WAR OF THE WORLDS
Once you're done reading the review, feel free to post a comment below. Enjoy!
H.G. Wells penned his novel
War of the Worlds
in 1898; 107 years ago. And there is no question that Wells is
considered one of, if not THE Grandfather of Science Fiction writing.
His novels,
The Time Machine,
The Island of Dr. Moreau, and
The Invisible Man
are familiar to most people, even though each is over a hundred years
old. Amongst the recognizable incarnations of Wells' stories are Orson
Wells radio prank, as well as a litany of films, which have been made
since film began, based on these stories. In the past decade alone, all
of these books have seen film treatment, and, by and large, have been
considered failures.
And Steven Spielberg's latest re-imagining of
War of the Worlds is no exception.
Look, I'm not saying that this film isn't going to make a ton of money.
And if that's all the qualification you need to decide if a film is
good, then your decision was made long ago, when Speilberg announced
it, and Cruise signed the contract. It has all the elements to back up
that theory too. Spielberg is one of the most successful directors of
blockbusters (although his last 4 films have been less then
spectacular, in either content or at the box office.); Tom Cruise is
box office gold (but his insane behavior on the press junket for
Worlds
is making him more of a sideshow draw than a great actor. Guess there's
something about watching a Scientologist battle aliens that is
ironically funny and entertaining ); The reported big budget (said to
be over a hundred million, but rumored to be well over 2); the special
effects extravaganza (Like
Independence Day,
Twister and
Armageddon just to name a few), and on and on.
If you are looking for substance over flash, you aren't going
to find it here. The story is typical, all too familiar, and about as
close to Well's book as
Private Parts
was close to the truth. Cruise's "Ray Ferrier" is the divorced
blue-collar, NY dock working yet brilliant auto mechanic, irresponsible
dad, who's weekend with his typical, angry, rebellious teen son,
"Robbie"(Justin Chatwin) and his too witty 10 year old daughter,
"Rachel" (Dakota Fanning) is interrupted by an alien invasion. And what
drives the story, apparently, is in order to get Rachel to stop
screaming "I want my mommy", it is necessary to return her to her
"pregnant by the new boyfriend" mother (Miranda Otto), who's visiting
her parents in Boston. Of course, the alien invasion has left all
electric equipment useless. Thankfully, "Ray's" genius with engines
allows them access to a working vehicle, with which, they are able to
traverse north on a highway littered with disabled cars. Luckily,
despite the fact that all cars ceased to work during afternoon rush
hour, a convenient path through them is found. And this is an example
of the movie's #1 problem. It's all too convenient. There are scenes so
contrived, it's almost jarring. Virtually nothing goes badly for Cruise
and company. Even the one precious time you think there will be a set
back, (which, had it worked out the way it should have, might have
redeemed the movie to some small extent) it is utterly and grossly
solved by the film's end.
And before any of you start in with that "suspend your
disbelief" crap, let me cut you off. I have no problem suspending my
disbelief, but I will not retire it, especially for a film that is
supposed to be happening in the here and now . . . as opposed to long
ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
You can suspend all the disbelief you want, but it won't save
you from this film's fountain of alien invasion and special effect
cliche's; the film's second biggest problem. There's nothing new here
at all. Nothing. A scene involving the "creepy guy who seems to know
everything" , named Ogilvy (Tim Robbins) involves the characters
avoiding an alien tentacle, ala
The Abyss. Another has hundreds of people dumped into the icy waters of the North Hudson, with shots and effects lifted from
Titanic. Even the look of the aliens is alarming close to that of the ones in "Independence Day".
All of this trite rehashing and overt exposition leads us to
the end of the movie, which is so abrupt, anticlimactic and
unexplained, it takes Academy Award winning voice-over specialist
Morgan Freeman to explain it . . . sorta.
In conclusion, it's not a good movie. It's an event movie. A
would-be blockbuster, without a shred of new ideas, effects or anything
else which separates it from the other films in the "mindless summer
blockbuster" category. The type of film that people like to sit in and
call their friends on their cell phones and say they are there. The
type that the same type of person will say "Dag, boy-ee" and "I'da
busted that alien mo-fucka" to the people around them. If you are going
to see it, consider yourself warned.
