What a shame

Rating: 1/10 (4 July 2005)

I had such high hopes for this film and they were dashed spectacularly. The insistence to end the film in an overtly happy way was both predictable and unnecessary. I have nothing against such endings per se but this one was asking you to defy belief. I'm not going to tread over old ground and point out the numerous flaws and mistakes, as a lot of people have done that already, but for me it could have been so much more.
The special effects were superb, as were a number of the more personal scenes between the family, but the whole story seemed trite and even when it looked like a character might die you knew they wouldn't because even at the very beginning you could see that it was all being set up for a typical happy ending. For once I would like to see Spielberg show that not everything can always work out perfectly.
The acting was passable at best. Cruise did a good job but you were never in any doubt he would rise to the moment, even when the film tried to portray him badly. People also say what a good actress Dakota Fanning is, which is true, but she is not good at portraying children. Every character she plays does not act like a child that age would, they are always wise beyond their years and far too knowledgeable. Not once did she cry, which is what a child would be more likely to do under such pressure, rather than scream constantly. She portrayed her character as if she was a 30 year old playing the part. His son was the typical rebel cliché and the fact he is around to see the end at all made the whole film lose a sense of reality. The tagged on ending came as no surprise to me, and it won't surprise anyone else.
However, this film seems to polarise opinion. You'll either love it or hate it, and for that reason alone it will never be considered a classic. Considering the recent high quality of films such as Sin City or Batman, then anyone who savoured those films will be hard pressed to swallow this and if you have not seen them then you would be advised to put them ahead of this film in your priorities.