Tom Cruise is nutty off screen and now on screen

Rating: 4/10 (4 December 2005)

So quickly this character is built, Ray Ferrier. There is no way you can be expected to respect him or even pity him. Hes wrong in all the ways a person can be wrong, not exactly leading role stuff and hardly the calibre for this sort of movie.
It is beyond belief that the plot manages to maintain itself with the senseless mentality Cruise's character has been designed with, pushing the rule that says the lead character cannot die. I wanted to reach into the movie and pull the trigger myself.
After enduring this, and being fed delicious samples of what was quite an exciting and well put alien invasion we are then supposed to go along with the idea that this guy is both lucky and when he needs to be, a contradiction of himself - suddenly a hero with all the right tricks. If there was to be a perceived development or thawing of relations between Ray and his son - then it was so poorly developed they need not have bothered.
Such an irony it seems that the character design reflects so much of what Tom Cruise has become offset (ie the man beyond the movies). Did Spielberg take a back seat and let Mr Cruise run things?