83
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100EmpireAngie ErrigoEmpireAngie ErrigoThis is a superbly crafted, landmark film which invested a much-derided and frequently ludicrous genre with a welcome degree of dignity and respectability.
- 100The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsWorking from a script by Edmund North (Patton), taken from a story by Harry Bates, Robert Wise directs the movie with a minimum of spectacle.
- 90IGNIGNDespite the fantastic basis of the story, the movie isn't dominated by its effects, or even the eight-foot-tall robot Gort. It's really just about an alien visitor trying to convince us to try and get along in an age where the nuclear threat is very real.
- 88LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenLarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenA landmark in terms of science-fiction style and influence, The Day the Earth Stood Still boasts a wavering, theremin score (by Hitchcock regular Bernard Herrmann), a shiny, disc-shaped spacecraft and even a robot named Gort. Yet it deals in these sci-fi cliches with an amazing artistry.
- 88Slant MagazineBill WeberSlant MagazineBill WeberReleased in the midst of the Korean War and the prime of McCarthy, the film achieved a unique relevance for a “spaceman” movie by unambiguously advocating for peace and grounding its pulp story in social reality.
- 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.
- 80Time OutNigel FloydTime OutNigel FloydEdmund H North's intelligent script and Wise's smooth direction are serious without being solemn, while Bernard Herrmann's effectively alien-sounding score reinforces the atmosphere of strangeness and potential menace.
- 40The New York TimesBosley CrowtherThe New York TimesBosley CrowtherIt is comforting, of course, to have it made plain that our planetary neighbors are much wiser and more peaceful than are we, but this makes for a tepid entertainment in what is anamolously labeled the science-fiction field.