Voto:
As is typical of American films (exceptions: Kubrick and, off the top of my head, I can’t think of anyone else), this movie has the usual two congenital flaws of American films, namely:
1. The ending is shockingly inadequate, that is to say, it is completely unsatisfactory in relation to the underlying idea, the screenplay, the rhythm and editing, the special effects, everything else. Good American films like this start off captivating, with beautiful premises, intriguing settings, clever situations, only to fall into the usual prologue filled with total jubilation for family, children, religion, love, brotherhood, peace (the Americans! Certified warmongers)... A mix of radical chic, naivety, a desire for fairy tales, banality, childishness, adolescence.
2. There is, always, the usual celebration of the USA as the saviors of the world. They think of it all, while others are all obtuse or resentful or poor Africans or Asian soldiers lacking personal initiative. This story that Americans are always the ones saving the world (and if not their government and their institutions, at least their enlightened citizens endowed with infinite strategic acumen, "sensitivity," entrepreneurship, etc.). This continuous celebration of the USA in their films, where they think of all of us, about the troubles of the whole world, intervening here and there for indomitable humanitarian spirit, superior intuition, and initiative, when in reality they pursue their own interests, their own agendas, placing puppets in charge guided by the interests of their multinationals, etc., etc., etc.
The film is very enjoyable... the underlying idea and the situations are talented; of course, there are brutal shortcuts and "poetic licenses" to keep the story under two hours. "Close Encounters," the forerunner of all this, now shows its age with all those little lights... frankly, I enjoy this less phantasmagoric science fiction more. Then, at the end... I change the channel.
