Good Acting, but all cheese and fluff for the rest of the movie

Rating: 4/10 (18 June 2011)

I get the references to prior movies, but, I do not think that was enough to save this film or even a good idea to build it out that way.
The actors (teenagers to be exact) offered a quality performance, but, where was everything else in this movie? - How does a man in a truck hit head on into a speeding locomotive survive? I am not an expert, but, that train looked like it was moving at light speed, and that truck seemed to magically make the whole thing (100 cars or so) de-rail.

The dog theme went nowhere. We find out the dogs left town, and the movie. Good decision there. Oh yeah, that is another alien theme, animals don't like aliens.

Did I miss the growing suspense, possible impending doom, climactic ending? I saw the start of the above items but they all fizzled out. This was a cheezy movie from beginning to end. Things that really bugged me: Why waste time on linking townsfolk asking about their missing relative or friend who was wearing curlers, and then, Ta-Daaaa! they appear in the alien's underground lair. The super 8 film the kids were making had more originality that that.

Why show Air Force personnel (or were they just a secret force?) going through the town portrayed to make us think they are looking for the alien, and then, Ta-Daaaaa! coincidentally, they are on site, ready and prepared to evacuate the entire town and surrounding areas -after- they start a fire, that looks like it may have taken a barn out, but, not an entire town. And, they are also broadcasting supposedly highly secret information freely over the airwaves.

-Enough with the floating objects whenever we work with aliens in movies
-I wonder how they were able to control the alien when they had it in captivity in the first place? And, oh yes, let's send it on a cross-country trip in a boxcar. Did anyone notice that the M16's did not seem to have any affect on the alien? Not that they should, but, again, the Air Force seemed to know exactly what they were dealing with, and then again, not sure at all what to do, depending on which scene in the movie you were watching.
-What was with the tanks and the RPG's, bazooka's etc? All there to just create explosions and more fluff.
I like the attempt, the design of the alien,the ensemble acting from the kids, but, the overall results, to me, did not work or fit quite right.