[durasell]

It's a spectacle, I'll give it that. But the script was inhuman -- machine made. I suspect they fussed with it and fussed with it until every single piece of individuality or quirky humanity was eliminated. The script radiated fear of making a mistake under the burden of $130 million. Compared to Independene Day with Will Smith, which had a lot of quirks and humaness to it, WOTW was a grim and sterile machine.

No doubt it'll make its money back, particularly in the international market, but I left the theater with a shrug and a "so what?"

[Borges]

I honestly didn't think the script was that bad. I twas functional. The main problem was the family problems weren't in any way integrated with the invasion story. In the way they were in say, James Cameron's Aliens. But it's more then jsut a spectacle. To have made a summer popcorn movie like this so determininedly grim with so much emotional baggage was a bold move. This movie is not going to appeal to many people and I predict it will become a cult item in the future. The humanity here is in the tone. And that shot where the camera pulls out of thier car window pulls ahead of them and then catches up with the car as it drives up is just awesome. As is the shot of the burning train. Not because of sfx but because of the direction. With a a director of meager abilities this movie would have been unwatchable.