Cheap Faith in a wasted topic

Rating: 1/10 (31 July 2002)

***SPOILER-WARNING*** For the first time in my life I really want to give away the main content of a movie to spare others great disappointment. E.g. the crop-circle fans and specialists whom the movie abuses because it neither provides up-to-date interpretations of the phenomena, nor will the crop-circle (known from the ad) play an important role at all. It's the typical US-American fear of invasion - in this case: of aliens - that dictates the film. So it plays with recent events of mass hysteria. Ironically, Mel Gibson's role as a pastor who lost face about a common thing like the death of a beloved gets his faith back when he meets his wife again as an alien. And more ironically, after he has ordered her killing, not detecting her for what she really is and misunderstanding her last words as a human being and her rescue-effort as an alien for her asthmatic son (by a special in-breathing system that the aliens possess). Actually, it is water that kills the alien. More scientific bull***, as we know for years know that esp. water raises the possibility that we are not alone. So - what in the end has director Shyamalan told us? That Christian faith is ridiculous? That we don't know who's our friend and who's not? That one X-Files episode can create a more interesting environment than a big budget movie? That he doesn't know how to end a movie elegantly after building up some tension? Well, thank you, Mr. Shyamalan, at least we understand this: Hollywood just isn't spiritual enough.