Inside this mess is an excellent film struggling to get out

Rating: 7/10 (21 November 2005)

My expectations for this film were very high. I'm a sci-fi fan and it recently made a top ten list of sci-fi films. In the end I found it a mixture of excellence and drivel. The excellence includes Jodie Foster, always good value and she doesn't disappoint here. The plot is first rate too. Not completely original, being loosely based on 'This Island Earth' but takes it in a new and interesting direction.
So the film obviously started on the right track but then the makers went down to their local 'film-scripts-R-us' where they spent approximately Â£1.50 and the result was worth every penny. The first 30 minutes of the film is totally irrelevant. I found one very small event that had something to do with the main plot but you would miss even that if you blinked. The middle part of the film is a series of unconnected sub-plots that leave you wondering when the main feature is going to start. We also have the Hollywood Standard Romance (TM) bolted on the side which clutters an already cluttered film. The result of all this is a film that feels way too artificial and I didn't get any feeling of involvement.
The mystery and action when it did eventually start was crammed into the last part of the film and left more questions than it answered. There seems to be a fairly significant plot hole as well. Not wishing to give anything away but consider the message that was sent and then the explanation of it later on. Doesn't add up.
Yet somehow in all this chaos is a really original idea. I just wish the makers would have had a bit more courage to make more of it.