A real look at the inner person

Rating: 9/10 (10 June 2004)

Prior to finally watching this film, I had heard very little about it. I had seen the trailers, seen the box office records, but other than my sister telling me it had creeped her out, had heard no comments on how other people felt about the film or what the film was about.
The trailers led me to believe that the film was about Aliens and would be scary, and while it is indeed about Aliens, the film touches on so much more than that.
The film, while a little jumpy and perhaps a bit of a "horror" flick for its suspense, was not a mindless film. It was one where you needed to pay attention. All of this director's films are that way. Hidden messages that you must remember later on in the film. I find that to be positively stimulating. I was in no way bored, as other reviewers have stated.
The film centers around a man, Graham Hess (Gibson), and his struggle with god. His personal faith lost after his wives death, he gave up on his church and is trying to live a normal, albeit sad, existence with his children and his brother (Pheonix). Each of the characters has their own "quirks". You can see that each of them has anger at life.
In this film, the aliens are used to symbolize Grahams fight with god. Instead of god, it is the aliens. It almost seems as though god has sent the aliens to remind Graham of his presence. While Graham is trying to make sense of what is going on once the strange "goings on" begin, it is very much like Graham's struggle with his wives death. There is shock, denial, acceptance, fear and anger. He battles to save the family that remains as well as himself. When Graham realize's, at the end, how to kill the alien that has entered his home, it's amazing. It shows that there are no coincidences. His wife, with her dying words, showed part of how to overcome. Hinting that perhaps she knew what would happen. That god had given her the words to show Graham the way. And the fact that the person who killed his wife, Reedy, also in a statement to Graham, gave Graham the final piece of information needed to save his family. Reedy stated that it was like he was meant to fall asleep at the wheel at exactly that moment, when she would be there. Like he was meant to kill her. And the wife said the same. That it was meant to be. And it was. So that both people could, in the end, show Graham the way. Each had information. Had Reedy never hit Graham's wife, I don't believe Graham and he would have ever had the conversation they had.
It was very complex, a true look at the struggles of a family, of a man, when faced with unbearable loss. But instead of a dramatic, sad film to show these struggles, the director used a fear that everyone has. The fear of Aliens. This allowed everyone viewing the film to have a fear already, better equipping them to feel what Graham felt and follow along in his journey.