Unfathomably overrated

Rating: 1/10 (10 March 2006)

I don't get why everybody loves this movie so much. It's just not that good. On its own merits, it deserves more than the one star I gave it, but when you factor in the annoyance factor of the gushing fans... well, let's say I just felt a need to counterbalance its high ratings.
Blah, blah, blah, special effects. So what. Yet another example of Special-Effects-In-Search-Of-A-Movie. The story holds together poorly. The premise was initially pretty interesting, but the movie seemed utterly incapable of establishing rules for how its world works and sticking to them.
Finally, the movie hit a pet peeve of mine, which was, to me, its ultimate, fatal flaw. I'm very big on the "science" part of "science fiction". So you lose me instantaneously when you start introducing mystic mumbo-jumbo into a science fiction story. For me, this film jumped the shark when we get to that wise woman character. (nevermind that the mystic nonsense is somewhat demystified in the sequel films; this review is about *this* film). Yeah, dropping in an all-knowing, cryptic prophetess, without the tiniest hint of explanation of her abilities, makes for a convenient plot device, but defies all reason or sense.