first off i think liam neeson took this role just to say "you've got skills but i have never, ever seen a man waste them like you.". after all if anyone knows who has skills and who doesn't... second, this is nowhere near as bad as people say. yeah, the story is as generic and cliched as they get. ok, not so much the story but the screenplay and the dialogue and the characters are. but it is so relentlessly paced and action packed that it never bothers you while you watch it. and it all leads up to a spectacular 30 minute game of battleship with real battleships. third, the aliens are great here. i swear they are some of the most realistically designed humanoid aliens i have ever seen. fourth, this is as many have said just like a michael bay film, in particular transformers. for my money peter berg is a much better director than bay and you can see it in this. this is like bay but with smooth cuts and long shots where you can see the action and understand what you are seeing. this is some serious american partriotism at it's action packed best. fifth, if you put logic and expectations out the door and you embrace the absurdity (which i think is intentional) then when you watch this film you will have a good time. i mean it looks great, it never stops with the action and the soundtrack is kicking. finally, there is no reason why this needed to be two hours (tack on 11 minutes of credits). it could lose 30 minutes easy and be just as effective. you really don't need the first half hour of this film at all but then again that would be 30 minutes less of this hella fun flick. so yeah, i like this film. it's fun. so sue me... * so here is where people might start disagreeing with me. i say, after seven films in the peter berg marathon that he is 7 for 7. some, most (all?) would say this is a stinker. i say it's one of the best michael bay pictures out there. yeah it's a peter berg film but other than his cameo you really wouldn't know he directed it.*