Super film

Rating: Null/10 (12 July 2011)

Another great film from J.J. Abrams who worked with Steven Spielberg to bring us a new twist on an alien presence. Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) is a young man who is friends with Charles (Riley Griffiths) since kindergarten. Both create a movie for a festival so they can get their names in lights, but on their movie set, they are witness to a catastrophe of a train derailing by a mad doctor who the boys later learn was a part of an experiment gone wrong. Small disappearances occur in the sleepy town of Lillian, until Joe finds a few answers of his own to this mystery. As the military jumps in to burn the town down because of a past catching up with them, Joe and his friends take it upon themselves to find a girl who has been kidnapped by the force for which people cannot see until it is so up close, you can smell its breath. The girl, Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning) is held by this force because whatever it is, wants to go home. A kind of ransom demand on its own behalf so that the military and their way doing things can kiss its butt. All in all Joe understands the creatures point of view, and with the mad Doctor Woodward's (Glynn Turman) notes, finds its lair and Alice and other people who are still alive in a dungeon of sorts under a cemetery. Now with releasing his fellow townsfolk, Joe and Alice reunite with their respective fathers to look upon the creatures way back home. Giving it a chance to escape as the military stops the hazing of Lillian. This film has a really good story, a bit of E.T flavor blended in with close encounters of the third kind. Music was top notch, and using the oldies such as ELO for the track was such a relief over the constant bombardment of the usual hip hop gangster crap. I cannot fathom films that use the monotonous tunes of rap in a movie. It throws my concentration off and it does not sound good except to those who listen to it. All in all, a very good flick for the price. Great effects. And a good learning curve that not all humans are butt wads on this planet, like the military demonstrates nearly all the time. Recommended to those like myself who love a good Sci-fi.