Holes in the plot -- SPOILER INCLUDED!!!!

Rating: 6/10 (7 August 2002)

SPOILER WARNING: There are plot details discussed in this comment so please don't read it if you haven't seen the movie yet.
I enjoyed watching this movie, but once it was over I was annoyed at some enormous holes in the plot. The most obvious gaping hole is that the aliens could be destroyed by water. Don't you think that if they had the intelligence to send fleets of ships through light years of space they would have known to wear some type of protective covering on earth with its water laden atmosphere? These creatures would be killed every time it rained. For us it would be like going to a planet where the rain is a powerful acid instead of water. We would wear some type of protective clothing. These aliens wouldn't even have been able to run through the corn field at night because at night in the summer the corn stalks would often be covered with dew.
Another hole: the aliens made these giant signs in the corn fields which people suspect (correctly as it turns out) are aids to navigation. First of all, you would have trouble seeing them from space, especially if it's night on the ground. Second, don't you think the aliens would have some better form of technology to navigate the earth's surface? And most important, wouldn't some bright person have gotten the idea to mow the fields where the signs had been carved to erase the signs?
Another hole: the neighbor (played by the director) catches an alien and locks it in the pantry. Mel Gibson knows it's there because he cuts its fingers off. Shouldn't one of these guys have mentioned this to somebody like maybe the police or the military? Said something like "There's a spaceman in the kitchen"? Instead the neighbor drives off to the lake and Mel runs home and boards up the windows. That just doesn't make any sense to me.
Like I said, while the movie was playing I really enjoyed it because the performances are uniformly strong and there are some wonderful moments of suspense and humor. But afterward I just felt annoyed.