The Day the Earth Stood Still

Another case of, "My god, how could they have missed the point so completely?", notably competent horror director Scott Derrickson brings the timeless, Cold War-era paranoia film into the present with this embarrassingly bad remake. Though the casting of Keanu Reeves as Klaatu seems initially inspired, there's very little for the actor to do with the role as it is transformed from a nuanced, bitterly harsh vehicle with which to paint the horrors of humanity into a dull, dumb caricature - one whose eventual decision to try and "save" humanity is a complete betrayal of the original's message. Mutating the omnipotent Gort into an absurd collection of poorly executed special effects doesn't do the film any favors, and the generally happy ending leaves one to wonder why, when given the possibility to update the still-timely message of "Shape up, humanity, or you don't deserve to survive," Derrickson and his writer would choose to go all Hollywood on us.