It’s
almost a ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ for the thinking set, while simultaneously being ‘entertainment’ for the mall-rats.
The attack sequences are a re-enactment of the US assaults on Baghdad, Mosul and Fallujah - from the Iraqi P.O.V. That much is clever, but…
The thing is a too linear. Sure, it’s the anti-’Close Encounters’ and writer David Koepp has done a masterful job of rendering the inter-familial relationships, including little side-jabs at ‘Independence Day’ and the novelty of doing an invasion film from a singular, non-omniscient P.O.V., as opposed to Emmerichian and Speilbergian control-room cutaways. The Government isn’t gonna save us this time, folks.
We’ve already seen Dakota Fanning get all wide-eyed and screamy this summer, just like we’ve also seen Tom Cruise in roles where he’s O.D.’ed on testosterone and proceeds to over-aggress through the rest of the film.
It’s a fun little entertainment for Liberal ‘America-haters’ like myself, but I’m not sure there’s much more ‘there’ there. There’s a ‘comment’ about American foreign policy buried in Cruise’s live-alone Dad, but I’m not sure it’s worth pursuing.
***1/2 out of *****