Mediocre despite over the top special effects.

Rating: 6/10 (8 July 2005)

I saw this flick when it first opened and prior to that I was very much looking forward to seeing it from the previews. To my disappointment, it did not live up to the hype. There are numerous things that went awry with this film.
First and foremost; is the selection of Tom Cruise as the lead character. With all the media attention he's been getting lately and his surreal personality is just very distracting. As an audience, I can not separate the actor from the character he's playing  Ray Ferrier. But then again, that's Tom Cruise who is always "big" whenever he acts. It seemed as though being 'too big' is the only range he knows best as far as acting is concern. He seemed like he is always constipated whenever he acts (take for instance Jerry MgGuire, A Few Good Men). His fellow actors on the other hand; Dakota Fanning (played his daughter Rachel), Justin Chatwin (played his rebellious son Robbie), were the anti-thesis of Cruise. Both young actors were convincing in the film. As an audience you react to their characters and hate them for the most parts. Such is an evidence of solid acting, you do not see the actor but you see the character they play.
Second, the plot is very simple. A man's struggle to keep his family alive as they travel from point A to point B and in the background is the alien invasion. Nothing is wrong with that plot, in fact it is quite commendable to an extent. It illustrates what men (people in general) would do I the midst of a crisis  fight or flight or both. Fight to a point of killing an innocent man to flee to save his family from a conflict as depicted in a few notable scenes in the film. The drama that the film makers attempted to convey surrounding some of the scenes would have been more convincing if the antagonist were real  i.e. the Nazi, the rogue tribal militia etc. But the aliens? Come on! I guess what I'm trying to say is, keep the drama out of films of this type. It just did not worked.
Third, the dialog is detached to what is going on in the film. Call me a realist, but it's not the kind of dialog you would hear victims of tsunami would be uttering. For instance:
Ray Ferrier: "They're not from around here". Robbie Ferrier: "You mean they're, like, from Europe?" Ray Ferrier: "No, Robbie, they're not from Europe."
What is up with that? It's lacking urgency and fear considering it's allegedly the end of the world.
Despite the flaws, I still managed to find the movie entertaining albeit mediocre. It has great special effects as always but even that becomes a norm these days. It's a definite rental.