Not just a simple Sci-Fi flick

Rating: Null/10 (25 October 2002)

On the surface, this film is a meticulously constructed sci-fi thriller, but given the setting in 1988 at the height of the Cold War, for me it was about the possibility of death falling out of the sky, just as the jet engine falls out of the sky and into the Darko family's life. Just as the "Virgin Suicides" perfectly captured what it feels like to be a 14-year-old boy, I felt this film did a wonderful job of capturing what it felt like to be in high school in the late 80s. To me all of the sci-fi trappings were just a metaphor for the uncertainty of living in this time. The genius of this film, though, is that no one interpretation is definitive--it's vague enough that you can put your own emotions and ideas into it.