Both times it's been used it's managed to communicate rudimentary information between the two. This leads me to believe the alien can dtermine whether the random mailmen and housewives it's killing are malicious or not.





But that was the big reveal. It was set up at first as a Cloverfield-type monster or perhaps a genuninely malicious alien, like the ones in "Independence Day" or "Signs." Then, it was reveal to be a big, scared, ET. A sentient being, who originally meant no harm, but was lashing out because it was hurt and is scared. And that's fine, but then, if that's the kind of being they're going to make the alien be, I'm going to judge it by the appropriate standards.

The fact that the kid was able to get through to it at all is a big indicator that that was the kind of monster it was. It had morals and emotions, and by appealing to them directly and relating his own experiences, the kid got it to remember them.



Because if this is about "forgiveness," as you say (I disagree, but more on that later), then yes, forgiveness should be the lesson the kid learned and is relating to the alien.

Even if it's not, even if it's just about dealing with pain, the "scale" between the two bad things is too different. There's a reason you don't have someone whose dog got run over by a truck comfort someone whose entire family just got tortured and murdered. Yes, they're both bad things, and yes, the way you would learn to move past them in the end is ultimately the same, but the scale of the tragedy is different, and to have them compared and, even worse, have the more wronged party BUY it, stetches my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point.



"Grieving period?" The kid certainly had one, but the alien was still actively in jeapordy. it's a clumsy comparision. I'm not saying you can't draw some parallels, like what you've done, just that it's very clumsy and requires a lot of reaching, and doesn't suit a simplistic ending like the one the movie gave us.



I blame the alien because the movie established that the alien is capable of reasoning and thus capable of being held responsible for its actions. Yes, the military was to blame as well, but that doesn't take the blame off the creature for the bad things it chose to do. The only way the blame would have been completely on the military is if it was established that the alien wasn't sentient, and therefore was indeed like an animal. Then, yes, it would be the military's fault alone for creating a monster and then not controling it. But that's not the kind of monster it was...which was a major point of the movie.

As for "forgiving humanity," I call bullshit. The alien didn't need to forgive "humanity," because "humanity" didn't do anything to it. A specific group of humans harmed it, and by blaming "humanity" instead of those responsible, the monster did a great deal of evil by harming innocents.

Humanity doesn't need to forgive the alien either...the specific people it harmed do. But they're either dead or the movie doesn't care about them, so we get no resolution there.



And you expect me to believe that a species that has mastered inter-stellar travel doesn't have protocol for recognizing and dealing with other potential sentience species it might encounter? Hell, WE do (as evidenced by this movie's existence and the fact that you and I are even having this discussion) and we have never even had the chance to encounter a non-human "person," as it were. If the alien doesn't, then it and it's race are utter irresponsible dickheads. Just look what happened.