First, let me state that this review is for what I understand to be the British version of the film which takes events at "face value" if you will.
At times I tend to be a bit dubious about being so critical of something that the majority of viewers seem to love; However, I must say that from my perspective, what started out to be an engaging story with some psychological angles pretty quickly turned into little more than a curiosity piece for fans of classic sci-fi.
I enjoyed the way the film began (despite the cheesy effects), with the boy waking up and viewing the saucer land, to his father returning with a glazed, angry demeanor and the "X" scar on the back of his neck (ahead of it's time!), to little David desperate for help at the police station (the surrealism of which would argue more for the American storyline version, btw). I was expecting at this point for the story to be a "boy against the establishment" type of plot, which I was willing to accept -- particularly if told from his point of view.
However, the movie started to lose me pretty fast when the script got just plain silly. First, when Dr. Blake is going to interview David in the cell (in the cell, really??) and they want to be alone -- the police sergeant seems reluctant to leave Miss Blake there and says "If you have any trouble, just yell", as if he was leaving Clarice in the cell with Mr. Lecter or something. Then we move to the observatory where (at least in the version I watch), the movie slows to a crawl, gets very condescending, and the dialog becomes just plain goofy. I did get a great laugh at these lines as Dr. Blake and David are talking w/ Dr. Kelston --
Dr. Blake: "What do you think it's all about, Stew? What David thought it was?" Dr. Kelston: "Possibly." David: "A spaceship?!" Dr. Blake: "From where?" Dr. Kelston (very gravely): "From outer space."
After these scenes, I really couldn't engage myself back in the movie. Watching extended minutes of military vehicles on a train, driving, parking, etc. was obvious stock footage time filler. There is no way the little boy would be around everything, tell the astronomer all the facts, etc. In short, the movie as I watched it started out fairly well, and then really took a turn for the worse, and made it rather unengaging for me.
I streamed this film from Netflix and I wish I could have seen the other version, because from reading some descriptions and comments here, I think I would have liked it a little better (some of the bad dialog and goofiness would have a somewhat plausible explanation). Maybe it would have been a 5 or 6 in that case. My recommendation is to avoid the British version.
At times I tend to be a bit dubious about being so critical of something that the majority of viewers seem to love; However, I must say that from my perspective, what started out to be an engaging story with some psychological angles pretty quickly turned into little more than a curiosity piece for fans of classic sci-fi.
I enjoyed the way the film began (despite the cheesy effects), with the boy waking up and viewing the saucer land, to his father returning with a glazed, angry demeanor and the "X" scar on the back of his neck (ahead of it's time!), to little David desperate for help at the police station (the surrealism of which would argue more for the American storyline version, btw). I was expecting at this point for the story to be a "boy against the establishment" type of plot, which I was willing to accept -- particularly if told from his point of view.
However, the movie started to lose me pretty fast when the script got just plain silly. First, when Dr. Blake is going to interview David in the cell (in the cell, really??) and they want to be alone -- the police sergeant seems reluctant to leave Miss Blake there and says "If you have any trouble, just yell", as if he was leaving Clarice in the cell with Mr. Lecter or something. Then we move to the observatory where (at least in the version I watch), the movie slows to a crawl, gets very condescending, and the dialog becomes just plain goofy. I did get a great laugh at these lines as Dr. Blake and David are talking w/ Dr. Kelston --
Dr. Blake: "What do you think it's all about, Stew? What David thought it was?" Dr. Kelston: "Possibly." David: "A spaceship?!" Dr. Blake: "From where?" Dr. Kelston (very gravely): "From outer space."
After these scenes, I really couldn't engage myself back in the movie. Watching extended minutes of military vehicles on a train, driving, parking, etc. was obvious stock footage time filler. There is no way the little boy would be around everything, tell the astronomer all the facts, etc. In short, the movie as I watched it started out fairly well, and then really took a turn for the worse, and made it rather unengaging for me.
I streamed this film from Netflix and I wish I could have seen the other version, because from reading some descriptions and comments here, I think I would have liked it a little better (some of the bad dialog and goofiness would have a somewhat plausible explanation). Maybe it would have been a 5 or 6 in that case. My recommendation is to avoid the British version.