If only, if only, the rest of the film matched that ending

Rating: 5/10 (3 June 2012)

Once again, the previews had the best parts of the movie. We were waiting to see more of that, knowing that the chemistry between Smith and Jones worked well, given the right dialog/scenery. Smith is wonderful at being reactive, and Jones can say so much without saying anything. He has that face people respond, too. The premise of having him disappear sent shivers down the spine because everything would be out of balance, unless we brought him back with just another actor who could do exactly the same thing.
This part works well, but whereas Michael J. Fox does wonders in the three "Back to The Future" films, the plot twist is barely developed here, and there are several missed opportunities. Brolin is dead perfect as the young Jones. He actually looks and acts as a biological young version of him.
There is too much talking in the film, and it's not clever, amusing, or entertaining. It just drags and takes the fun out of the conflict, fish out of water storyline. The creative team tries to lessen the damage by adding some more "amusing" aliens along the way, a "future" reader who is likable but gets a bit tiring pretty soon, and there we encounter more missed opportunities.
The film tries to restore some of its magic in the last fifteen minutes, and this might just a little too late for us. As we do react to the hidden elements of the "classified" file. It's a classic and sweet moment which rings true and explains a lot. However it feels like someone else wrote, either as a last minute script remedy, or it was just a piece of the original idea that was never developed enough for the middle section of the film.
One last request to Hollywood: YOU need to give us a GOOD or BAD villain, someone we can count us to entertain us, scare us, make us react and somehow cheer or despise because he/she earns that right, not because we're just supposed to manipulated by the money factory.