Cosmic horror Lovecraft would be proud of

Rating: 8/10 (26 September 2019)

This film dances the line of the PG-13 rating as well earns itself a horror classification, from me anyway. I remember being waaay more scared of it than I thought I'd be, the first time I saw it and for that reason I didn't revisit it for while. But when I did, I realized that behind some of the corny and inconsistent writing are some lessons we need to learn if we're going to give HP Lovecraft the film treatment he deserves.
Much like you could describe Independence Day as a jolly patriotic ride to kick some alien ass, this movie could be described as the 9/11 of alien invasion movies. We're introduced to a completely unassuming world and group of characters that feel completely grounded and real and wouldn't feel out of place in a straight drama film. The film almost feels like it could've been a full on family drama if it weren't for that pesky alien invasion. Ray Ferrier is just about to have an awkward weekend with his kids when, Out. Of. Nowhere., a massive, disturbingly asymmetrical machine rises from the ground and just starts to drop some heavy genocide on New Jersey. Eventually we find out the same thing is happening all over the world and these machines are literally exterminating humanity the slow and painful way. You simply can't comprehend or make sense of an alien power and the perspective of the film only amplifies that feeling of "what the f'ck is going on!?" so much of the motives of the aliens is not made clear except through the narration at the beginning.
Accompanying the terrifying confusion is an unrelenting sense of dread and despair that Steven Spielberg pulls off masterfully.
There are missteps in the writing. Some corny dialogue, a drawn out sequence in a basement and part of the ending, but I think what the film accomplishes in sheer atmosphere actually overshadows the writing problems.