The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

21% of critics liked it
(190 reviews)
34% of users liked it
(274,165 ratings)

Keanu Reeves tops this adaptation of the seminal 1951 sci-fi film The Day the Earth Stood Still with this 20th Century Fox production. Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) helms the story of an alien traveler, Klaatu (Reeves), who heads to Earth along with his bodyguard robot, Gort, to… More Keanu Reeves tops this adaptation of the seminal 1951 sci-fi film The Day the Earth Stood Still with this 20th Century Fox production. Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) helms the story of an alien traveler, Klaatu (Reeves), who heads to Earth along with his bodyguard robot, Gort, to deliver a warning of planetary destruction if the people of the world fail to stop laying waste to the environment. Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, and Kathy Bates co-star in the David Scarpa-penned film. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 50 min.
Directed By: Scott Derrickson
Written By: David Scarpa
Genres: Science Fiction & Fantasy

In Theaters: Dec 12, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Apr 7, 2009
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Critic Reviews

Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies
The special effects in 1951 were hokey fun. Here, in the first half of the movie anyway, they are hokey but they aren't fun.
David Edelstein, New York Magazine
The remake of that fine old fifties alien-invasion picture The Day the Earth Stood Still comes to a standstill about an hour before the Earth does in the wilds of New Jersey.
Ben Lyons, At the Movies
What a ridiculous movie.
Christopher Orr, New Republic
One can only hope that in the future [Reeves] will devote himself to playing androids, less-self-aware species of undead, stylish pieces of contemporary furniture, and other roles that do not require the exhibition of any recognizably human traits.
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
You'll be doing yourself a huge favor if you go into this movie with lowered expectations.
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Solemn, sober and efficient, The Day the Earth Stood Still gets the job done and moves on.
Neil Pond, American Profile
The world doesn't actually stand still. The corners of Keanu Reeves' mouth, his eyebrows and most of his other facial features, however, remain motionless for almost two hours.
William Goss, Cinematical
As a flashy big-budget distraction, Stood Still is adequate overall -- rarely above, occasionally below -- and often familiar in its spectacle.
Mike Scott, Times-Picayune
Robert Wise's original is well served by 20th Century Fox's popcorny but respectful update, a sturdy, entertaining sci-fi actioner.
Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union
Now we know what happens when the Earth slows below 55 mph and stands still.
Sonny Bunch, Washington Times
An entirely unnecessary and unremarkable remake.
Anders Wotzke, Moviedex
Those next to me in the cinema staring blankly at the screen gave a remarkably similar performance to that of Reeves without even being aware of it.
Clay Cane, BET.com
About 20 minutes in The Day the Earth Stood Still -- well, the movie stood still and never moved.
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
It's just like us to be arrogant enough to believe, like Marvell's coy mistress, that our cherry is the ripest for busting of the lot.
Dave Bradley, SFX Magazine
The movie has the air of missed opportunity about it - but as reimaginings go, it's no global disaster.
Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
Fails, fails, epic fails all around...
Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews
More of a mess than the pleasant surprise one might have hoped. [Blu-ray]
Brian Webster, Apollo Guide
The three-disc Blu-ray packs all the extras onto the first disc and adds a digital copy of the movie and a Blu-ray version of the 1951 original on the third disc.
Brian Webster, Apollo Guide
The sort of movie that will do a perfectly acceptable job of filling an evening that otherwise might be empty (or, God forbid %u2013 one that cries out for reading a good book).

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

John M

I really have to say I liked this movie enough to not pan it like a lot of people. It wasnt horrible, had some really good special effects and had its nice preachy sci fi meaning. So overall not to bad for a couples hours of popcorn fare.
Lewis C

