‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ and sci-fi fans weeped

“The Day The Earth Stood Still” is another in a long line of remakes that should never have been made. Let’s mention the fact that its source material is one of the best science-fiction films ever (and with barely any special effects!) and go straight to the material.keanu reeves day earth stood stillA mysterious being from another planet (Keanu Reeves) is sent to Earth to decide the fate of mankind. He does this by inhabiting the body of a human and meeting another alien lifeform who has been here for years (James Hong) for dinner at McDonald’s. After an initially hostile encounter with the U.S. military, he meets a hot, astrophysicist widow (Jennifer Connelly), her bitter stepson (Jaden Smith), and has a brief encounter with an altruistic Nobel Prize-winning physician (John Cleese).Meanwhile, a needlessly long introduction provides the movie’s only suspense and a stubbornly meaningless subplot involving Reeves’ giant protectorate robot goes on forever. Good actors like Kathy Bates, John Hamm (TV’s “Mad Men”), and Kyle Chandler (TV’s “Friday Night Lights”) have thankless roles where they blather on about exposition and ultimately make decisions that make no sense for their “characters.” Hamm doesn’t even get the opportunity to define exactly how he knows Connelly’s character.The biggest problem with director Scott Derrickson’s remake is that there is nothing to it. Nothing. I challenge anyone to pinpoint the moment that Reeves’ alien realizes that humans are worth saving. You can’t do it because it doesn’t exist. If you strip away the half-hour buildup, the doctor-speak, the stupid subplot, and the VFX scenes designed to make the trailer look appealing, you have nothing left. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is like a hollow Tootsie Pop.the day the earth stood still remake tootsie popWhat, in 1951, was a scary Cold War-era warning about the misuse of Atomic energy has now become a vague and infantile pro-Green special-effects showcase (even the CGI is unimaginative and looks like a swirly, soft-focus nightmare) with one entire suspenseful scene in 104 long minutes.