in love with the film!

Rating: 10/10 (22 July 2005)

Loved every second of it, think i blinked about twice! Its just as much a film about Earths battle against aliens as it is about one Dads battle to gain the love and respect from his kids. And it was great to see Cruise only playing the heroic role over the protection of his family rather then mankind's battle with the aliens. I felt he successfully worked his role as the 'average Joe' and he displayed no more knowledge about what was going on then the next person. Admitadly Spielberg did find moments for Cruise to add some tiny tastes of Hollywood Cheese, but i put these in the "for the kids" category.
The story itself is wonderfully told in my eyes, how the audience are thrown in and follow the lives of this one family works brilliantly. The sounds and visual effects are superb, and there was never a thought that the film had overworked itself on CGI. In fact in many cases you could tell Spielberg had gone for sets and models over computer effects, helping to give the film a much more real experience. The ending has been the most slated part of the film but in no way do i feel it let the film down. It really is a 'week in the life of a family trying to survive an alien attack'. For me the film really had everything, a true Spielberg scfi masterpiece and one i cant wait to see again.