Theist Propaganda

Rating: Null/10 (5 August 2002)

That's all it is. Theist propaganda. I felt cheated that the sci-fi story about aliens and crop circles was just a gimmick in order to tell a tale about a man's revival in his belief in god. As soon as I found out that Gibson was an ex-reverend who became an atheist after his wife's tragic demise, I immediately knew that the rest of the film would somehow relate to his struggle to regain his relationship with his god through another tragic event, this one being an alien attack. This was not a movie about aliens. It was not a movie about UFOs or armageddon. It was a cheap way to ask the question, "do you believe in god or not?" and then answers itself at the end with, "you'd better." I was disgusted.
Other than that chief complaint, I did not find the movie to be terrible. It was suspenseful and often a bit scary, although it did not bring forth many new ideas. I thought the buildup was good because it left everything up to the imagination, that is until the aliens were seen. I thought the aliens were cheesy looking and not frightening. In Independence Day, the aliens terrified me. In this movie, I thought of a Halloween costume I once wore.
5/10.