Way back in the day, Robert Wise's The Day the Earth Stood Still, an undisputed sci-fi classic, came on the heels of World War II and Hiroshima. The world was gripped by the paranoia of The Bomb. To this day, that 1951 film relays an understated grace in its peaceful message that has survived despite the emergence of overwhelming special effects and new movie-making technology.

Along with The Thing from Another World, the film kicked off an "us and them" trend that permeated '50s sci-fi. Even if it has subsided since then, the concept of the threatening "other" has never really gone away.

John Carpenter brilliantly remade The Thing in 1982 and now director Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) is trying to replicate that success. After all, isn't the time right for a story of the demise of humanity at our own selfish hands?

In 1951, Michael Rennie's spaceship landed in Washington D.C. to bring a message of peace to world leaders. This time around, several odd, swirling, ethereal spheres land in various spots around the world, with the de facto mothership landing in Manhattan. This is, of course, because Manhattan is the center of the universe.

When the American military discovers an incoming projectile, they wrangle the best and brightest scientific minds to figure out what's going on - along with a mind-boggling amount of weaponry and medical gear. These minds include Dr Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), a Princeton professor and widow with an ornery, distant stepson, Jacob (Jaden Smith, son of Will Smith and possessed of the best hair any child ever had), and her NASA buddy Michael (Jon Hamm, Mad Men).

Off they go to Central Park, where Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) emerges from the sphere, gets shot, and his defensive silent partner Gort promptly smites the aggressors - maybe the army, maybe the NYPD. Who knows? The rest of the film involves Helen helping Klaatu avoid custody and/or death at the hands of Secretary of Defense Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates) and her trigger-happy assistant Driscoll (Kyle Chandler). Klaatu's mission is to see a collective of alien races' endgame for the elimination of humanity through to its conclusion.

It's the only way to save a precious resource: Earth.

Needless to say, The Day the Earth Stood Still is afflicted with lavish special effects that don't add much to the story, which has been changed from the original and to a more contemporary (and overdone) theme of how we are the true danger our destruction is imminent if we don't collectively pull up our socio-environmental pants.

The film retains the global newsreel hysteria of the original's opening segment - albeit via cable television and the Internet, but the producers have gone way off the rails with Gort, who has morphed into an aggressive post-Terminator behemoth. It's one sign that the film is misguided, but certainly not the only one. Every cliche imaginable has been thrown into the mix: A group of principled scientists, a hermitic genius with words of wisdom and understanding for Klaatu, a troubled parent-child relationship that needs healing ... funky silvery hazmat suits. And, of course, there's the requisite arrogant American government and its actors, which sees its military might humbled by Gort again and again. There is, however, a telling line where Klaatu asks Jackson if she speaks for the human race, and she answers, "I speak for the president of the United States."

With so much effort put into the message, Derrickson and writer David Scarpa have forgotten that the heart and soul of the original story was located in the calming presence of Rennie and his low-key dynamic with Patricia Neal's Helen.

Rennie transcended the spaceman image and came across as painfully reasonable and imperious. Here, the role is taken up by an eyebrow-raising Reeves who is known for his own brand of blankness, just not a good one.

Reeves is most effective when playing characters that are relatively unexpressive (as he did in The Matrix or Johnny Mnemonic) or that are second fiddle to a bus (Speed).

Here, he seems simply bored. He speaks in a monotone so pronounced it's as if he was parodying 1950s sci-fi movies. Connelly (Hulk) is in her patented put upon beauty mode, and doesn't get to do much other than tag along with the guy and prove her mascara is in fact waterproof. They are devoid of any chemistry, but they fortunately don't need it.

Far from incompetent and not truly bad, The Day the Earth Stood Still is just dull-a far greater crime for iconic sci-fi. Rest easy, though. You will get a "Klaatu barada nikto" for your trouble.

The Day the Earth Stood Still opened in Hong Kong December 11.

(HK Edition 12/12/2008 page4)