A Good (Albeit Depressing) Sci-Fi

Rating: 8/10 (26 July 2009)

WARNING: SPOILERS WITHIN.
I'm stumped by the negative reviews here. To me, this movie can't be worth less than 5 stars. Giving it one or two stars just betrays immovable mindset or a deep-seated bias of some kind on the part of the reviewer. If you're one who reads reviews before deciding what movie to watch (like me), I'd advise not to ditch it on account of the number of extremely negative reviews here, unless you're sure you share the same likes/dislikes as the reviewers.
As an non-religious person I wasn't offended at all by this movie, despite some here suggesting it smacked of a hidden Christian agenda (Narnian agenda?). Did the aliens really come to save the sons & daughters of Adams and Eve because they believed? Well, you could interpret it that way. But it could as well be that they came to save the telepathic/clairvoyant children. If anything, it reminds me more of Arthur C. Clark's Childhood's End, where the 'old' humankind dies in favour of the 'new' (telepathic/clairvoyant) one.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. As I write this I'm still having parts of the movie play out in my mind, which I liked. And that usually happens when the movie is good. The airplane crash scene was gripping (some reviewer said saying Hey! to a burning survivor was unrealistic, but I've never ran into an airplane crash before so I wouldn't know if I'd be responding realistically if that happens!). The solar burst revelation. Cage's heartfelt performance on having to let go of his child. The hopelessness of the final destruction.
I was worried it would use the aliens as a deus ex machina, but it didn't. Well, maybe it did partially (for the children), but the fact that a whole lot of people died (an understatement) including the main protagonist, made it felt like it didn't. So in a way it is a very refreshing deus ex machina. Also, the aliens were woven as early and as best as possible into the storyline so to me it didn't feel ridiculous at all that they'd make a reveal-all appearance at the end.
8/10.