Fantastic storyline, not a fan of the ending. (definite spoiler)

Rating: 8/10 (13 September 2009)

Once again Nicolas Cage gave a spectacular performance and a believable character in this role. Good timing, too. He waited long enough after Ghost Rider that we're not still thinking of him as a fiery skeleton biker dude.
The beginning is quite slow, takes an incredibly long time (it seems) to really get the first bite of the movie, but then there are no holds barred. It seems to just flow through the motions. I really think they could have given Lucinda more face time, and should have given the older Lucinda some small part that would have helped explain the "chosen" factor. Some more historical references would have been good I think.
I enjoyed the overall concept, an emotionally devastated widower, single father, astrophysicist and son of a minister who has a broken relationship with his father and seems to be shunning his family, who comes to understand that the scientific approach isn't always the answer to life's questions. Sometimes you just have to go on faith, and when that faith is tested, and proved with logic, you become a teacher, something he eventually learned by trial to appreciate in his own father.
Sadly, the ending leaves us with the notion that though our hero did come to recognize certain truths along the line, his notion was a little too late to serve him in the flesh. His prodigy was allowed to carry on, but he, himself, had to suffer the fate of the rest of the planet.
I loved the scientific facts in this movie, and the reality is that most of this COULD be possible. I loved that concept, I just hate it when the hero of the movie doesn't get to see the sequel.