Don't shoot the messenger, but Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) has traveled across the universe in a "sphere" with his giant robotic bodyguard Gort to warn us of our impending doom. Unfortunately, a trigger-happy soldier has other ideas, reinforcing Klaatu's negative view of humanity and initiating our destruction. "The process has begun," we are told.
So begins Director Scott Derrickson's reinvention of the 1951 sci-fi classic, "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Aside from a bigger budget, the film reinvents the original by replacing the Cold War-era threat of Communism with the contemporary threat of environmental disaster. Though a more frightening crisis on viewers' minds today is not melting ice caps and rising sea levels but frozen credit and falling stock markets.
Widowed astrobiologist Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) is one of a small group of scientists and other specialists swept up by the Government to face the alien visitor. Dr. Benson forms a bond with Klaatu and struggles to maintain the strained relationship between herself and step-son Jacob (Jaden Smith). As these three go on the run, Klaatu gradually learns what it means to be human.
With his blank stare and flat voice, Keanu Reeves is a natural as a detached space alien, prepared to do what is necessary to save the planet. Feelings of deja vu occur, as Keanu's Klaatu often resembles a neo-Neo, particularly during a Matrix-style rebirth scene.
The aggressive Secretary of Defense Regina Jackson (a convincing Kathy Bates) is countered by Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese), the physicist who hopes to persuade Klaatu that humanity should be saved. And now for something completely unintended: this sober scene, complete with Bach and blackboards, is funny.
Gort, strengthened by whatever ordinance is thrown at it, will disappoint viewers hoping for shock and awe. Gort is the only thing that actually stands still in this film, bottled-up with potential energy, and can be as exciting as watching a container that's labelled "contents under pressure." The military, on the other hand, very industriously make things worse. One of many tactical errors is turning Gort into a Trojan Horse.
As a wake-up call to the human race, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" is alarmingly dull. Despite Klaatu's dramatic entrance, the plot takes itself less and less seriously, finally devolving into the formless cloud that is the climax. The aliens have been observing us for decades, if not centuries, to decide if we are worth saving. In the time it takes to see this film, you may not care.
