Not for fans of Men in Black

Rating: Null/10 (1 August 2002)

While this movie wasn't the flashiest sci-fi thriller put out by Hollywood in recent memory, it is one of the most thought out and carefully constructed movies I've seen(in fact, it shouldn't be listed in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy category at all).
While it is more a film about faith and spirituality than it is little green men and crop circles, the movie still has the ingredients of a typical suspense/thriller: comedy, tension, suspense, mystery and terror. It mixes the elements of the extra-terrestrial with faith in the unknown.
However, some movie-goers who are products of their generation( i.e. those who need to have every scene set-up and described; need every Boogie Man to have a personality, a cool outfit, and better weapon; and need every detail to be described again and again) will find this film not up to their liking when comparing it to such "aliens come to Earth classics" as Independence Day, Battle of the Planets and The Arrival. Rather, this is a thinking man's movie. M.Night Shyamalan has proven in his previous films the Sixth Sense and Unbreakable that old-fashion movie making is alive and well. The extent he relies on computer imagery is minimal if at all and instead uses lighting, camera angles and sound to tell the story and to relay the proper mood. For this reason, he is more in the mold of Alfred Hitchcock than Steven Speilberg and James Cameron. The movie requires the viewer to fill in some of the blanks, but the main point of the movie comes through loud and clear for those open to the message.
For the MTV-Generation viewers expecting to see phasers, spaceship battles, gratuitous violence, and state-of-the-art costume designs: stay home. This merges a Hitchcock-like "The Birds" feel with an underlying theme of faith in the wake of tragedy. But if want to watch as a story unfolds and causes you to think and use your own feelings and imagination along the way to entertain you, then go spend the $9.00 and catch this at the theater. I won't hype it and say it was good or bad, but rather a simple: "go and see this movie."