The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008) Critic Reviews

This contemporary remake of the science-fiction classic knew what it was doing when it cast Keanu Reeves, the movies' greatest stone face since Buster Keaton.Read the full review

Like the big shiny sphere at its center, the film is fairly pretty, but there's no real sense that there's anything inside it.Read the full review

Something has been lost in the translation, and it's not just the script.Read the full review

All this is presented in an expensive, good-looking film that is well-made by Scott Derrickson, but to no avail.Read the full review

Although the new version, which stars Keanu Reeves, is likely to make audiences pine for the meta-irony of "Mystery Science Theater 3000," it's not a complete failure.Read the full review

The story, an updated version of the 1951 classic about a portentous extraterrestrial visit, feels musty and derivative, and not only because it's a remake.Read the full review

Despite the best efforts of stars Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly, this new "Day" is tired and corny.Read the full review

It lacks the simple elegance and intelligence of the earlier film, and employs special effects and pointless action scenes to replace passages of dialogue.Read the full review

The original Day the Earth Stood Still had a paranoid poetry that lifted the audience up even as it warned the world to come together. This one is so dour it just comes off as a scolding.Read the full review