When I first saw the 1952 version of the tale, I felt impressed. In the past, I have been successful avoiding updated versions of classic movies, just to save me from disappointments, but this time I felt like falling in.<br /><br />I was prepared to see much more spectacularity in this 2008 version, the regular special effects, and maybe something new in the script.<br /><br />And yes, there was some new things in the script. A rather inconsistent start, The Cold War is still there, plus the global warning, and maybe the toxic assets. There's also a reference to the altruism enigma.<br /><br />The rest is purely crap.<br /><br />We miss the evangelistic references of the 1952 version. There's no Jude and there's no mortality in Klaatu's enigmatic persona. Instead, he's a rather flat and expressionless superhero, able to control people's mind remotely or bring down helicopters with his hands. No thrill.<br /><br />The rest of the cast ranges from stupid to useless characters. The kid is really hard to stand, and the Secretary Defense is unbelievable. Even the heroin looks little smart despite her academic titles, and there's this pain of watching John Cleese trying to act seriously.<br /><br />But, over all, there you have this gigantic hole in the script. After almost destroying New York (yes, just recovered from the recent havoc of Watchmen!) and lots of stadiums, trucks and the like, Klattu surrenders to rather poor mortal mercy demands, and leaves the planet.<br /><br />Probably then, Klaatu just forgot the movie's name, and sends a command to freeze the whole Earth machinery pool. But... Why does he need to demonstrate his strength with a global warning when he just almost destroyed the planet? Is like sending a newsreel with Los Alamos footage to Hiroshima the 9th of August, 1945. Purely crap. Nonsense crap.<br /><br />Luckily, we still have the 1952 version.