Can you stand still for this?
"The Day the earth stood still" clearly a remake of the 1951 film "The day the world stood still" will be making its way to theaters as soon as December, Keanu Reeves playing the visitor from outer space in this last ditch effort to save the planet. The film is set to borrow a lot from the original movie, the setting is obviously set to present time, so the chaos and panic is sure to be on a grander scale and the movie manages to remain interesting despite the fact that you can look up the original films ending and have a better idea of the movie. I'm a sick fan for science fiction and have no qualms about Hollywood shelling out millions of dollars to show off the best special effects, the economy is ever growing and movies will only rise due to this formula but it aint bad considering what special effects started out like in the first sci-fi movies. Keanu Reeves has somewhat managed to strip his Bill and Ted's monotone acting persona and hes kept a good consistent stretch of strange movie roles, one of which was Constantine, which during the entire movie he manage to smoked 12 cartons keeping his hands and mouth busy otherwise it might have been a disaster. And after all the Matrix mania I give him enough credit to shell out my 12.50 to go see this thing in the theater. The plot to the original movie is as follows.
All of Washington, D.C., is thrown into a panic when an extraterrestrial spacecraft lands near the White House. Out steps Klaatu (Michael Rennie, in a role intended for Claude Rains), a handsome and soft-spoken interplanetary traveler, whose "bodyguard" is Gort (Lock Martin), a huge robot who spews forth laser-like death rays when danger threatens. After being wounded by an overzealous soldier, Klaatu announces that he has a message of the gravest importance for all humankind, which he will deliver only when all the leaders of all nations will agree to meet with him. World politics being what they are in 1951, Klaatu's demands are turned down and he is ordered to remain in the hospital, where his wounds are being tended. Klaatu escapes, taking refuge in a boarding house, where he poses as one "Mr. Carpenter" (one of the film's many parallels between Klaatu and Christ). There the benign alien gains the confidence of a lovely widow (Patricia Neal) and her son, Bobby (Billy Gray), neither of whom tumble to his other-worldly origins, and seeks out the gentleman whom Bobby regards as "the smartest man in the world" -- an Einstein-like scientist, Dr. Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe). The next day, at precisely 12 o'clock, Klaatu arranges for the world to "stand still" -- he shuts down all electrical power in the world, with the exception of essentials like hospitals and planes in flight.
