A bewildering experience.

Rating: 7/10 (29 July 2009)

**WARNING - SPOILERS** Prof. John Koestler (Cage), gets his mitts on a piece of paper with a long sequence of numbers on it that – to cut a long story short - predicts the end of the world. As one probably would in these situations, Koestler sets out to try to prove this to anyone who will listen in a desperate attempt to save mankind. Meanwhile Koestler's son starts to see strange blond people skulking about in the woods around their house.
This movie had my eyes glued to the screen until the last 20 minutes or so. It was interesting, scary, disturbing and I couldn't wait to see what happened next. My movie snacks lay forgotten, the plot had me hooked. The plane crash sequence frightened the hell out of me and so did the story and Koestler started to uncover more of the mystery surrounding the final numbers. even the ridiculous blond people were eerie. Then the movie started to draw to a close and I opened a bag Maltesers to counter-balance my disappointment.
I found the sequences leading to the end predictable and ridiculous, and I think the scene with the children reaching their new home was out of place and unnecessary. I would have been happy just to leave that part to the imagination and watch earth's spectacular doom on its own. Their departure could have been concluded the same way without the scene. Their new home has an Eden-like vibe to it, complete with all-too-immaculate CGI scenery and a big shiny tree. It kinda reminded me of a shampoo commercial for some reason. I also thought that if the aliens/angels had taken that much trouble to make sure that the human race would continue elsewhere, they would not have just dumped these kids somewhere on their own and left them to their own devices, free to make all the same horrendous mistakes we humans seem to be all too proficient at. Maybe I am just skeptical, but I see a 'Lord of the Flies' type situation developing very quickly in this new place.
Despite this I was impressed with the subsequent ending scenes, set apart from many apocalyptic movies churned out by Hollywood. Aside from the few children and white rabbits the aliens/angels whisked away, no one and nothing is spared, and the desperation and despair of those who remain, along with the destruction of E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G is impressive. It makes a change from the typical ending where the resourceful and virtuous heroes crawl out from their clever hiding places to cry and clutch each other joyfully before skipping off to rebuild their shattered lives.
I give this movie 7 out of 10 - Silly and predictable towards the end ("please don't let it be aliens, please don't let it be aliens. . . awww, damn - it's aliens"), but also thought provoking and disturbing. Nicholas Cage is better than I have seen him in a while.