I saw it today.
The underlying theme was one of survival. It's nearly impossible to hold Robbie, Ray's son, back from joining the battle no matter how hard Ray tries. Ogilvy was insane and didn't understand that what was required was cunning and stealth and so he therefore lost the battle by losing his life. His "occupation" comment was really smarmy.....and was an obvious reference to the WOT. Other than being built in to deliver that message,(like we don't all know that most of Hollywood actors ect are anti-war), he mostly was there to fill in some time imo.
The author exaggerates........it was a 2 hour movie and Ray and Rachel spent about 25 minutes of it in the basement with Ogilvy. And our "spirit" didn't win out over the aliens. They were doomed from the beginning because they hadn't had the thousands of years to build up an immunity to the various earthly bacteria.
I noticed a few times, in the beginning of the film especially, that there were leaps in the plot that just didn't quite fit.......the editing was very sloppy.
I don't remember hearing one swear word in the entire film either, which was refreshing.
Some people have vivid imaginations. They see enemies around every corner. I went to see this movie because I wanted to do a comparison between it and the 1953 release, I was curious, I love this genre, and because I wanted to be entertained by one of Hollywood's most talented directors.
Aside from Ogilvy's smarmy "occupation" comment, I didn't read much anti-war bias into this movie at all. (suffering exists when aliens with this kind of technology and strength invade, and haven't we seen all kinds of Hollywood type suffering as in Million Dollar Baby, Titanic ect.) If I'd read her biased review earlier I might have been more on the look out, but she sounds like some paranoid politico to me.
It seemed to me that Spielberg ran out of ideas right after Cruise had a smashing victory in the struggle near the end of the film.
Disappointing.....or should I say......unbelievable ending.
Also.....the alien beings were vaguely familiar. I think I saw them in Alien or Predator. -gg-
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