just above putrid

Rating: 2/10 (8 September 2006)

I was elated when it was announced that Spielberg was presenting this remake of one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all times. I was extremely disappointed in the final result. The story line was only so-so and the main character would have been more acceptable with Tim Robins in the lead. I felt that the special effects were vintage Spielberg and done very well, especially the creatures themselves. Spielberg failed in this effort because he wanted to do too many 'new' things instead of improving, modernizing, and building on the old situations and personalities. Also, there was no clear indication of where these creatures came from and how they got here. Per the movie, it could be speculated that their origin might be the early Earth. Also, this movie was very 'dark' and the obscenities made it impossible to enjoy this movie with your family and friends as with the earlier version. I must admit that I may be prejudiced as The 1953 version (I loved those ships and the conveyance meteors) is within my top five all time favorite movies. I give this movie a '2' out of a possible '10.'