War of the Worlds is based on the H.G. Wells classic science fiction tale about alien occupation and extermination of the human race. Steven Spielberg tells the story from the point of view of a broken family.
Tom Cruise plays the father of two kids who are visiting for the weekend. Within the first reel we quickly see how Tom Cruise is a divorced father of two who knows very little of his kids, “smarter-then-her-age” Dakota Fanning and “rebel-son” Justin Chatwin. With no real attachment between the main characters, except for their distant past. I don’t see any true character development on the horizon except for these distant characters to come closer as individuals and as a family. In less then 18 minutes I am not interested in these characters and have no expectations for them, maybe the aliens will occupy my time. Maybe.
The alien crafts, or Tripods, were planted on earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. With the human race at its apex, the aliens decide to put an end to our smugness. They slowly begin to emerge in random cities all over the world and begin taking out all civilization in that area. Tom Cruise is luckily enough to be living in one of those cities. The aliens emerge in front of Cruise while he looks for his car that his rebellious son stole.
The choreography that Steven Spielberg and Dennis Murren puts Tom Cruise through in the first Tripod attack is not only mesmerizing to see, but to fathom how they mixed physical and special effects is amazing. With the combination of cgi effects of aliens tearing through the city and the physical effects of people running and windows exploding, you see why Spielberg is the action movie master.
As the movie progresses we see the Tripods attacking in all types of situations. Land, air and sea. During all these blood lusted attacks the human race is slapped around and destroyed, except for this family of three. During the whole movie, Tom Cruises party comes within 10 feet or less with these creatures at every encounter, only to survive. They become the luckiest trio on earth.
With these alien attacks comes a hodge podge of mass human emotion. With scenes and sets remanescent of ground zero 9/11, are however splattered with a human reaction and selfishness that was absent from those tragic events. There is too much of a zombie feel to the human race whenever they are in masses. Which hinders the character development of the main characters.
As a craft this film is hands down one of the better ones I’ve seen this summer. The sound design and mix fills the theatre and it sets the mood of the film from beginning until the end. Janusz Kaminski pilots the camera for Spielberg once again in this film. Even though I found his cinematography to be lackluster from his previous films, the authorship of Spielbergs camera style was definitely more prominent in this film and was a warm welcome.
All in all, I found this movie to be disappointing. Despite the positive things (Action, well crafted and funny hijinx) this film falls short. Though I never got bored with the film in general, I did feel disappointed and upset with the cliché actions of the characters. Though this is a Spielberg film, it is not the movie to save summer as many thought it would be. Do I recommend it, yes. Did I like it, somewhat. Will it save the summer season, no.
