Just sit back and enjoy!

Rating: 8/10 (8 July 2001)

This movie isn't about Oscar award winning acting, directing or writing and it doesn't explore deep, serious issues, nor does it try to be any of these things. It is simply great entertainment in the tradition of the big budget Hollywood Sci-Fi special effects extravaganzas. The plot is simple enough, and hardly original. Aliens arrive at our planet and intend to wipe up out. We fight back, and in the end human ingenuity and courage win the day.

What makes this movie work, quite simply, are the combination of the straight forward way the story is told, the basic competence of the actors (Jeff Goldblum, as always, plays the quirky science geek type character to perfection) and of course the awesome effects. If you see the DVD version of this movie, you can watch the companion disc which explains how they made everything from the aliens to the spectacular White House explosion scene. Clearly the people who made this movie wanted to spare no expense in creating absolutely stunning visuals, and they succeeded on every level.
Quite simply, the way to see a movie like this is to just sit back and enjoy 2 hours of great entertainment. Don't expect anything more, since that's simply not the point. This movie isn't about impressing the critics, but simply giving the viewers a fun time. And at that, it succeeds brilliantly. 8/10