"Change his mind. Not with reason, but with yourself." A mysterious alien presence arrives on earth, causing chaos, confusion, and many questions. Primarily, why is it here? Is this humanity's hour of judgment, or salvation? I really don't know how I found The… More
"Change his mind. Not with reason, but with yourself." A mysterious alien presence arrives on earth, causing chaos, confusion, and many questions. Primarily, why is it here? Is this humanity's hour of judgment, or salvation? I really don't know how I found The Day The Earth Stood Still to be bearable enough to finish. It's clunky, often boring, and heavy-handed in a way that good science fiction never is. The worst flaws are the script and dialogue, which are simply terrible. Poor Jennifer Connelly often looks like she can't believe the words that are coming out of her mouth, and the other actors don't have it any better. I like Keanu Reaves, but here he is somehow still too stiff and emotionless for a character that's SUPPOSED to be stiff and emotionless. Dull subplots focusing on annoying characters somehow make an already boring movie even worse. There's really not even an memorable action or special effects scenes to make things interesting, even briefly. There's no emotion here, no excitement, nothing to engage the viewer. The Day the Earth Stood Still is just an empty experience.
Albert K

awful. absolutely awful... "Now, please; tell me why have you come to our planet?" *Keanu Reeves turns his flat and expressionless face towards the speaker* "Your planet? It is not." LOL OK
E.J. B

Jennifer Connolly, Keanu Reeves, Jaden Smith, and Jon Hamm do whatever they can to make The Day The Earth Stood Still entertaining, but they can't do enough to cover up how poorly made this film is. Plain and simple, The Day The Earth Stood Still is a piece of crap, an epic… More
Jennifer Connolly, Keanu Reeves, Jaden Smith, and Jon Hamm do whatever they can to make The Day The Earth Stood Still entertaining, but they can't do enough to cover up how poorly made this film is. Plain and simple, The Day The Earth Stood Still is a piece of crap, an epic failure on so many accounts. For one, the effects are atrocious. The CGI bits scream fake, especially the big machine thingy that is supposed to protect Klaatu (Reeves) and destroy the world. It's very hard to care about what happens when you're laughing at how cartoonish everything looks. The story makes no sense. So, Klaatu has decided that the human race must be destroyed in order for the planet Earth to continually exist. His reasoning is uninformed at best. SPOILER ALERT!!! All that it takes for him to change his mind is Jennifer Connolly hugging her son out of love. So, humans are capable of love and thus worth saving. If he had been watching humans live for as long as he claims he has, he would have realized that a long time ago and saved himself the trip, and me the wasted two hours I spent sitting through this crap. Also, the Kathy Bates character is a walking cliche. The ignorant, power-tripping government official who doesn't understand her enemy, and her ignorance fucks everyone over. Uh huh. Real originality on her characterization. Okay. I'm complaining too much. Skip this one at all costs. It's a terrible, boring, and underwhelming remake of a dated 1951 original.
Brad W

As the critics and viewers have said before, this is all visual and no plot. I will give it credit, the visuals are beautiful, and it was the only thing keeping my attention. The plot is pathetic, so many cliche moments, and I haven't seen the original but even I know it… More
As the critics and viewers have said before, this is all visual and no plot. I will give it credit, the visuals are beautiful, and it was the only thing keeping my attention. The plot is pathetic, so many cliche moments, and I haven't seen the original but even I know it didn't keep to it at all. The acting from the whole cast was weak, not horrible, but weak. Keanu Reeves was terrible, he didn't DO anything except use a deep voice. The music was okay, it seemed like half action, half horror music if you listen correctly. I love Jennifer Connelly but after this and The Dilemma im losing hope in her. If you want great visual effects and explosions, thats all this movie is.
Sophie B

Visually and graphically much better than the original (obviously) however I feel that the fight here isn't environmentalism rather non-violence in whole. I didn't really see much about the environment except for Klaatu's "arks" but that was because he was… More
Visually and graphically much better than the original (obviously) however I feel that the fight here isn't environmentalism rather non-violence in whole. I didn't really see much about the environment except for Klaatu's "arks" but that was because he was going to destroy the earth and didn't want to kill off our nature. Connoly did a great job.
Jeff "

