I just went to see TDTESS with Sally Tomatoes. Boy, what a bomb! I wish they had simply updated it with new CGI's and MINOR changes in the story to update places, technology, etc. Instead they rewrote the story to an eco-story and it was just awful. Keanu Reeves (Klaatu... at least they kept his name), was wooden and stiffer than usual. Michael Rennie in the original, while being aloof and unfamiliar, appeared to be someone "in terra incognita", which is most of the time a good story device. Reeves' was just boring. His one good line was one that you have already seen if you saw the trailers. He was being interviewed while attached to a lie detector. The technician asked him if he was aware of an imminent attack and Reeves' Klaatu turned to him and said "You should let me go" in a voice that was at once menacing and entreating. And that was it. Another item that I hated was that in this stupid movie the name of the robot "policeman" Gort, was reduced to some acronym made up by the military. It was so stupid I can't even remember what the letters stood for. In the original, Klaatu used the name Gort as a proper name without any help from our military in naming him. Ugh!
The ubiquitous kid in the movie (why do they do that to Sci-fi movies anyway), was annoying and unlikable. Jennifer Connolly was left to carry the movie by herself. She was likable, believable, and sympathetic. I did like Kathy Bates as the Secretary of Defense too.
All in all I hated this movie. I can usually find some reason to watch even the most awful of Sci-fi/Fantasy pictures once or even twice when it arrives in Netflix (Robot Jox, Mars Needs Women, The Queen of Outer Space, or even Star Trek V). This one is not among those pictures. If you really want to see an excellent Sci-fi movie see the original "The Day The Earth Stood Still" and run screaming from this picture as you would from an approaching Gort.
Gort (Original)
Gort (New)
Klaatu (Original)
Klaatu (New)
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