Incredibly disappointing (yes, call this review "District Whine")

Rating: 5/10 (21 August 2009)

As an avid movie fan, in particular the science fiction genre, I had high expectations for this film. The last two sci-fi movies I have seen (Star Trek and Moon) were both top caliber films, easily eclipsing anything within the last few years. Based on the fantastic reviews and the association with Peter Jackson, I thought the summer sci-fi's would be three for three. But was I so wrong.
The problem with the film is that it just isn't plausible whatsoever. I am a mid-30's engineer, so for a teenager who loves "Transformers", I can understand that this movie would have incredible appeal. And even for me there were parts of the film that I really liked. But the outrageously unrealistic scenes outnumbered the plausible ones with a ratio of about 5 to 1. There were so many issues with realism, I don't know where to begin. When I see science fiction (vs fantasy), I expect realism ... this isn't Lord of the Rings. And I felt alarm bells going off a few times on "social commentary" using aliens as a metaphor for illegal immigrants ("aliens"), and I think that also could be driving some of the high ratings.
So if you love C+ action movies (hey, I have enjoyed plenty ... including parts of this one), give this a try. I think there are aspects of the movie that most people can enjoy, but just don't count on seeing a movie that is currently sitting around the top 30 movies of all time as ranked on IMDb. It isn't even close. Statistically speaking, with roughly 100,000 movies out there, I would say it belongs in the top 50,000.