War of the Worlds Year: 2005 Director: Steven Spielberg Written by: Josh Friedman, David Koepp Based on: novel by H.G. Wells Threat: Aliens Weapon of Choice: Disintegrating Ray IMDb page:

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Rish's Reviews
I love Steven Spielberg. He's my favourite director. I can't really remember the last time I didn't see one of his films on opening weekend (might've been Amblin', I don't know), and War of the Worlds was no exception. Because this has been a rather lackluster year for movies (indeed, what does it say that the Amityville Horror remake and Elektra are among my favourite films of 2005?), so I was really counting on Spielberg to save me once again.
So perhaps I was setting myself up for a fall with this one.
Based only somewhat on the H.G. Wells novel, New Jersey divorced dad Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) takes his two spoiled, arrogant children while his ex-wife visits the ex-in-laws in Boston. Then lightning begins to strike . . . again and again and again. Huge mechanised tripods, buried for centuries beneath the earth, begin to awaken, leaving wholesale destruction in their wake (heck, less than wholesale; we're talking pennies on the dollar here). Ray takes his haughty, resentful children and flees the city from the otherworldly beings who have decided to move into the neighbourhood.
Cruise is cast against type as the everyday guy, the downtrodden, the working joe. I've never really liked Tom Cruise, but he was fine here, and I certainly don't hate him (and didn't hate his character). Though he hardly looks old enough to have a teenaged son, he sold me as an everyman, rather than the typical hotshot young fill-in-the-blank. Child actor Dakota Fanning I have hated in Uptown Girls, Cat in the Hat, and Taken, liked in Man on Fire and I Am Sam, and with this, the scale tips back to Hate. But hey, I had a conversation this week with someone who thought Cruise's character was a totally unredeemable asshole, and that his horrible, hateful children were the heroic ones, so I guess it's all open to interpretation.
I couldn't help but feel that the spectre of September 11th, 2001 hung heavily over this picture. The tone, the realism, the lack of happy, heroic moments, all felt 9/11-inspired. A few scenes had me uncomfortable and nervous, remembering that day and the way I felt watching all the coverage. Had War of the Worlds been made a decade ago, or five years back, it might have been a more fun film, a little less weighty, one where the audience cheers more and squirms less.
I do appreciate the moment when we see that people have been reduced to animals, all too willing to shove or kill each other for a working car. That seemed a bit out of line with the normal Spielberg view of the world (or the one we've seen in the Spider-man flicks), and closer to reality (which, were aliens really to attack, would probably be a nationwide version of what happens every time the Lakers win a championship).
I had heard from someone who saw the flick early that there were groans at the end, and I wondered if it was because they used the same ending as the book (and the 1953 film). But the moment comes a few seconds later, and it's not so much sappy as it is insulting. I was honestly too disappointed to groan. I think tyranist would enjoy this one more than me. I know he'd cry.
I like that we don't really understand the actions and motivations of the aliens (although I suppose Morgan Freeman spells it out when he reads from the book in the prologue and epilogue). This is Sci-Fi and Action, and may even qualify as Drama, but hey, monsters are still monsters, even if they look like fetal triceratops and come from outer space. And it is quite horrifying to see people disintegrated in a way it's never been done before, so kudos there. The scene with the pseudopod (or whatever you wanna call it, it sure reminded me of The Abyss) was very tense and scary, as was the scene after it with our heroes hiding from the aliens.
I don't understand how the EMP managed to knock out every car, light, watch and cellphone, but some dude's camcorder still manages to function. But hey, I'm not the genius here . . . that's tyranist.
If any movie is a big indictment against having kids, this is the one. I have no children, but about halfway through this film, I got up to make an appointment to get my tubes tied. The son is a seething, disobedient, berating, impatient bastard. When Dakota Fanning isn't acting like a know-it-all prima donna, she's shrieking like Mariah Carey with her arm caught in a badger trap.
The special effects are really fantastic, even for top-notch Industrial Light and Magic. One long take involving our characters driving in a van was absolutely stunning, especially since I didn't realise what I was seeing until it was halfway done. Since Jurassic Park and Forrest Gump, I think audiences have just started to accept that with computers, ANYTHING can be done, removing a lot of the wonder from films. With few exceptions (The Lord of the Rings comes to mind), gone is the awe with which we view film spectacle, and nobody ever asks, "Wow, how did they do that?" anymore. So, for the scene in the van, where I asked just that (and am still asking), it deserves some accolades.
Still, I've said it again and again, the most important part of a horror film is its ending, and this one has a real groaner. I understand that many were not bothered by the ending (and indeed, tyranist may not have problem with it), but in my theatre the sound of at least a hundred eyes rolling could be plainly heard. A most peculiar noise.
Independence Day has taken a ton of abuse in the nine years since its release. People who once loved it now call it mediocre, and those who merely liked it now call it crap. But just as most of the Return of the Jedi bashing went away upon the release of the first highly-inferior Star Wars Prequel, I hope that most of the Independence Day attacks vanish due to this. I think it's a superior film to the 1953 original, but it's not much fun. And wasn't that always Spielberg's strong suit?*
So, I have a lot of praise for a film I ultimately didn't like. Steven Spielberg really knows how to tell a story in the most compelling way possible. But had I not hated most of the characters and the ending, this would've been a real keeper.
Best Scare: A moment when aliens are hunting our heroes in close quarters, in a scene quite reminiscent of Jurassic Park.
I'd Recommend It To: See, here's the thing: I love Steven Spielberg, and will continue to love him in spite of 1941s and Hooks and War of the Worldses. The spectacle, the intricate art of filmmaking, the unteachable knowledge of how to tell a visual story, are unmatched by any other director. So, even though I didn't like the film, I'd still recommend it over a lot of the sequels and remakes coming out this year.
*I dare you to insert a Schindler's List joke here.
Posted: July 18, 2005

Total Skulls: 14

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?