An ordinary man has to protect his children against alien invaders in this science fiction action film freely adapted from the classic story by H.G. Wells.
Steven Spielberg was the director who inspired me as a child to become a filmmaker. At age 12, I made my very first movie and have continued to do so ever since. Spielberg was always known as the Peter Pan of Hollywood because he always infused his films with childlike wonderment, whether it was “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T.,” or “Jurassic Park” but after he made “Schindler’s List,” I feel like his experience preparing for and making that movie killed his inner child. After all, dealing with the Holocaust as a Jewish man was not an easy feat but the final result was a brutal and unflinching look at what it was like to be a Jew during World War II.
Since then, none of his popcorn-themed films, including “Minority Report,” “War of the Worlds,” “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” “The Adventures of Tintin,” and “The BFG,” came close to capturing the magic of his earlier outings. I absolutely loathed “The BFG” as it felt like Spielberg was trying to channel his inner child by pretty much re-making “E.T.” all over again only to deliver a hollow and soulless imitation.
With “War of the Worlds,” he teamed up again for the second time with superstar Tom Cruise and while their earlier collaboration, “Minority Report,” dealt with some dark and interesting subject matters, such as arresting someone for a crime they have not yet committed, I went in to “War of the Worlds” hoping for some old-school Spielbergian action and levity. Sadly, that was not the case, there were hardly any moments of lightheartedness throughout its entire two-hour runtime and while some of the action scenes were well done, especially the opening in which we witness the tripods coming out of the ground, the rest of the movie was a big letdown.
Cruise stars as Ray Ferrier, a longshoreman who works in New York but lives in New Jersey. After work one day, his pregnant ex-wife Mary Ann (Miranda Otto) drops off their two children, 10-year-old daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and teenage son Robbie (Justin Chatwin), while she and her new husband travel to Boston to see her parents. Later that day, a weird storm envelopes the city and after it dies down, Ray joins a crowd that has gathered outside on the street to view a strange hole that has appeared out of nowhere. Moments later, huge tripod-like machines emerge from the ground and start disintegrating people. Ray dashes home and grabs his son and daughter and they manage to escape in a minivan and head north to Boston to meet up with Mary Ann and her parents but Ray and his kids get sidetracked and must fight for their survival not just against the alien lifeforms attacking earth but also against mankind.
While the story is adapted from H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel, aspects of it have been updated, such as the technological advances of the tripods and their destructive capabilities. The first half of the movie is entertaining as we travel with Ray and his kids as they fight to stay alive every second of the way. Where the film begins its downward spiral is after Ray’s teenage son Robbie decides to take up with the military to fight the machines and Ray holes up with a seemingly nice farmer, Harlan Ogilvy (Tim Robbins), who offers him and his daughter sanctuary in his farmhouse basement. Ray is grateful for the chance to lay low for a while but Harlan gradually becomes unhinged, talking about killing the aliens himself and wanting Ray and his daughter to join him and if they don’t, he will kill them. This entire long-drawn-out scene adds nothing to the overall story and brings the movie to an eye-rolling screeching halt by eliminating what tension was present and throwing it out the window. After we finally move away from the farmhouse, the film leads us to believe we are building towards an exciting last act but instead, it quickly evolves into an anti-climactic, melodramatic finale where everyone lives happily ever after, instead of a more authentic ending where certain characters don’t survive.
Spielberg has often been criticized for this, for placating the audience and giving his more serious films endings that are considered feel-good and uplifting, instead of realistic. Even “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan” employed tacked-on, “happy” endings that felt entirely out of place considering the heartbreaking and horrifying events that preceded them, and “War of the Worlds” is no different. Portions of the movie were overlit and certain scenes were desaturated so there wasn’t as much color evident and why Spielberg decided to go this route is unclear because, during these scenes, which were obviously shot outside, they had the distinct effect of transpiring inside a studio, utilizing green screen effects that would allow the filmmakers to add in the desired background later on. They felt unreal and completely out of place in contrast with the rest of the movie. In the end, “War of the Worlds” is a mixed bag, it had the potential to be another Spielberg blockbuster with one of the biggest superstars in the world but somewhere along the way, it failed to ignite.
Available on 4K Ultra HD May 19th
Good morning. Original is best. Classic. Thanks -1KUDOS
Agreed!