Battleangel | Personal

So I went to see it and all my preconceptions were just blown away. A little dull at times, sure, but beautiful, gloomy, dark and scary. Very few heroisms a la Independence Day. Very few, if any, comic reliefs. Instead, what hit me was the dysfunctional family that Cruise’s character is placed in. Definitely a new streak of social realism that one rarely sees in Hollywood productions, despite its bombastic sci-fi overtones and mindblowing effects. A depiction of human beings truly helpless and locked in what their environment provides.

The best work Spielberg has done since Jurassic Park? I had all but given up on the guy. And Cruise, despite his off-screen antics scaring people half witless, performed nicely as always.

As for the message of the film, some in the right wing knee jerk circles in America have been pretty darn upset. Koepp made the fatal mistake of actually explaining the subtext in the book, and connecting the dots, putting it in a modern perspective, thus drawing fire from right wing pundits who lacked the mental capacity to take it in all at once.