Although I never met Brittanie Cecil, and I've never been
to Columbus, Ohio, I can not begin
to express the grief that wells
up inside my heart whenever I see the school photograph of the little teenager, on the cusp of adolescence, her blonde hair pulled back into a
ribbon, and her blue eyes sparkling at the prospect of all those summer pool parties, those early - fall hayrides, her prom, her high school graduation with the cap and gown sailing high into a
sky as wide and full as her hopes and dreams.
This is a suggestive emptiness: a car racing down an empty rural highway, creating suspense; a
sky that hangs ominously over a gas station, and then begins
to fill with the fiery
ribbons of a spy satellite breaking
up in the atmosphere; people standing in empty fields and clearings in anticipation of the supernatural; the spotless white space of the test room of a secure government facility; the camera pivoting around NSA analyst Sevier (Adam Driver) as the massive hangars of an Army base flicker on one after another, readying for pursuit.