An Awful Disappointment

Rating: 1/10 (30 June 2005)

I have liked or loved almost everything Spielberg has done, but this film is a total clunker from the first minute to the last. If a movie is to concentrate on characters rather than give itself over to the technological excess typical of the genre, the characters have to be interesting, and the dialog well-written. Both are to be expected from Spielberg; neither is delivered.
We avoid the typical middle class suburb opening shots by starting off in a gritty working- class neighborhood. But not to worry - Tom Cruise's ex-wife has a well-off boyfriend, so after a desperate drive towards suburbia (during which, despite the fact that every single car has broken down, there is a miraculous free lane for Cruise to drive along without even having to touch the brakes), the family can take its first refuge in a solid upper middle class house with a solid middle class basement. But the characterization and the dialog were obviously blitzed by the aliens in Gritville before they left.
There are very few good things to say about the film. The special effects are good (but the digital shots of devastated landscapes are as one- dimensional as the characters that inhabit them). Dakota Fanning is really good. The scenes of Main Street breaking up are beautifully done. Tim Robbins, overacting as if his life depended on it, does his best with awful lines and a totally laughable character. The aliens look like an illustration from a 1960s scandal sheet article on beings from another planet.
The negatives - from holes in the plot to hackneyed dialog to clichéd family relationships to old-hat John Williams score - are too many to list.
The film is not worth the price of the ticket. You leave the theater feeling as if you've been sandbagged, not entertained, and if Spielberg cannot give us magic at the movies, who's left who can?