Underrated, amazingly underrated!

Rating: 9/10 (17 October 2006)

Yes Tom Cruise acts like a loon in real life, but on the screen there is no disputing it... the guy is the best leading man in Hollywood and has been for the last two decades. And with age catching up with him i can only see him moving away from his lesser boyish roles and into better grittier characters..
You know when you see a really good film, it has a feel, a sense about it that you pick up in the first few minutes... THis film has it! And when you walk out of the cinema you walk out feeling like you've been somewhere to some other place.. Been through something extraordinary. This film has that more than any film i have ever seen before! When i came out of this film i was telling my film maker mate that it is a whole new kind of scary, and when he watched it he knew exactly what i meant. The whole concept is terrifying, far fetched perhaps but no more then any other science fiction film in history.
Tom Cruise is right on the money.. He is perfect here. Spielberg is at his action packed best. The special effects are the best on screen to date. Without a doubt. It leaves lord of the rings, king Kong and the matrix all for dead. One of the few movies that CGI isn't something to cringe at, but something to marvel at.
Gone is the military and their rods over a map of the world. The president is not there, nor a secret covert attack to destroy the aliens. Nor is our hero one dimensional.. he doesn't just kill aliens! There are a few little mistakes like the video camera working.. for those who've seen it, they'll know what i mean.. And the unnecessary softer Spielberg ending (the boy surviving) was the only thing that stopped me from giving this film a 10. Awe inspiring, this movie demonstrates what happens when Hollywood gets it right. What the movies are made for! One of the ten best science fiction films of all time! Steven Spielberg should take a bow!