wow! i was impressed!

Rating: 7/10 (4 August 2005)

thoroughly entertaining, not a merely a "tom cruise" vehicle. not just a "special effects/summer" movie either. this one had heart and soul and felt totally believable from the start! i thought "tom cruise" for the first three minutes of the movie and then he was "ray ferrier", inept and absent father taking care of his estranged kids for the weekend, but boy, do circumstances change from there! to tell ya the truth, this movie didn't seem like something other-worldly to me. i kept thinking, wow, this could happen, i could be in the this totally awful, unpredictable situation......the references to terrorists and wars, put things in a contemporary place. the special effects were numbingly good. i think my mouth was on my knees through-out this flick...........i didn't breathe much for the entire movie. what's going to happen next?? the human element, the feelings of danger, and "do anything you have to in order to survive" was palatable. the change in tom's character and his relationship with his children over the course of the movie was a joy to watch. thoroughly enjoyed this one. thank you tom and steven for high-caliber, non-stop entertainment with a heart!