Just "okay".

Rating: Null/10 (6 August 2011)

I won't go through the entire plot line...you all know the story by now. The actual craftsmanship in creating this movie is just fine. the effects are good, the sound/lighting/camera work...all just fine. The actors are VERY good...particularly the children.
Abram's directorial style, especially in relation to the kids, mimics the Spielberg style as used in "ET" and "Close Encounters". You know...people talk over each other...families depicted in the seventies look very "busy" and hyperactive, etc.
The story is so full of holes you could drive a truck through them. If the alien could not be stopped with the combined might of the pursuing military just how, pray tell, were they able to control it at Nellis airbase? And how were they able to get it on board a train? And if the alien has the power to suck away energy forces...why didn't it do this to the train??? Sorry...far too illogical.
Now...to the music. Michael Giacchino is no John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith...no way. Oh yes...the music is okay, in a TV show kind of way...but it doesn't have the thematic development and magic that Williams would have brought to this film. The only decent piece of music appears in the last ten minutes of the film and even then the theme is very underdone. Perhaps, Michael, you should go and have some long talks with John Williams before he leaves us for good.
Overall this film was like a junk food meal...quite delicious and filling but still leaving you with a certain feeling of emptiness, of being let down by much promise but limited delivery.