What is wrong with you people?

Rating: 10/10 (4 August 2002)

I cannot believe some of the terrible reviews being written for this film. No, not because the film is bad, but where is the intellect?
The audience that understands the craft of film-making and does not need to be pummeled about the head with ridiculous special effects and obvious, unneeded exposition? In response to some of the uneducated alleged "reviews" above, I proffer the following remarks:
***Spoilers possible, written for those who've seen the film***
-"The mood is lost in the film because of the humor..." --Exactly the opposite. The humor early on actually BUILDS the suspense. Duh! The film is realistically showing that people often deal with the unknown in different ways, often times with humor. This is especially so when Gibson and Phoenix run around the house toward each other. THEY THINK THEY ARE SCARING OFF HOAXTERS! Geez, you didn't get that? Having the main characters, especially the adults take this seriously would have ruined continuity, Oh!, sorry for the big word, I mean the order of events in the film.
-"The movie is disjointed or disconnected" -- No, it was perfectly blended. That is called "suspense" and is above your head. There is not a wasted shot in the film. If anything the movie is almost too perfectly paced. I have no idea how someone could have missed out on that...
-"Why would an alien form allergic etc. to water land on Earth?" -- So you are saying because the oceans etc. are wet they cannot still land on solid ground and harvest humans? We (humans) cannot live in/or on the 2/3 of the planet that is water, but we stick around anyhow. What a ridiculous comment!
-"The end was terrible, he should not have shown the alien etc..."
-- Wrong again Einstein(s). The ending was perfect. This is not some cheap scary alien pic. The aliens are on recon mission. The only reason we see the alien at the end is to tie the movie together. THE WHOLE POINT OF THE FILM IS BEING MADE HERE!!!!!! The aliens are scary because of what we do not know about them. We do not really see them, do not know what they are capable of or what weapons they have. By not showing them throughout the film up to the climax REINFORCES that idea. After surviving the evening, coming upstairs and hearing that the aliens were repelled by the world, the family is ready to face their fears. Therefore, when the family encounters the lost, bewildered, and quite naked alien(i.e. no weapons or any real abilities beyond what humans are capable of) WE SEE THE FAMILY FACE THEIR FEAR! DUHHHHHHHHH! Yes the alien is beatable, he does have poison gas, but little other offensive or defensive prowess. Yes 8th grade dropouts, it is possible that a highly intelligent lifeform may not use weapons! Perhaps they have only encountered beings like cattle and clueless movie reviews who did not need to be subdued any more than with the gas? If you recall, some of the information in the book that Gibson's son is reading is true and some false. One page shows an alien ship blasting a house with lasers. This is an earthly idea. Sure, aliens may do that, but mostly that IS HUMAN IGNORANCE PROJECTING ITS OWN FAULTS/PERSONAL IDEAS ONTO OTHER CULTURES. If the aliens in the film were using weapons, the ships hovering over cities would have just blasted everything and picked up the leftover bodies to take home for whatever reason. Those quiet, static ships/lights show to the characters in the film, and to those of us with IQ's over 110 that they are not Aliens-A-Go-Go with blasters et.al., but more complicated creatures that must be met head-on in the end so we(and the characters) can vanquish our foes. The ending was perfect, exiting and completely necessary.
-Those not understanding this film made a mistake, go to the little theater down the hall showing "Men in Black 2." That movie is more your speed. Please quit trying to sound "smart" or "forward thinking" by continually trashing movies that are over your head. It just makes you look even more droll than you obviously are already.