------

Spielberg wisely leaves a lot of questions unanswered when it comes to the invaders. Only the scattered and sometimes contradictory rumors are what we and Cruise hear (not counting Morgan Freeman's narration). Do they actually drink blood or is it used for some other function? Can they also use animal blood? What other purposes did they have on the planet? What was with the creeping red vines? Were the vines actually part of the aliens themselves?

The biggest question for me was as to when exactly the ships were buried. If we are to believe one character, it was millions of years ago. This leads to the most confusing series of thoughts when trying to make sense of it all. If they were here so long ago, why didn't they take over then? If they needed to wait until we evolved for the purpose of harvesting, then this means they must have done this with other planets in order to survive, which means that they should have encountered the germ thing previously. And on and on and on.

Ebert apparently had the same objections, and he gave the film only two out of four stars for it. I think this is way too harsh. A rating this low is only deserved if the film is boring and tedious enough so that you dwell on such inconsistencies while viewing the thing. That was not the case with myself or any of the audience members that I saw it with. We all pretty much held our breath for the majority of the film (well, not literally, of course. That would be messy, and the floors are sticky enough).

------

And then there's that happy ending. I suppose we can't have things be totally bleak in a Spielberg film, and I was willing to roll with that. Lord knows the main three characters had been through enough hell to finally have some sun shine upon them at the very end. I've read so many complaints about the plotholes and the ending, but I can't give this thing anything lower than a nine. It's just too damn well made for it to receive anything less. It's an experience, plain and simple. See it in a theater while you can.

Nine out of Ten