Promising suspense undermined by weak pay-off

Rating: 5/10 (22 June 2007)

If you watch a lot of films...maybe if you fancy yourself as screenwriter material...you probably already know how fun and somewhat easy it is to come up with the idea for a "great film". Everyone/anyone can come up with the hook, but the key is being able to sustain interest right up to the end and deliver a satisfying pay-off. A good example of a successful pay-off is a film like "Shawshank Redemption" or, on the action side, "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
Night manages the events in this story almost like a bomb squad diffusing an explosive device. He's careful and meticulous. There's no doubt a lot of hard work and careful consideration went into the design of this story -- up to a point.
***EXTREME SPOILER ALERT*** It almost would have been better for the film if there were no aliens. And these particular aliens are amazingly stupid. Water kills them so they decide to try and conquer a planet that is 7/10 comprised of water. And they're here to harvest humans, a species that is also 70% water. The logic here escapes me. When you consider the fact that they have some kind of natural poison vapor secretion ability it looks like fire fighters have the least to fear from these naked green invaders. If you can't put 'em down with the fire hose, at least you can have your oxygen mask on.