Wise slickly blends the docudramatic and the melodramatic without ever lapsing into pomposity or hysteria.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 13, 2024

It's as much Christ parable as science fiction film... yet its message is delivered less like a sermon than a threat.

| Sep 8, 2023

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is a sentimental favorite among Fifties science fiction films. It is certainly good but not nearly as good as its reputation would make it.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Feb 14, 2021

One of the best sci-fi films I've ever seen, built with ambitious special effects, a lurid soundtrack, and a powerful metaphor about pacifism and the moral contradictions of a society on the brink of self-destruction. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jan 15, 2021

Writer Edmund H. North's adaptation proves that an intelligent, well-written script can easily make up for a lack in visual luster.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Aug 18, 2020

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) is one of the most influential, seminal fantasy science fiction films in motion picture history. The counter-revolutionary, big-budget film provided salient social commentary about the madness of Cold War politics...

| Original Score: A+ | Sep 29, 2019

Yes kids, media was idiotic and hysterical long before the likes of Glenn Beck were around.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Oct 16, 2011

A sci-fi classic that still resonates.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 2, 2011

Robert Wise looks at the Atomic Age and wonders: 'What would Jesus do?'

| Dec 8, 2009

Embora soe ingnuo e mesmo datado para os dias de hoje, permanece interessante graas figura enigmtica e superior de Rennie e ameaa representada pelo impassvel Gort.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 10, 2009

An enduring film property with an unforgettable catch phrase ('Klaatu barada nikto')...[and] socially conscious themes. [Blu-ray]

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 30, 2008

...remains a cut above the majority of its campy '50s brethren...

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 30, 2008

Made at the time as a plead for international peace, its message should still ring true today where the world picture is more complex and, in many ways, more splintered and dangerous.

| Dec 23, 2008

More thoughtful and restrained than most sci-fi of the period, The Day the Earth Stood Still has aged better than almost all of its peers.

| Original Score: A- | Dec 12, 2008

...dispels any notion you might have about shlocky science fiction.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 2, 2008

Iconic from the get-go.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 2, 2008

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 9, 2008

The Day the Earth Stood Still may at first look like goofy, outdated science fiction, but its timeless warnings about violence, nuclear confrontation and the difficulties of policing the planet have made it an enduring cultural classic.

| Oct 5, 2007

Like most of Robert Wise's work, this slickly constructed 1951 science fiction film settles squarely in the middle of its genre, better than some and worse than others.

| Jun 4, 2007

Superb performances by all involved, restrained direction by Wise, and a magnificent and innovative score by Bernard Herrmann help keep this 35-year-old film just as relevant today as it was the day it was released.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 4, 2007