It's the ride, not the destination

Rating: Null/10 (30 August 2002)

Never mind that the ending of this movie goes nowhere, it's the ride that counts! I enjoyed this movie because it took a major event--the arrival of aliens--and told it from the perspective of an individual and his family.
(mild SPOILERS ahead)
One of the strong points of this movie is that the director did a great job preparing us early on for the claustrophobic scenes near the end. That is, he carefully let the camera follow the actors around all parts of the house and the outside surroundings so that we become intimately familiar with the environment. When the battle came at the end, we could recall a mental map of the house so that we knew what was going on and where (for example, when the dog was strangled near the end we remembered where she had been tied up). By creating a mental map, the director engages the audience and makes us all-too-aware of the family's increasingly desperate situation.
I'm not sure why the plot revolved around faith, since ultimately we know that it is just a movie and that the "coincidences" were built into the plot. The director should have been more clear about his intentions--if he is making a movie about faith, how can he explore this theme without hardwiring miracles into the script?
As a suspense picture, this movie does considerably well. It is entertaining and genuinely frightening. The deeper meaning was well-intentioned but ultimately flat. But, if one can manage to suspend disbelief long enough to marvel at the "coincidences" than perhaps the message of this movie can linger longer than it did in me.