Sympathetic characters and nice effects

Rating: 7/10 (14 August 2009)

Sympathetic characters, nice effects and not much else. The main character does a good job of drawing the audience in emotionally. The special effects are excellent and do a great job of creating a world and scenario that is believable. Beyond that the film is unremarkable. The story shows some early promise of exploring deeper issues, such as the conditions of refugees around the world but then the movie turns into a fairly predictable action/drama. I did appreciate the lack of ridiculous dialog. It never felt like they created a scene just to insert a one-liner that could then become a trailer. It was well-crafted in terms of setting and the look of the aliens and didn't feel like a waste of time, but I won't be rushing out to see it again.