First, this movie was easily the poorest and misleadingly advertised film since "Watchmen." My first thoughts were "Independence Day" vs "Transformers," but this movie is the most refreshingly original take on aliens since "Signs."
The story line is a surprise, and really deep. I wouldn't say it keeps you guessing, but you really want to see what happens next. The acting is amazing, on everyone's part, including the cg aliens. The action fit perfectly, not over done, and didn't do anything beyond believability. No one flips along cars, or defies gravity and physics. No alien kung fu or spaceship testicles. The mech sequence is hilarious and fun. The gun fights are crazy (it earns its R rating, no blue balls on mars needed). You find yourself anxious to see how the main character will get out of each predicament. Do not watch this as an action film, because with that all said, once you extract the action from this movie and watch only those segments, it does not stack up against Transformers, Watchmen; yet was probably on par with Star Trek. But it competes well with all of those movies because of the story and the characters. This is the must watch movie, as opposed to G.I. Joe, which I was saving until after this movie. I don't care how wrong they say the bad buzz about it is, it has a Wayans brother in it. I enjoyed this movie as thoroughly as "Watchmen" and "Star Trek" (I liked both of those movies a lot). 5 out of 5 (:^o