By the end of the first hour, I was wishing it was over, but because of the excellent visuals, I stayed to the bitter end. Even the amazing visual effects could not save this movie, ploddingly slow and utterly predictable. The preachy sci-fi "message" failed on 2 levels: as a clumsy metaphor for America's multiple occupations in distant lands, and as an inchoate call-to-nature and a vague pangea-like spiritualism. A great disappointment.