15 Underrated Movie Remakes That Deserve Another Look

The Day the Earth Stood Still: Robert Wise’s original is a sci-fi classic, the Scott Derrickson remake is, uhh, not. For the 2008 remake Keanu Reeves stepped into the role of Klaatu, an interplanetary alien envoy sent to try and save the Earth from human-inflicted ecocide, and it didn’t go too well.

Critics recognised the film’s reverence for its source material, but that didn’t stop them from savaging it. Pretty much everything that could be criticised was, but all sources seemed to agree on one thing: the story was slow, meandering and just not up to scratch.

Be that as it may (and it may), Derrickson’s Day the Earth Stood Still still has some delights to offer genre fans. First and foremost is Reeves’ casting. It’s widely acknowledged that Keanu is made of at least 50% wood, and that is what makes him so perfect as Klaatu: he is a stoic, blunt and unemotional alien acclimatising to Earth in real time, and his blank acting style sells it. The scale of the thing is also impressive, and still looks good, the effects delivering on its promises. Plus, the ecological bent of the story feels prescient as ever - with a staying power that far outmatches the original’s Cold War theme.