Remake of the 1951 classic film of the same name is for me a guilty pleasure. I enjoyed. The film follows the typical popcorn thrill ride formula, but has barely any substance to it. I mean the ending is a disappointing. But I didn't at all hate the film. Sure I didn't like… More
Remake of the 1951 classic film of the same name is for me a guilty pleasure. I enjoyed. The film follows the typical popcorn thrill ride formula, but has barely any substance to it. I mean the ending is a disappointing. But I didn't at all hate the film. Sure I didn't like a lot of the things about it. Especially the fact that the Aliens leave at the end without any explanation. But who cares? This film's biggest strengths are of course in it's special effects and it's the reason I liked it. But the areas of which the film suffers are in the character and plot development. Some characters aren't likeable, especially Jaden Smith's character who is simply a brat. Also the plot seems to go nowhere. But like I said, this remake focuses on the visuals and not the plot. Even though I liked this film, like everyone else I thought it fell flat and the ending needed to be better. The ending was what made this film fairly average, the aliens leave without an explanation was a stupid idea. In the original the aliens have a motive to create the chaos on earth. In this remake, theres no explanation as to why the aliens create the chaos. With this remake you get an average popcorn flick that disappoints at times. But for most of the time it thrills. But be warned it's nothing compared to the original which of course is a Sci Fi classic. If only the filmmakers would have put better thoughts into the ending, the film would have been better. The ending feels like the screenwriters were getting sloppy and took the easy way out instead of creating and ending that was terrific. It could have been done, but wasn't. This remake for me is an average popcorn flick, entertaining but flawed.
Mark W

Science-Fiction is normally a genre that has excitement, scares, great visuals and innovative ideas. Not something that is tedious, uninteresting and excruciatingly boring. Astrobiologist Helen (Jennifer Connelly) is whisked away to help the government when strange goings-on… More
Science-Fiction is normally a genre that has excitement, scares, great visuals and innovative ideas. Not something that is tedious, uninteresting and excruciatingly boring. Astrobiologist Helen (Jennifer Connelly) is whisked away to help the government when strange goings-on herald an alien landing. The giant sphere that settles in New York's Central Park carries an alien, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) who comes to save the Earth - but perhaps not humanity... The original was done in the 1950's so a big-budget Hollywood remake was always likely to happen before long. Unfortunately, it wasn't long enough. When will they ever learn that classics are better left alone? On very rare occasions a good remake can happen, just not on this occasion. Not only is it very far from a decent retread but it's very far from being a decent film altogether. It has a tired ecological message of how we are destroying our world, which has been done better many times before. Reeves is passable in a suitably undemanding and disconnected role. Connelly is wasted and way above this, Kathy Bates and Jon Hamm have nothing to do and young Jaden Smith (son of Will) is an irritating little shit. Ain't nepotism a bitch? If we lived in a world that consistantly churned out stinkers like this, we SHOULD be eradicated as a species. A real tedious mess.
Jens S

Although I have never seen the original, it takes little imagination to believe that it's the better and spookier film. The main idea is pretty interesting after all. Here it leads to nothing more than a couple of decent disaster scenes and a lot of talking about humanity's… More
Although I have never seen the original, it takes little imagination to believe that it's the better and spookier film. The main idea is pretty interesting after all. Here it leads to nothing more than a couple of decent disaster scenes and a lot of talking about humanity's guilt with rather uninteresting characters, which is a shame considering the really decent cast. To get Keanu Reeves to play the emotionless alien is a bit too much of the obvious choice, considering his lack of mimic. Like so often in such films, the kid (Jaden Smith) is extremely irritating at times. The only reason they included him was to have a supposedly touching cemetery scene, which probably only works if you consider him super cute and don't wanna see him cry. While the film is not even boring it just seems to lead nowhere. The solution is pretty predictable and doesn't make all that much sense. That's wasting a lot of potential, in a nutshell.
Michael E

while it wasn't that good IT CERTAINLY WAS BETTER THAN THE PIECE OF CRAP ORIGINAL. Plus it follows alot more on action rather than just dumb talking and no action or any thing
Thomas J

A perfect role for Keanu Reeves - a charter that does not understand humans and is void of expressions. The movie is actually rather good because the role Keanu plays really requires no talent and once you get involved in the story, it is easier to accept and enjoy.
KJ P

The remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still is one of the worst films I have ever seen in my entire life. It was a disgrace and the only times I ever felt sympathy was in a scene when there is about 5-10 minutes left in the film. The rest is complete emptiness. The trailer is 100%… More
The remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still is one of the worst films I have ever seen in my entire life. It was a disgrace and the only times I ever felt sympathy was in a scene when there is about 5-10 minutes left in the film. The rest is complete emptiness. The trailer is 100% misleading and I wanted to walk out of the theatre. Wow, what a terrible film!
Dead A

