I saw this movie over the weekend and overall thought it was good, 7 to 8 out of 10 stars. Definitely a mishmash of many movies, but the plot is somewhat unique. There is also an edge of humor, especially around the fact that Tom Cruises’ character keeps getting killed in different ways, and the day resets, but he is well aware of what happened. It does provide a nice mix of emotions, and I could easily feel the frustration he was experiencing.
I’ve been on an alien invading and occupying the earth kick lately and have become addicted to Falling Skies, which is the main reason I wanted to see this – what other ways can we be invaded and how can we fight back. I think this is where the movie could have added another 15 minutes or so to dive more into the alpha and the omega, how it came to be, and the challenge to destroy it. It was really glossed over, and I think more here would have helped to understand and appreciate the aliens.
I think the aliens were the weakest part of the movie. Not really physical, more metaphysical, but all destruction. Although I could get behind them being on the edge of the universe, between dimensions, a wavering presence of physical light, their presentation came across as amateurish. They were fierce from a speed perspective as they raced across the landscape, hid in the sand, and emerged quickly to shoot the people. I still had a hard time getting past their look and their blob of spaghetti with a distorted face spewing some kind of light. These did not give me any nightmares (yet).
As far as the ending, I feel we were given too much information, and it should have been 5 minutes shorter to leave us with the thought or inclination that everything was in his mind. Now that I could get behind.
