
Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son and young daughter for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.
Spielberg's most viscerally terrifying alien-invasion film — critics widely embraced the panic-attack atmosphere and Dakota Fanning's screaming-child performance. The third act stumbles; the basement and ferry sequences remain unforgettable.