she does her part well, but she had no chance of saving this thing. keanu reeves is fine, but only because he is playing an alien and so i guess he is supposed to be wooden and emotionally vacant.

the one thing the film did do, was it made me want to see the original again, which i will do, and we shall see if i end up talking about it here (bad) or at filmed but not forgotten (good).