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War of the Worlds

Synopsis

Aliens invade Earth and begin to exterminate humanity. Tom Cruise and his kids have to run to get away.

What I Thought

(Disclaimer: Despite how it may sound, I was not actually foaming at the mouth when writing this review.)

I was in a war with myself (get it?) over this movie. On the one hand, there's Tom Cruise, which is reason enough to dislike any movie (sorry TC fans, but that's what you get for reading me). On the other hand, so many people liked the movie that I wanted to give it a fair shake. All being said and done, I think I did (feel free to disagree). After all, a Cruise movie does surprise me once in a while (check out the excellent Minority Report).

What surprised me about this movie was really how little Tom Cruise was in it. Yes, he was in almost every scene, but there was so little impact from him that I hardly noticed him.

Let me begin with the action and directing.

I agree very much with the people who say this movie is a very intense, edge-of-your-seat movie. The alien invasion is both very brutal and very immediate--you almost feel as if it's happening in your back yard. I was very tense throughout the whole movie because it was so engrossing (in an action sort of way). So I do give props when they are due. Good job on that.

Likewise in terms of pure directing, I feel Spielberg directed every character the right way. He did the best job he could with the given script, especially the little girl. At times she was preternaturally creepy, and I'm sure she'd do a bang up job in a horror flick a la Haley Joel Osment, maybe even more spine chilling. There was one scene (in the basement when her dad was sleeping & she got up) that I swear her face and composure made her look 40.

Note what I said earlier about Spielberg, that he did the best job for the given script. As a director that may be true, but let's face it, he also had all the power in the world to change anything he wants, and he left these huge holes. So he bears the responsibility anyway for the storyline and plot (or lack thereof).

So now let's talk about that. I want to divide this discussion into a non-spoiler and spoiler section. The spoiler section will be at the end. Let me first address the first Offense Against Rich:

Thou Shalt Not Abuse Sci-fi Science.

An EMP (electromagnetic pulse) fries electronics in a given area (this is real science). The inital appearance by the aliens is preceded by a massive EMP. But look! It also fries ALL cars, even the ones that don't have any electronic parts! And oooh, magic! It fried what appeared to be a mechanical wristwatch! But oh! Wow! It DIDN'T fry a camcorder someone used when the alien blew up the church (about 10 min after the EMP). What's up with that? Let's be consistent, please. When I saw that camcorder recording (this is right near the beginning of the movie), right there the movie jumped the shark for me. And TC cannot be the only non-military person on earth who is smart enough to get a car working. He just can't be.

The "science" in this movie is offensive to all us sfi-entists (that's those of us who can make sci fi science sound believable... yes, that includes those of us who have the blueprints to build a matter/antimatter warp field reactor in on the wall of our old bedroom in our parent's house. Er, I'm talking about my friend, not me.) And this is before the final Big Blunder that you find out at the end of the movie.

Before getting to my second Offense Against Rich (in the Spoiler section), let me talk about the movie in general.

When the movie was finally over, I thought we were only halfway through. I felt that only 1/3 of the movie was made, leaving out any plot or explanations. Leaving the final "why" up to the voiceover guy at the end is a sloppy sloppy way of tidying things up. All the movie is about is TC and his kids running from NY to Boston (yay, Boston!), and that's pretty much it.

Before addressing Spoilers, let me just say that although the movie really kept my heart beating and had me waiting for the next big thing, ultimately it left me hungry. Lacking any sort of meat, all the movie ended up being was empty calories.

I DO agree that if you still want to see it, see it in the theaters as you'll get the greatest impact. I can see how at home it won't grip you as much.

In the end, because of the lack of plot (even with giving it the kudos for action, direction, and the girl), two tentacles down.

-----!!SPOILERS!!-----

Thou Shalt Not Stretch The Audience's Credulity Too Much

OK, so let's talk. I used the word "credulity" in the above Offense on purpose. It means "a disposition to believe too readily", and let's face it, when we go see a movie, we are more apt to accept some sort of reality-stretching. Whether it's literal humans stretching (Fantastic Four), unlikely plot points (aliens invading), or just plain far-out (have I mentioned I don't like Tom Cruise?), we naturally suspend our disbelief in a theater.

What I don't like is when the filmmaker is sloppy, lazy, or just doesn't notice these holes and breaks this rule. Yeah, maybe some viewers don't notice either, but these movies cost MILLIONS to make. You'd think that someone could tell Spielberg or Lucas that, hey, that don't make sense!

Case in point: When TC and daughter finally reach Boston, what do we find? Oh look, there's the mom and the grandparents all waiting for them. Have they just been watching TV? Maybe sipping some tea? We've been INVADED and their neighborhood looks fine (even though the rest of Boston appears to have been pretty much destroyed).

But OK, fine. Now how about this. Who else is there, but TC's SON (who ran away in the middle of the film)!

Follow my logic: TC and daughter stayed several days in a basement with a crazy man. It also must have taken him several days to travel from NY to Boston. Give it, what, a week? More? He still looked clean-shaven, I dunno. Just grant that it took him a while to get there. Now let's examine his son. He has a dirty, smeared face, ripped clothing... oh mah gawd THEY GOT THERE AT THE SAME TIME? It really looks as if the son got there just 5 minutes before TC, even though they separated days and days ago (before the aforementioned basement incident). Clearly, someone got sloppy here and decided to have a happy coincidence. It would have been MUCH more believable if TC ran into his son earlier (maybe with his son fighting the aliens) or that his son was all cleaned up because he must have arrived days before.

Additionally, I read from other reviewers about how the aliens didn't find out that Earth was poisonous to them. That plot hole is just silly. Did ANYONE read the actual script before spending millions of dollars on it?? Or am I just crazy?

All photos and text copyright Ryszard Kilarski, unless otherwise noted. Clip art, drawings, paintings are either free domain or copyrighted by the artists.