Great special effects, but little else to offer

Rating: 4/10 (10 January 2011)

When I first heard of this movie, I was fairly interested. It does have a great cast and it looked good. But I was disappointed. Granted, I do not think it is Roland Emmerich's worst film, but it is far from his best either(that's The Day after Tomorrow and even that was pretty uneven). The film does look great though, the special effects are very good and the scenery and cinematography are also excellent. David Arnold's score is also serviceable, with some interesting song choices, and the ending is quite explosive. However, the dialogue on the most part is very cheesy and forced, the story is shallow and incomprehensible and the direction is murky. Also the film is much too long, and it doesn't help that the pace is uneven. The acting, despite this great cast, is not good, they all try hard but they can't do anything with the dialogue and with Emmerich fighting them every step of the way it is no wonder. I am not a huge fan of Will Smith but he has done some stuff I like, however he overdoes it here and his character for some reason annoys me. Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum are great actors, but their characters are shallow and Goldblum especially should have had more to do. Overall, not terrible, but it is a case of the special effects overshadowing pretty much everything else. 4/10 Bethany Cox