Keanu Reeves poses for photographs before a screening of the film, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" in Rome, Italy today. (Photo: ALESSANDRO DI MEO, EFE) Those 50’s drive-in sci-fi flicks were the perfect “B” movies. There were few true classics in this genre. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” in 1951 was one of them. The 2008 remake about an alien visitor and his giant robot counterpart who visit Earth opens in theaters around the country on December 12, 2008.
Given today's marvelous technology, there's every possibility the 2008 Gort will be just as cool (if not cooler) than the Gort of 57 years ago. But I fear that's where the contemporary advantages will end. I suspect Hollywood will butcher one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all-time. There is no way Keanu Reeves can pull off a screen performance as good as Michael Rennie.The remake may be quite good. Doesn't matter. I know it won't come close, except for special effects, to the original.
