kevbry

This is one of MNS's best movies. On the surface it's an "Alien Movie", but it doesn't follow the typical formula. This movie explores aliens, conjecture, conspiracy, faith, remorse and faith. I know I listed faith twice, as there's the subplot of how people react to situations that challenge their belief systems.

Gibson's character has lost his faith and no longer believes in God. Gibson has resigned as the town's priest and deals with his struggles as well as some of the townspeople's struggles to adapt to the new reality of him no longer holding that position. TI won't get into why. As someone who's been in a similar situation, it's understandable.

The film also deals with guilt and forgiveness in a way that will have you choking up along with Mel Gibson's character.

The main plot is aliens harassment on Gibson's farm and family and what's happening around the world with this invasion. It's definitely got its spooky moments.

There's also some comedy gold in the film. Gibson and Phoenix give great performances, although Gibson can sometimes deliver his lines a little too slow and robotic, but perhaps that's the movie's intention for a priest or at least as the proverbial 'straight man' to Phoenix's descent into obsession. However, their comedy and fear timing is spot on. Phoenix's closet alien reveal scene is perfect. The actor who portrays the Army recruiter does a great job and could be a character out of the X-Files.

There is a powerful scene that must be highlighted and that's Gibson and Phoenix's couch scene and the discussion about whether each other believes in miracles. Phoenix's story is hilarious, Gibson's, not so much. In fact it's sobering and gut wrenching, but it's not to be missed and extremely important to the movie.

All the actors in this movie do a great job.

Everything comes full circle at the end. Definitely worth a watch!

Why someone said this movie was akin to the X-Files is beyond me and is an insult to the X-Files.

The movie is one big bad cliche. I have no concern for the characters and somehow don't care for the actors portraying them either. The characters are quite simply unlikeable, so you'll begin to hope for untimely deaths for all of the characters to save the yourself from additional suffering. The first hint of how bad this movie is comes with the wide shot of meteor pieces raining down on the beautiful valley below. Unfortunately, the meteor chunks don't seem to move at all! They simply hang in the sky with a trail of smoke behind them indicating there once was movement. How much would it have cost to show movement in the CGI?

Other reviews liken this to a high school drama class production. However, HS drama actors would've done a far better job.

My main complaint is the continuous narration by one if the lead character's Novel that he's writing about the town's mystery. It's annoying and done poorly.

This is a weird episode, I feel like I'm watching two different shows. Muncy and Churlish are an odd addition, but maybe I'm just not used to them. Full disclosure, this is the first episode I've seen with them. In the precinct, they remind me of interns or temps from Robert Half. Detective Muncy even makes an odd reference to Cagney and Lacey, which gave me a chuckle since that show ended before she was born, but maybe her character streams it? All of the characters seem off. Even Carisi has adopted this weird New Jersey accent that's really noticeable when he's in the car with Benson. And Fin?? Fin even uses the term "refractory period".