I saw this first on TV but just the starting part. And the starting was pretty good. It seemed promising as if it's going to be a <i>spectacular</i> movie.Couldn't finish it so downloaded it instead. But I would say, after sometime, it gets boring. Like seriously… More
I saw this first on TV but just the starting part. And the starting was pretty good. It seemed promising as if it's going to be a <i>spectacular</i> movie.Couldn't finish it so downloaded it instead. But I would say, after sometime, it gets boring. Like seriously you would want to make it stood-still-forever. The ending was sudden and disappointing. But I must confess that the graphics were awesome. They could have made it better instead of making it pointless to watch.
xGary X

An alien visitation is treated with suspicion and aggression by the American government, leading to the decision that the Earth must be saved from destruction by the human race. A remake of the 50s classic by the same name, TDTESS is an invasion with eco message story about being… More
An alien visitation is treated with suspicion and aggression by the American government, leading to the decision that the Earth must be saved from destruction by the human race. A remake of the 50s classic by the same name, TDTESS is an invasion with eco message story about being responsible with the planet...or else. Keanu Reeves is adequate as the otherworldly visitor, but I couldn't help thinking that he based his entire performance on Arnie's in Terminator 2. The rest of the film is split between a bunch of explosions as the usual collection of stereotypical US jarheads try to blow the aliens up (seemingly for no reason other than to supply some fireworks for the trailer so morons will part with their 10 bucks to see it), and Jaden Smith essentially going "Arewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyet?" for an hour before blubbing which obviously would persuade any self-respecting alien civilisation that we are NOT in fact a bunch of self-serving, murdering bastards (even though we were still trying to nuke his spaceship at the time). Plus Gort is transformed for the pleasure of the aforementioned morons into a cross between Robocop and Godzilla and supplies the Independence Day destruction that no sci-fi film seems to be able to go without these days. As a whole it's rubbish, but not boring and has a lot more in common with a mish-mash of Sphere, ID4 and a particularly charmless cover version of Starman than the film it was supposedly based upon.
Richard C

i actually liked this movie a lot. didnt get that great reviews. its not a great movie but i thought it was good. B
Conner R

I actually think this works extremely well as a remake/re imagining of the original. It doesn't feel like the same movie and it contains a lot of originality within itself and manages to have an extremely important message about how humans are not the only species on the planet… More
I actually think this works extremely well as a remake/re imagining of the original. It doesn't feel like the same movie and it contains a lot of originality within itself and manages to have an extremely important message about how humans are not the only species on the planet and that it is extremely important that we change circumstances for our own well being. The visuals are extremely well done, Gort is amazing and only makes the character improved. I think that Keanu Reeves chose the role of his lifetime, being an alien just makes him way more believable and realistic. Klaatu retains all of his wisdom and power, but doesn't feel like a broken record from the original. Jennifer Connelly really did an amazing job too, she filled in nicely for the female lead. I don't know why this movie was met with such backlash, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. It asks some great questions and pays ode to the original and 50s Sci-Fi in general.
Tony G

Lifeless "Earth" is brainless posing as brainy.
Michael G

If its possible for a movie to be remarkably unremarkable, I think the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still pulled it off. Someone should've told Keanu Reeves that otherworldly and autistic are not the same thing. Jennifer Connelly did the eye candy thing well enough but I… More
If its possible for a movie to be remarkably unremarkable, I think the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still pulled it off. Someone should've told Keanu Reeves that otherworldly and autistic are not the same thing. Jennifer Connelly did the eye candy thing well enough but I swear to God Jaden Smith needs to have his head fuck-started. That fucking kid is a prime example why parents need to STOP telling their kids they can be anything they want to be when they grow up. Doe-eyed whininess is not acting. Nowhere nearly enough Gort and the supporting cast that I'm guessing was supposed to inspire awe was either unimpressive or underused. For as much as I bitch about this movie it wasn't the worst sci-fi movie I've ever seen. The story was just weak and for a movie with such a supposedly strong message, it just kind of mumbled it.
James A

I have no witty way of expressing how boring and lame this movie was.
Wahida K

I m on 50-50 regarding this Movie. Let say it entertained me, but I dont think I ll watch it again.