"The Day the Earth Stood Still" ** (out of four): Alarmingly dull reinvention of the 1951 sci-fi classic replaces the Cold War-era threat of Communism with the contemporary threat of environmental disaster.

Don't shoot the messenger, but Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) has traveled across the universe in a "sphere" with his giant robotic bodyguard Gort to warn us of our impending doom. Unfortunately, a trigger-happy soldier has other ideas, reinforcing Klaatu's negative view of humanity and initiating our destruction. "The process has begun," we are told.

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