The Return of Klaatu

Not really. Well, not quite, anyway.

Honestly, I don't see why Klaatu would ever really need to come back to Earth. He did his job and we're all hanging (peacefully!) with Gort on the National Mall, so all is good.

Kinda went off on a bit of a tangent there. Let me begin again...

Do the words "Klaatu, Berata, Nikto" mean anything to you? Aside from in the context of Army of Darkness, that is. If so, then you've probably seen the 1951 sci-fi awesomeness that is The Day the Earth Stood Still.

As old sci-fi goes, this has to be one of my favorites. I still own this movie on VHS although I plan on replacing it with the DVD any day now. I really don't know why I like this movie so much, except to say that the story is good and makes sense, it's fairly acted, and it has a moral that will knock you on your ass with how relevant it still is today.

Well, it turns out that The Day the Earth Stood Still is being remade for a 2008 release starring Keanu Reeves as the alien, Klaatu. I like Keanu Reeves and think he's a fine actor, and I have nothing against remakes in general, but I'm super-skeptical about this one. My worry is that they'll over-politicize it when transporting the story to the present day. The politics that were the backdrop of the original are no where near the same as they are today. Not even close.

Despite all that, I'll go see it. Like I said, I like Keanu Reeves and tend to enjoy most, if not all of his movies. That, and I'll just be curious as hell.

(by the way, this is another poster I'm dying to get. Either the one sheet (above) or the three sheet, which is pretty cool too).

UPDATE: a quick Google search revealed that you can watch all of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) on Google Video, although I urge you to watch it on DVD or better yet, at your local theater if it's ever shown.

UPDATE 2: if you just want to watch the trailer, here it is, courtesy of the wonder that is Youtube: