Worse than "The Forgotten"

Rating: 3/10 (18 July 2009)

I need to start listening to my instincts. I skipped this at the theater and only rented it reluctantly. Turns out my gut feeling was right. The film falls apart at the beginning of the third act, shifting gears from a taut thriller to a ludicrous kid-stealing-aliens movie, with everyone on Earth dying just before the hero's son winds up in some kind of alien petting zoo.
It's "The Forgotten" meets the remake of "The Day The Earth Stood Still". Rent it if you want to feel cheated and depressed at the end of the movie.
Nick Cage's acting is passable, which is good because about 95% of the movie is him looking pensive, him drinking heavily, him looking scared, him crying or him running through crowds of extras. Rose Byrne is very watchable, it's a shame she's only on screen for about 10 minutes before being killed. The rest of the cast is decent, they just have nothing to do except stand around and burst into flames in the penultimate scene. I think 50% of the film's budget was spent on flame effects for the end of the movie, by the way. Effects for the rest of the film are sparse and somewhat unconvincing.
It's annoying that this was directed by Alex Proyas, who directed The Crow and Dark City, two very good movies.