War of the Worlds Review

by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)
July 7th, 2005

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad "War of the Worlds"
by Homer Yen
(c) 2005

If I've learned anything from watching the entertaining aliens-take-over-the-world
"Independence Day," it's that when any large
space vehicle comes, run for your life! After
all, those who lingered were wholly destroyed by
some city-shattering weapon. And now in "War of
the Worlds," those who are too curious for their
own good will likely be disintegrated by death
rays. Really now - are you expecting these alien ships to shower you with Martian money or
something?

Once those alien machines appear, everybody is
left fending for their lives. Tom Cruise stars
as Ray Ferrier, one of the foreground characters
who, among countless others, will watch their
world as they know it rip apart under the attack
of these alien visitors. In addition to saving himself, he has to take care of his two children.
His adolescent son Robbie (Justin Chatwin) seems
to be at that age when father-son bonds are more likely to be strained and when streaks of
rebellion begin to settle in. That's not a good
trait when the world is under attack. Meanwhile,
his daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning) is the kind
of character that weighs down most escape
attempts by creating that persistent
kid-in-danger queasiness.

With "War of the Worlds," the thrills come in plentiful amounts. There are those close
encounter scenes when our family tries to hide
out from being discovered in a ruined basement.
There are grand scenes in which you awe at the
alien's destructive power and merciless approach.
And, you have to marvel at the craftsmanship
that goes into this kind of project. For
example, just prior to the machines ascending
from below the ground, all seems normal in Ray's sleepy town. But then the sidewalks crack, the
earth rumbles, the face of a church sheers off,
the windows along a street crack. Thanks to the booming sound effects, you really feel like
you're in the middle of the action. All that's missing are seats that jerk back and forth, seat belts, and maybe some 3-d glasses. It's really
like being in one of those attractions at the Universal Studios Theme Park.

But for all that it does to visually impresses,
it is noticeably light on character development.
The film, however, does mostly stay within the framework of the original story penned back in
the late 1930s. And thus there are certain
scenes where you feel sadness for our withering humanity. The story does inject a few
opportunities for Ferrier to show his heroics.
It also has a chance to explore the seething
madness that takes hold of the doomed population.
For example, a crowd goes mad and eventually
kills one another to try to escape. Ferrier is
mad with rage when he realizes that keeping his children alive is almost futile. Others are mad
with curiosity as they make that fatal mistake of getting too close to the alien machines (ooh, is
that a death ray? ZAP!). And one other major character, a survivalist (Tim Robbins), is made
mad with fear. His delusions make him as
menacing a threat as those aliens.

The mayhem, the madness, and the machinery are
all well directed with the sort of cadence that
would be unachievable with a lesser talent behind
the camera. But it's fair to hold a master like Steven Spielberg to a higher level. And having
said that, I miss the wonderment that was present
in another one of his summer films: "A.I." I
also miss the crafty storytelling of his other
more recent summer film, "Minority Report."
While this is a terrific film worthy of an IMAX version, the film is not a war between worlds but rather a war between spectacle and story.

Grade: B

S: 0 out of 3
L: 0 out of 3
V: 2 out of 3

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