Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Day the Earth Stood Still Director: Scott Derrickson Writers: David Scarpa Starring: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith, John Cleese Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 103 minutes Showing in:_Dana Cineplex
In this remake of Robert Wise's 1951 sci-fi classic, Reeves and his fellow aliens land in Central Park in a giant, glistening globe; and, having been fired on by the terrified US army, he reveals that he has a 21st-century, Al Gore-ish problem on his mind.We are despoiling the Earth itself, in punishment for which he and his alien confederates are solemnly minded to zap the living bejeepers out of us.
The alien is called Klaatu, and Keanu Reeves (whose first name doesn't sound that much different) is perhaps the only plausible casting, given that David Bowie is now too advanced in years to fall to earth again without breaking something. The tough US secretary of defence is played by Kathy Bates, very much channelling the spirit of Hillary Clinton in her 3am-crisis-phonecall mode.
As ever, Keanu's speech patterns really only suit a non-Earthling role. Certainly, it looks as if he doesn't have the software to run the normal programmes of human interaction.
The idea is that he forms a piquant, platonic friendship with a beautiful scientist, Dr Helen Benson. Thankfully, though, there is no love scene between Dr Benson and the alien.
The most bizarre moment arrives when Helen introduces Klaatu to her mentor Professor Barnhardt, played by a deadpan John Cleese, who has allegedly won a Nobel prize for his work on 'biological altruism'.
-_Peter Bradshaw
