A remake of the 1951 classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still, a science fiction film about an alien visitor and his giant robot counterpart who visit Earth.

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Introduction

The Day the Earth stood still is exactly what happens when an extraterrestrial being shows up without warning whatsoever, and the whole world witnesses its arrival. This is a remake of the 1951 classic of the same name, unfortunately it wasn’t able to surpass the classic, let alone be on par with it. Directed by Scott Derickson who’s known for titles such as Sinister (2012), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), The Black Phone (2021), and the most recent one, The Gorge (2025).

The story surrounds Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), an extraterrestrial visitor to planet Earth, becomes the herald of upheaval on a global scale. As the world’s governments and scientists race to understand what is happening and how to stop it, Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) and her stepson come to understand the chilling ramifications behind Klaatu’s statement that he is a “friend to the Earth.”

Characters & Dialogue

As much as I love Keanu Reeves, he wasn’t able to portray his character properly. How he was in The Matrix, is the same as he is here. This is probably the least liked movie of Keanu for me. One thing however, he was able to make an expressionless face all throughout the movie.

Jaden Smith’s character was annoying as hell, apart from him showing the human side of how kids are, his character doesn’t really do much. I mean the movie could still go on with or without his character.

No one had a show stopping performance in my opinion, even worst, the dialogue ruined it for everyone. There was no chemistry between any of them. So its very hard to care for any of them, regardless what happens to them in the film.

Alien design

One saving grace is the humanoid robot named Gort. The design was awesome. Specially when they showed the microscopic view of it, when the nanobots(?) were duplicating. In the original 1951 film, Gort is 8 feet tall, whereas in the remake, it is 28 feet tall.

Comparable to Biblical history

I’ve always thought of Keanu’s character as sort of their version of a messiah, and the humanoid robot was the plague. And also, the reason for the extinction of mankind was because people k1ll people, and people keep destroying Earth.

What I didn’t like

• None of the characters had any chemistry between them, their relationship and interaction with one another felt stale and dead.
• I like the thematic focus point of the classic 1951. The classic focused on nuclear war and mutual destruction. Whereas the 2008 remake focused on environmental degradation and negative impact of human actions on the planet itself. It felt like the classic’s focused point was more relatable.

Conclusion

This remake was okay., I guess the two main selling points of it was it was a remake of a classic hit (95% on Rotten Tomato), and they got Keanu Reeves to play the part of the alien. Aside from that, the only that gives this one the edge over the classic was the design of Gort (I love giant creatures). Its a good sci-fi movie to watch with popcorns and drinks, but not something you’d talk about afterwards.