I saw this movie last night and thought it was much better than I had expected. I went on IMDB to find what others may have thought. Of course, there were people who liked it and those who didn't. However, I found this post by jporter-6 had very interesting insight:

I watch the movie once a month or so.

It's about communication: person-to-person, ex-lover-to-ex-lover, culture-to-culture, military-to-civilian and vice-versa, civilian-to-military (that's what the scene with Kanahele, and the statements of Ng to Gilcrest where she is pleading the Hawaiian Native view, are about), man-to-woman and vice-versa, and man-to-man, as well as superiors-to-employees. Earth-to-Satellite. Saboteur-planner (Gilcrest after Ng gets through to him)-to-sabotage-engineer.

A lot of the communication fails because of barriers: ethnic, military, bureaucratic, human, personal.

Some of it gets through: Ng gets through to Gilcrest. Ng makes contact with her fellow- Hawaiians in a way that Gilcrest can't comprehend; she makes solid contact with Carson Welch; she eventually makes solid contact with Gilcrest. Finally, Gilcrest is able to communicate with Tracy, his ex-, and with his heretofore unknown daughter; Gilcrest and Tracy are able to communicate with one another and with John Woodside in ways no one else can.

The one person who cannot communicate, though he yells, criticizes, and is generally a jerk, is General Dixon. People understand his words. No one gets him.

And the main message to the audience is, be aware of who we put in charge of our safety and our destinies, because he or she may be the wrong person. He or she is not looking after us: he or she is looking out for his or her own interests.