I was mostly interested in the movie because I saw the trailer with Liam Neeson and he looked quite convincing - too bad I did not pay enough attention to notice that Rihanna (!?!) also "plays" in it... That fact alone would have made me think twice but it is too late now.
So what do we get here? Astronomers discover yet another exoplanet and send a message. The aliens get it and manage to decipher it of course. Right on. It does not take very long and they show up on the radar, obviously capable of flying interstellar flights at the speed of light. So far so good. It is beyond me still how they managed to fly few light-years without any accidents but once they approach the Earth, one of their ships rams a satellite and breaks apart. Logic and plausibility are hard to find and in short supply right from the start. The other storyline: a Barbie-style tall blonde enters a bar all by herself around midnight and wants to eat something. Meaningful dialogues ensue: "What's your name?" "I am hungry" "Hey that's not a name" This romantic encounter makes the main protagonist rob a convenience store and destroy about half of it. Instead of waking up in the police station and spending some time in prison, he bitches about the taser scars on his back and decides to join the navy. Shortly after we see him act as a selfish pr*ck at a soccer game which makes him even less likable. Conveniently, Barbie turns out to be the daughter of his chief commander - talk about small world, heh? As if this mess was not bad enough, we get to see Rihanna in uniform and shooting with a machine gun. I was really hoping she and the above pr*ck would get killed by the retarded aliens but no such luck... as for the aliens: as I said, they seem to have technology way superior to ours but are rather dumb and clumsy. One example: a veteran with two prosthetic legs manages to kick the sh*t out of one alien who somehow willingly engages in a fight instead of pulling a laser gun or another gimmick aliens tend to use... Speaking of gimmicks: the aliens wear suits and helmets that remind of the one that the "Predator" wore. I guess they share their technology achievements at some evil aliens convention...
What follows is hard to swallow, even with a maximum suspension of disbelief. The aliens shoot at the navy with some conventional projectiles which can be even neutralized if intercepted on time. The other weapon is a bit more spectacular but still lacking any logic - big ball-shaped robots with something like circular saws in the middle which destroy highways, helicopters and anything that might be of somewhat military importance. It remains unclear why the aliens consider our inferior technology a threat since they set up a protective shield (deja vu, "Independance day") which can not be penetrated at all...
The nonsense hits a high mark near the end when a museum ship engages in a showdown battle. Of course, a decommissioned ship always has a rich supply of ammunition and former staff readily available, the latter striking poses on the deck, waiting for their D-day - apparently, for lack of better pass-time...
Unfortunately, Liam Neeson did not get enough screen presence. To be fair, the little time he got was enjoyable e.g. when telling the above egomaniac what a selfish pr*ck he is. Needless to say, these 30 sec could not save the film. Lessons learned: always look at the cast before watching a movie, this might save you some extra pain.
So what do we get here? Astronomers discover yet another exoplanet and send a message. The aliens get it and manage to decipher it of course. Right on. It does not take very long and they show up on the radar, obviously capable of flying interstellar flights at the speed of light. So far so good. It is beyond me still how they managed to fly few light-years without any accidents but once they approach the Earth, one of their ships rams a satellite and breaks apart. Logic and plausibility are hard to find and in short supply right from the start. The other storyline: a Barbie-style tall blonde enters a bar all by herself around midnight and wants to eat something. Meaningful dialogues ensue: "What's your name?" "I am hungry" "Hey that's not a name" This romantic encounter makes the main protagonist rob a convenience store and destroy about half of it. Instead of waking up in the police station and spending some time in prison, he bitches about the taser scars on his back and decides to join the navy. Shortly after we see him act as a selfish pr*ck at a soccer game which makes him even less likable. Conveniently, Barbie turns out to be the daughter of his chief commander - talk about small world, heh? As if this mess was not bad enough, we get to see Rihanna in uniform and shooting with a machine gun. I was really hoping she and the above pr*ck would get killed by the retarded aliens but no such luck... as for the aliens: as I said, they seem to have technology way superior to ours but are rather dumb and clumsy. One example: a veteran with two prosthetic legs manages to kick the sh*t out of one alien who somehow willingly engages in a fight instead of pulling a laser gun or another gimmick aliens tend to use... Speaking of gimmicks: the aliens wear suits and helmets that remind of the one that the "Predator" wore. I guess they share their technology achievements at some evil aliens convention...
What follows is hard to swallow, even with a maximum suspension of disbelief. The aliens shoot at the navy with some conventional projectiles which can be even neutralized if intercepted on time. The other weapon is a bit more spectacular but still lacking any logic - big ball-shaped robots with something like circular saws in the middle which destroy highways, helicopters and anything that might be of somewhat military importance. It remains unclear why the aliens consider our inferior technology a threat since they set up a protective shield (deja vu, "Independance day") which can not be penetrated at all...
The nonsense hits a high mark near the end when a museum ship engages in a showdown battle. Of course, a decommissioned ship always has a rich supply of ammunition and former staff readily available, the latter striking poses on the deck, waiting for their D-day - apparently, for lack of better pass-time...
Unfortunately, Liam Neeson did not get enough screen presence. To be fair, the little time he got was enjoyable e.g. when telling the above egomaniac what a selfish pr*ck he is. Needless to say, these 30 sec could not save the film. Lessons learned: always look at the cast before watching a movie, this might save you some extra pain.
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