Hollywood Budgeted Massive Destruction At Its Finest

Rating: 7/10 (14 July 2011)

C- Lo and behold, it's the only Roland Emmerich and Dean Delvin film I actually care for. I saw it at a young age, and have seen it well over twenty times if not more over my years. If you, especially like me as an aspiring film maker, take a gander over the pair's many productions over the years, you'll realize the actual amount of creativity and talent they have can fit inside of a pin head. Their movies are predictable and serve merely as popcorn movies. As far as revolutionary sci-fi goes, it only qualifies in the category of special effects and nothing more. Of course the ships target the most popular cities first, it's movie's basics. My sole praise is to the obvious that of the extraterrestrial ship and body design. Naturally, my favorite part is the alien autopsy scene, the amount of detail put into the creatures. The film's use of miniatures is appreciated as well.
As for the characters, Jeff Goldblum is pretty decent, and Will Smith is the usual gun-ho protagonist. Mary McDonnell and James Duval also star in not too bad of roles. The performances don't bother me; it's just that I'm not emotionally invested in the characters because I know who's going to die and who's not. To truly experience a modern sci-fi achievement, check out "District 9", a text book example of a fresh take on aliens, or in my humble opinion Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds". Roland Emmerich and Dean Delvin's at their finest, if that really say's much but a good ride.