Good movie, and different sci-fi edge spoiled by some dialogue and unnecessary Spielberg ending!

Rating: 7/10 (13 November 2005)

This movie is both a good surprise and a bit of a disappointment. The premise of this movie is that the world has been invaded by dinosaur sized alien cum machines which are intent on exterminating the human race. The difference between this film and similar sci-fi fair is that this film rather concentrates on the average joe instead of some gung ho leader.
Tom Cruise is the divorced father who has to pull his two kids closer to him in their fruitless pursuit for survival which sees them possibly finding that other people are as big a danger to themselves than even the aliens themselves! The story and interaction of the characters is excellent, and well balanced with the great special effects which for a feature of its kind is surprisingly not over bearing (with no (or little) product placement to ruin it).
The problem with the film is though that the dialogue can be quite frustrating and irking, and personally i wish they would have just got on with the film at points. The kids do a fair job (especially the girl who for her age was excellent in the role) but really their script could have been better written. Also the ending ruins the film and is not necessary in the way they did it, what is Spielberg like with movie endings!!!! The frightening thing is with this film is the parallels between the people's behaviour in the film and what really happened in reality in New Orleans after the Hurricane in 2005. Maybe without knowing it, this movie was a warning about human behaviour as much as invasion or attacks.
Overall, a good film, but walk out with 5 mins to go, else the ending will spoil the whole thing for you.