Sign says "this is crap"

Rating: Null/10 (12 January 2003)

SPOILER ALERT I was confused over the intent of the movie. It seemed like it was supposed to be some psychological sci-fi melodrama, it succeeded in boring the hell out of me with no pay off for the time I spent watching it. What level was this movie operating on? If it was supposed to psychological why was it so stupid? And if it wasn't supposed to be thought provoking.why was it so boring? My point is, if we are to believe that there really was a world wide alien invasion-why did the Mel Gibson family shelter themselves in their own world (house) with no contact to the outside world.this was probably the intent of the film. Personally I think if this really happened I would be holed up with my neighbors in a church or school and passing out the firearms like candy. Or when Mel found that alien in the pantry.he didn't call the authorities or tell anybody (in the outside world) he runs home and mumbles to his family he saw an alien in a pantry. So, because I could not suspend my disbelief enough to except this story and the behavior of its participants..I started thinking this movie may be an analogy for something else.and this suddenly made the movie more interesting. I spent a good amount of time contemplating (wrongly) that this movie was actually an analogy for Terrorism, and with that frame of mind it makes a lot of since. However, the movie was actually about aliens.silly aliens that couldn't escape from a pantry, (but yet could navigate a space ship?) Silly aliens that scratched at doors and windows, Silly aliens that snuck around outside little kids birthday parties and silly aliens that would melt with water. (ingenious how the little girl had a water phobia and there happened to be water glasses all over the place.even places she couldn't reach) Or if the movie was really an analogy for Mel's inner struggles, once again all hopes were dashed by those silly aliens. Were the aliens supposed to represent something else? I keep thinking if they had this would have been a much better film. In closing, I respect M. Night Shyamalan because he gets to do something he likes for a living and he even gets to act.but come on..if your trying to say something with the movie say it, or if your not `pick up the pace!'