Keanu Reeves and science fiction is actually a perfect combination. However, the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still is shockingly interchangeable.
Keanu Reeves is one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Even though he has not been as prominent on the big screen in the meantime as he was at the first peak of his career in the 1990s/2000s, he fought his way impressively back into the limelight with the John Wick films. Still, he had to take a few defeats.
One of his most bitter defeats is The Day the Earth Stood Still. The remake of the 1951 science fiction classic of the same name was released in 2008 and could have been the biggest Keanu Reeves blockbuster since the end of the Matrix trilogy. What followed, however, was a huge disappointment.
Disappointing sci-fi remake: Keanu Reeves comes to Earth as an alien
The Day the Earth Stood Still begins with an exciting event: an unknown flying object is sighted in space. It moves towards Earth at breakneck speed – but not like a destructive comet. Instead, the mysterious spaceship lands peacefully in New York’s Central Park.
Here you can watch the trailer for The Day the Earth Stood Still:
No lasers and no explosions either: The devastating alien invasion fails to materialise. Instead, an alien emerges from the spaceship with an important message to humanity: Klaatu (Keanu Reeves). Astrobiologist Dr Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) is one of the first people to make contact with him.
Keanu Reeves can’t save the indecisive The Day the Earth Stood Still
The premise is pure science fiction. Building on it, one of the genre’s most intriguing mind games could be played out: What happens when an alien comes to Earth? Unfortunately, the film directed by Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson doesn’t do very much with it.
There is neither the infectious magic of first contact as in Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind nor the tremulous uncertainty that Denis Villeneuve conjures up in Arrival. Instead, The Day the Earth Stood Still finds itself in an unfortunate dichotomy of blockbuster cinema.
On the one hand, the film wants to strike thoughtful notes and go down unexpected paths. On the other hand, it cannot escape the obligation of Hollywood bombast and relies on an interchangeable din until there is hardly anything left of the exciting initial situation. Keanu Reeves doesn’t help either.
