Special effects in comparison to 1953

Rating: 7/10 (24 September 2005)

The original 1953 version for its time set a new standard for graphics and FX entertainment. 52 years later while the use of PC generated imagery and enhancement make for an entertaining experience, the movie was worth my 2 visits. Cruise in most of his previous movies being somewhat of a hero in each, was belittled by the obviously superior technologically advanced aliens. Making his character more believable. The FX environment seemed to dwindle when cruise and several other captives in one of the alien probes/death machines as the containment area compared to a scene out of the Road Warrior... Overall I rated the movie an 7 for FX, acting and dialog. This is a generous rating mostly due to my interest in the category of sci-fi and digital effects. I think if we can recreate both an emotional and visually stunning movie like Gladiator (one of my top favs)the creators of this movie could have used a little more imagination like the original film makers. I will however ad this flick to my collection.