I love Spielberg, but I didn't love this.

Rating: 5/10 (3 July 2005)

As per usual, the hype and teaser trailers took me to the cinema.
The film started fairly well and kept me watching, but as soon as those poorly designed machines appeared well I just knew something was going to disappoint. Once again Industrial Light & Magic have done overtime to create lots of unbelievable effects that ruin a film. If I wanted to watch an animation then I would go and see a cartoon for gods sake!!! Unfortunately the film adopts the cliché storyline of the father/son angst and does nothing to make it feel or look different. It constantly reminded me of the latest flop "Day after tomorrow". Cliché and worn out.
There are a LOT of scenes in the movie that get you starting a sentence in "But what about.....?" because they simply don't add up. An example, without giving away too much, is a crashed plane that has hurtled thru the sky at a vast rate of knots. After impact with the ground, the debris is all nicely contained in a former cul-de-sac and not spread over miles and miles. Convenient I suppose if you want to show it as an obvious plane wreckage.
If you also like cellar scenes then this is the one for you. There is one that goes on and on, creating the same type of suspense twice in a row. Once again it didn't add up.
The behaviour of the son, well I just didn't get that at all.
What did I like though? Cruise and Fanning - always great to watch perform.
The way humans were zapped - different.
The river scene - spookyly eary.
Summary. I was sat there in the cinema waiting for the film to finish. I hate this feeling, especially if I am watching a Spielberg movie, and I would struggle to recommend this film.
Will I buy the DVD: NO - Huge pity, but I would never want to watch it again.