WAR OF THE WORLDS

One man's view of the 2005 invasion (possible spoilers)

I don't usually wade in with a review of a film that's already (at this writing) pulling in amazing amounts of cash over 4th of July weekend, but even though the film is a success and doesn't need my help, I feel a compulsion to defend it. It seems that it's been getting mixed reviews, with negative responses coming from those you'd expect to appreciate it most. Steven Spielberg has crafted an adaptation of H.G. Wells' greatest novel (107 years after it was published), and it's an excellent film, but it seems like a lot of science fiction movie fans aren't particularly taken with it, whether they've seen it or not. Some reject it out of hand because star Tom Cruise has been making a lot of flaky statements in interviews lately. They forget that Tom Cruise is an actor, and as such he's obligated to make a lot of flaky statements in interviews. The guy may belong to a crackpot religion (much like Kathy Lee Gifford, Judd Hirsch, and many other actors), but he's a solid actor, and he gives a very good performance in War of the Worlds.

Cruise plays Ray Ferrier, a New Jersey dock worker and asshole. One of the film's strengths is that it doesn't play the lead as a hero, just a regular slob thrown into an unimaginable situation, suddenly forced to deal with extraterrestrial horrors when he can't even connect with his own kids. Those kids, Rob and Rachel (Justin Chatwin and Dakota Fanning, who also both do fine work), dislike him as much as we do. We're given a very believable portrait of a weekend dad who has earned his divorce, crap-filled house, and general dead end life. 

After a massive and strange electrical storm that stops all engines in the area (electric, gas-powered or whatever), a gigantic machine pulls itself out of the ground on three huge tentacles and immediately starts massacring everyone around using incredible weapons. This incredible sequence continues to build in tension and terror for a good 15 minutes as Ray scrambles to get the kids together and escape the slaughter, and this tension stays with the viewer throughout the running time. Wherever they go, the Ferriers are confronted with more of these incomprehensible machines. They have no idea what is happening (sometime later we're given a few scraps of information) to their world. They just know fear and a desire to flee. 

I've been hearing a lot of grumbles that the scope should've been bigger, with scenes in the White House of the president panicking and lots of TV news reports with scientists explaining the Martian plan. That movie is called Independence Day. Or maybe you'd like some scenes of the Martian commanders looking into view screens and barking orders. Again, we've already seen all that numerous times.

I do agree that the Martians, despite their three legs, look a bit too humanoid in the face, unlike Wells' vaguely described tentacled nightmares. But I love the fact that we're not in on their plans, any more than ants are in on our plans when we come in spraying poison. They appear not to make sense because they are NOT us. Their only concern is to get rid of us and make themselves at home as soon as possible. My dear wife wondered why at first they were disintegrating people and later they were harvesting them, complaining it didn't make sense. I supposed that the purpose of the harvest was to promote the red weeds, which are no doubt a key part in recreating the Martian environment, and the weeds hadn't been planted yet in the earlier scenes. There are a lot of other questions raised by their behavior. Good. Some can be explained with a little thought, but the point is that a New Jersey dock worker wouldn't be sitting in the War Room during an interplanetary invasion (along with a precocious scientist's son with optional pet lemur) while his planet was being overrun. He'd be running, hiding, and trying to protect his kids while attempting to get to a safe place. And going to some pretty desperate lengths, too, as we see in one particularly chilling scene. 

If you wanted to improve the movie, you might want to make things a little less bright at the end. I thought the son's fate should have been left unresolved. And it does seem a bit too lucky that Grandpa Clayton Forrester's house (Gene Barry and Ann Robinson do cameos) is in one of the few areas left standing - though even that's not too farfetched, as it would take the machines some time to cover the entire Earth.

No one can fault the technical aspects of the film. It's a terrific giant monster film, if nothing else, with f/x that deserve an Oscar. It's tough to be really innovative with f/x in the post-CGI era, but Spielberg manages it. Note how the Ferriers' flight from home is accomplished in one long, tense take, with all kinds of camera movement combined with tons of destruction and confusion. It's the kind of sequence he pioneered with Jurassic Park 2, only expanded and perfected. It's a huge epic, the kind of film you'd like to see on a giant IMAX screen (and when the DVD arrives, you'll wish for a bigger TV to watch it on), but it's also an intimate and personal film. It's more like Signs with a bigger budget or Saving Private Ryan with aliens than it is like any other space invader story. Jesus, this is the kind of movie sci-fi fans should be rallying around, not making whiny little fanboy complaints about. 

Giant robots; space invaders; explosions; mass slaughter & destruction; murder; car and boat chases; zap guns; p-stars Spielberg, Cruise, and writers Wells, Josh Friedman & David Koepp.

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