What was present was near perfect - but what was absent?

Rating: 9/10 (8 October 2013)

Gotta say I could watch this all day and all night. Beautiful in every frame. But you should not have to go through this level of disappointment at the point of maximum anticipation.
What was absent was any sense of who these bad extra-terrestrials where, why they did what they did... All we get is a giant desk ornament?!? What is this, 2001 (the movie)? Perhaps my ignorance of the original material - is the Tet dear to the hearts of fans? I am sorry but massive power and advanced intelligence requires complexity. Even 'Battleship' got that right (and everything else wrong, but that's another story).
What was also absent was any sense of struggle to achieve victory against overwhelming odds (Independence Day all over again?). (This strongly linked to a complete vacuum of imagination in relation to the bad guys).
Not sure if this was a case of 'we ran out of time/budget'. It amazes me any movie representing thousands of peoples' efforts can pass through months of scrutiny, re-writes etc without someone saying 'hold on guys, something's missing'.
There are some plot holes but i forgive all these for the gorgeous production design - clothes -vehicles - buildings etc - and the breathtaking natural landscapes used as the environment.
ACtually not forgive completely. The masks thing... seems to satisfy the plot but not have a valid reason from the characters' viewpoint - why would you pretend to be the enemy?? especially when there seems to be no example of one to copy... and if they hadn't done this the plot would have fallen apart, right? As with so many it comes down to the writing - the story itself. The x millions of $ of actual production are not the issue. Why can't we get stories that are immune from criticism? All the other movie-making disciplines involved seem to be at the top of their game, but the writers seem to get away with half-baked murder.