An unusual Sci-Fi film

Rating: 8/10 (17 August 2009)

This is one of the few (if any) sci-fi movies I've ever seen in which the basic plot and theme of the movie have virtually nothing to do with science fiction, and instead focus on human qualities and weaknesses, which may be why (I predict) the critics will like it so much.
During the movie, we learn very little about the aliens, their (obviously advanced) technology, their biology or their culture. Instead the movie focuses on the human aspects of the story and the growth of the characters (alien and human).
While this is bad news for me (personally) because the sci-fi aspects of the story (alien science, technology and culture) are what I enjoy the most about sci-fi movies, other viewers will probably find that the strength of the "human" qualities of the story are compelling enough to drive the story, and by the end the human and alien characters have grown on you enough to get you emotionally involved in the climax. And that's what a movie should do.
This movie takes a long time to establish the characters and the situation so I found the first half kind of slow, but it builds to a nice crescendo and it's all worth it in the end. And they give themselves a big fat setup for a sequel in three years.
My rating of 8 out of 10, is based mostly on the strength of the underlying theme, the acting and realistic (gritty) documentary style of filming. If there had been more detail about the aliens themselves this would have been a "10" for me.