NOT a thriller. NOT about aliens. And the trailer is a lie.

Rating: Null/10 (11 November 2002)

After seeing the trailer, and finding out that it's a movie by the same guy that made the great "6th Sense", I expected an equally great movie, full of suspense and surprises, thrilling and scary. Hey, that's the impression the trailer left me with: people running and screaming, boarding up the house, stalked by someone, flashlights flickering and strange signs in the crops... A perfect thriller, I thought!
I couldn't be more wrong, it seems. The movie is NOTHING like the thriller. In fact, the thriller covers more or less the first half of the movie... The only half that is somewhat interesting. No spoilers here, really: the trailer reveals that it is a movie about (probably) aliens making strange markings in the fields, and stalking people, who run away screaming. And yes, that's what the first half is... but then it only gets worse.
All the suspense is lost, and the whole "what are the aliens, if it's aliens, up to?" affair is turned into a big pro-religious pile of moral issues. The main hero is an ex-priest, and the whole second half of the movie is about how he realizes that what happens around him cannot possibly be a pure concidence, and that perhaps he should return to the faith. AND THAT'S IT! The aliens cease to be important anymore; the mystery is gone, the suspense is gone, and the whole danger disappears within the last moments of the movie. The only thing that remains important is how the ex-priest questions his faith (or non-faith). Why put aliens in there? Why the cropsigns?? Okay, so he lost his wife in a car accident - this isn't much of a spoiler, it's shown in the first 10 minutes of the movie. So he lost his faith when she died, okay, a nice movie beginning. So something happens that makes him rethink his views... But why market it as a mystery thriller with aliens in it!?
In a nutshell: - plotholes big enough for the starship Enterprise to fly through. - storyline... WHAT storyline? Summarizeable in two-three sentences. And left completely unexplained (or very badly explained, for that matter). - religious messages cheap and cheesy. Good religious doubts were in "End of Days", in "Stigmata", NOT in here at all! Here, religion=good, atheism=bad, plain and simple. - acting... not bad, but only Gibson matters, the other actors are just in the background, far far away.
*** BIG SPOILER : the movie summarized! ***
First, we have strange cropsigns, all over the world, and radio appliances emit strange noises. Enter the aliens: they come in ships and hover over cities. Part three, aliens come to hunt people, Gibson with his family hides in the basement. Part four, the invasion is aborted and the aliens leave, defeated with... water. So Gibson fights one horrifyingly stupid alien and returns to being a priest, deciding that it's all a sign from God, more or less. END OF MOVIE.
*** Spoilers end ***
I think I'm going to re-watch "The Return of the Living Dead 2" tonight, for a change. Crap, low-budget and b-class, but better effects, better acting, less plotholes. Sadly.
If you want a really good and frightening movie with a message by this director, return to the "Sixth Sense".