Tripe. (Spoilers)

Rating: 1/10 (11 August 2002)

This film suffers in so many ways as to be unable to list all of them in 1,000 words or less.
I will attempt to give a brief synopsis of them.
1) Politically correct beyond belief.

a) One of the main characters has a Cleft Pallet, this adds nothing to the story or to the fact that the character is fairly unlikable throughout the film.

b) The Police Officer is a woman, this rather unbelievable, the actress does not posses the strength of character to pull off the role.

c) The "Farm Family" has not one gun in their house. I lived on a farm and guns are a mainstay of that lifestyle, oh wait if they had a gun then the film would be a blood bath of people trying to defend themselves against alien invasion, can't have that.

d) "Go to the Army recruiter when you think the world is in danger." Yes as we all know, the military is the best place to be in an emergency. With such a proven track record how could it wrong?

e) "The Television will give you 100% unedited Information." Even in the United States where the Broadcasts are free from interference this type of Information would be kept quite and relegated to the Internet as a hoax.
2) Card Stock Cutout Characters

a) Gibson is a fine actor and pulls off the role of a (married catholic) priest well.

b) Phoenix could not act his way out of a box. His character of the brother is flimsily and under developed.

c) Jones's Police officer, a main character with out any contributing qualities, used more as a plot device.

d) Small town Folk are always close-minded and vulgar, the booksellers, the Girl behind the Counter, the guy at the Army registration office.

3) The story is extremely contrived.

a) Throughout the film we get flash backs to the death of this man's wife and it has little to do with any thing happening in the film till the end. It turns out that there is an unseen overwhelming force that binds everything and forces destiny to happen.

b) The baby intercom can pick up those signals but the government can't, or if they are, they are not saying any thing, which would make my part 1E even more correct.

c) "Maybe if we hide in this hole they won't be able to get us". Yes everything in the house is prepared for the invasion, with the exception of the final location. The basement.

d) During a life or death situation it makes total sense that a person would be thinking about the death of their wife and her last words rather than thinking of a way out of the situation, of course this leads up to the next contrivance.

e) At the end the "Father" regains his faith, because at this point "The Force" has finally proven that it exists by having given him a hint some six months earlier.

f) Convenient that water, a MAJOR component of the Earth, is what kills the monsters. It makes total sense that an alien species would not know that over 1/2 of the world they are going to be invading is extremely lethal to them and won't take any precautions.
4) There are some totally missed opportunities in this film.

a) Over and over the little girl mentions that this event or that even was in her dream, this is never fully explored.

b) The real reason the brother is home is never fully explained. Yes he is there now that the wife died but the viewer gets the feeling there are other reasons as well.

c) An opportunity to see the town's agitator at work so as to add some level of belief to the concept.
5) The only saving grace in this film is the children.

a) Abigail Breslin, perfectly portrayed the part of the little girl with a bit of a mental disorder and a gift for understatement.

b) Rory Culkin, who would have thought a Culkin could actually act. This young man has talent and as long as he avoids the pitfalls of his older brother he will go far.
Over all M. Night Shyamalan serves up exactly what you expect, no surprises only a lot of social programming. The USA needs a feel good film and this is it.