An over-hyped, manipulative, and clichéd wasted opportunity

Rating: 4/10 (17 August 2009)

Over-hyped, overrated, badly written, badly shot, badly acted, and badly directed. The writing is manipulative, clichéd, and relies on dues ex machina and coincidence. The first 20 minutes is "documentary" footage and interviews, which starts off interestingly with thought- provoking social commentary, even though the shaky camera-work is very annoying (it doesn't improve). What could've been a compelling and intelligent science fiction classic turns into a dumb, ridiculous, laughable action flick that has plenty of crowd-pleasing mayhem. Once the action starts and the MacGuffin is introduced the social commentary is thrown out the window and becomes generic and stereotypical. The action is done well, though. It's entertaining, gory, and satisfying. This is pure nerd-fantasy, with cool weapons, tough guy shouting, and a kickass robot suit. In an effort to obtain realism apparently, none of the actors are recognizable. This could've worked if they hadn't have been terrible (except for the lead). The characters are shallow and one-dimensional. The antihero is entirely unlikeable which makes for low suspense because you don't care if he lives or dies. The only sympathetic characters are (predictably) the aliens, who are more human than the humans. I was hoping they ended up destroying all humans. The story is somewhat unpredictable and original, so it deserves credit for that. But don't expect a masterpiece like the critics and fans are raving about.