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Rating: 8/10 (22 March 2010)

Reading the negative reviews here caused me to be predisposed to disliking this flick because the themes heavily criticized, such as left wing liberal ideology along with silly myths about aboriginal populations particularly annoy me. Since my wife was insistent that we do see this one, I tagged along. I am glad I did because I enjoyed the movie enormously.
First let me dispose with much of the negativity. The go go US military uber alles complaint that this movie celebrates the defeat of the US military is simply wrong. It's not even partly right. There is nothing correct about this complaint. The 'soldiers' in the movie are mostly or entirely from the US military but they are all separated permanently. This is not a military op of any nation much less the US. The movie just cannot be plainer that this is the case. The main protagonist goes to great lengths to say that he was ONCE a marine, now he's just a guy earning a paycheck.
The second complaint most often heard here is that this movie's plot is similar, to a great degree, to many other movies such as Dances With Wolves or Pocahontas or even Ferngully. That this movie is similar to many other movies just proves that there are many movies with similar themes. Funny I can't find any complaint about rom-coms that they are similar to other rom-coms but they sure are. How many sports movies have you seen where the underdog team made up of miserable misfits and being coached by a drunken loser lost in the quarter finals? So what did you expect or want - that the mercenaries would defeat the aliens and maybe use their skulls as decoration for their quarters? C'mon, here, let's get real.
On the positive side, unless you have a drastically limited attention span, this movie is a visual treat from start to finish. It moves well along and probably merits several viewings to appreciate all the attention to detail which is apparent even at first viewing.
The story is uplifting (even if kinda bunkum) the soaring views wonderfully imagined and the players all did a great job of taking their parts and making them come alive.
If you aren't seeing this one because you don't wish to see the US defeated, then see it because you won't. Defeated is a *private* corporation supported by mercenaries - not the US. In fact, the corporation is a joint project owned by Iran and North Korea.
Keep that in mind and then get back to me about how you feel about its defeat.