Disappointed! Less than mediocre - a waste of time.

Rating: 2/10 (16 June 2011)

A terrible waste of Kyle Chandler's & Ron Eldard's talents; both playing fathers. The movie is one cliché after another. When we finally see the alien (too late), it's a disappointment. And the film doesn't explain why it kills some humans, & keeps others suspended (upside down, literally) for what purpose? (Other than sparing the life of 1 character - to add some suspense. Or to copy the film "Alien" - a vastly superior film, in another league.) I know it can feed off the feelings of humans (fear), as it also felt the empathy of one of the scientists (who tried to stop the train). The 'monster' is not compelling in any way & it's behaviors are minimally explained. I neither hated it, nor felt sympathy for it - except, "Let it leave." It's size & scale seemed to change throughout the movie as well.
Hate to say it, but the casting of the child actors was awful except for Elle Fanning (& she's no Dakota. Talented, but lacks the on-screen charisma of her sister). She did look like she could be Eldard's child. The other children are neither attractive nor even remotely charismatic, therefore very boring to watch. I'm sorry, as I realize it's subjective, but Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb (playing Kyle Chandler's character's kid) did absolutely nothing for me. (And why cast the blond kid w/ the extreme overbite? He was actually distracting. Next time, wait 'til the braces come off.) Except perhaps the heavy kid; the filmmaker/director kid was cute (as a budding Orson Welles). Everything in this movie was boring. The story was just TOO bland, & the ending was quite anti-climatic. Really, the stuff flying up & piling on the water tower? And for an interminable length of time? That's a good ending???
I grew up watching the '70s summer blockbusters & this falls way short of them in every department. And I wasn't a huge fan of those, but they were at least entertaining, with a compelling plot & some memorable characters, well portrayed by good actors who were also interesting to watch. (There were also other truly great movies made in the '70s that I saw & grew up with that I won't list now. It truly was a golden age of film-making for both Hollywood & foreign films.) The best part of this drivel was the Super-8 movie (the kids' movie) shown at the end alongside the credits. It at least had charm. I really regretted seeing this, as it left me with that bad a taste, & I wasted my time & money. The standard of 'entertainment' has really dropped.