Dir. Alex Proyas
Writ. Ryne Douglas Pearson, Juliet Snowden, Stiles White
Act. Nicolas Cage, Chandler Canterbury, Tose Byrne

I REALLY liked this movie up until we realize it's about aliens. Up until then, it was a pretty good thriller.

An MIT instructor named John, played by Nicholas Cage (Bangkok Dangerous), finds a young girl's message of numbers, opened from his son's elementary school time capsule, is actually a catalog of predicted world disasters, most of which have already come true. Three have not, including the last one which tells of the end of the world, and a mysterious trenchcoat mafia follows his son around and ends up being a big - scoff, scoff-twist in the end.

This one had pretty good visual effects, including an intense place crash and an even more intense subway crash, which didn't have a lot of blood but still didn't pull any punches.

I do however have a couple of plot issues with the film. Once New York was expecting a terrorist attack, and John figured out the location according to the time capsule number message, he calls up NYPD and tells them where the Terrorist Attack is going to take place.

So once the subway crash happens, wouldn't authorities immediately figure it was a terrorist attack until they can sort out what actually happened? And in that instance, wouldn't the entire area be closed off and John wouldn't get home until weeks of interrogation under the Patriot Act?

Also, I'm not exactly sure how John came to believe there is a heaven by the end of the movie. Although, he doesn't exactly say that, he implies that's what he believes now after meeting aliens from outer space and opening a gift from his late wife, which was a locket with him, his son and his wife together inside it. When he reunites with his family (Mom, Dad and Sis), he now knows that his time in existence isn't the end of life. It implies he knows now there is an afterlife?

How does a man of science meet extra-terrestrials and NOW believe there is an after life? It just wasn't clearly presented.

Overall, it was exciting and a decent mystery. The ride to Act Three was pretty good, but the third act just got too disappointing. I was SO hoping it wouldn't be aliens in the end, even though they give you plenty to guess that way ahead of time.

Aliens are one of my pet peeves from Hollywood. Aliens, the diamonds, the treasure, these are all vehicles that are as old as dirt. Any use of them are a cop out, meaning the screenwriters/producers couldn't come up with anything better.

Wait for DVD if you're at all interested. It's not horrible, but it was far from fantastic by the time the end credits scroll.

Benn - Where's the Humanity?