Excellent to be as simplistic as one can

Rating: 9/10 (5 July 2005)

The first thing I must say is the negative because they are few (aside from the actual premise itself). The ending is able to be gotten, but you may be caught in in prior events to fully follow it. Not so much because it is difficult, but because with so much hopelessness and tension your mind is anything but clear. Second is the continuity error some caught, when the guy is taping the attacks right after an EMP kills all in the area. Yet slightly thereafter cars started working again, so it is possible.
Next I will go on a limb and say Tom Cruise deserves nothing less than an Oscar nomination. I spoke with a friend who thought Mel Gibson could pull the role off (when I asked who else might be able to play the part). It's certainly possible and other names could certainly surface; however, Cruise's conversion in natural, understanding, foreseen, yet never blunt: it is expected and it is brilliant. Next is Dakota Fanning, she is the best child actor since Haley Joel Osmont. Justin Chatwin in his short time in the movie and limited lines gives a more than credible performance, although there is a part in the movie that is sketchy (I will not reveal it). It's not impossible and the beauty is you are lost in the moment like he and all others.
This movie does not lose you in the action. You feel hopeless when the characters do. The hardest acting was from Tim Robbins. Making a smaller show - - essentially a cameo - - could have been undone by such a big name, but he is believable and the part "chilling" as most have been describing this movie. Even Rick Gonzalez is credible enough. People act as they do in this movie and I would absolutely expect the actions we see in this movie.
The special effects are award-worthy and Spielberg makes a nearly two hour movie taut, fraught with tension, and disturbing. Honestly, I think Robbins is the sickest dude in this movie and there are some sick, desperate people. Cruise, there, is phenomenal and Fanning may be even better.
The writing is excellent. I half expect to hear of major paranoia being prevalent the next time, well, you'll see. It is no secret now the movie's premise of invasion, nor even their method of travel as alluded to in the line before. God is the greatest, quietest star of this film. Spielberg doesn't blunt you with religion, but it is clear how he feels. Nature is God's truest creature and, we humans, the master of it, right? Overall this is an incredible movie that fulfills Tommy Lee Jones' proclamation that "a person is smart, but people are dumb, panicky animals and you know it."