Great Effects, Poor Story Presentation

Rating: 6/10 (10 July 2005)

I watched the movie with a very high expectation since I had read the original book before. Maybe my expectation was too high, because I was very disappointed.
No doubt the special effects and the way Spielberg presented the attack was superb (isn't he always?). However, the presentation of the story surrounding the attack was poor. The way the movie ended was so abrupt that I got a sense that someone was telling me a story and then left me hanging without ever completing the story. Maybe the movie was trying to present the attack from a family's point of view and that kind of approach is not really my taste. At least, if one is trying to do that, he/she needs to make sure that the viewers would be able to understand what is really going on.