Спилберг против Спилберга

[eska]

It's a reversal of his Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in which the aliens who beckon are welcoming, beatific, and harmoniously musical. In the new film, the giant alien walking machines emit a theater-shaking metallic honk before commencing the carnage. It's the perfect sound of death from above. In the past, Spielberg's nice aliens have been replacements for absent dads. Now, for a change, it's the dad who has to be a dad.

David Edelstein, Slate