Watching War of the Worlds was a frustrating experience. The movie starts off brilliantly, with lots of tension, great effects and plenty of "oh shit, did you see that?"-moments. However, as the running time drew longer, my interest started to fade away, completely dissapearing at the contrived ending that was met with a collective groan from everybody in the cinema. It's a shame that director Steven Spielberg let such a brilliant premise slip through his hands like this.
When it was first announced that Steven Spielberg was going to make his own version of the classis War of the Worlds story, I was intrigued. Of course, this story has been done brilliantly several times already, but still I was curious what a director like Spielberg could do with it. Especially with the state of digital effects nowadays, War of the Worlds looked like it could become something truly spectacular and breathtaking. The first trailers were exciting to look at, promising plenty of action, horrible moments and the type of scenes that are screaming to be seen on a big screen. And I have to admit, War of the Worlds starts off with a big bang.
We meet Ray (Cruise), a working class man who is enstranged from his wife and kids. He doesn't really know what to do with his life, spending his time cruising around in his old sportscar and hooking up with as many different women as possible. And at the beginning of the movie, he is once again late for an appointment. His ex-wife has come to bring him the kids for the weekend (daughter Rachel and son Robbie, played by Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin) and nobody is really all that pleased with the arrangement. Cruise would much rather be left alone, Robbie hates his dad and Rachel is not sure what to think of Ray, whom she only sees every once in a while and who never seems all that interested in either of them. The weekend takes an unexpected turn when the city is hit by a freak thunderstorm. There's panic everywhere, especially when a few holes in the ground are discovered. And it's not so much the holes that are frightening, more what's inside them: huge, monstrous tripods that start zapping away at humans and destroying buildings like there's no tomorrow. Everybody has to run for their lives, including Ray and his kids, and what follows is a nightmarish chase towards safety, while armed forces are desperately trying to find a way to stop the aliens.
The beginning of this movie is VERY cool. From the moment the lightning hits, and the aliens show up and obliterate a few humans here and there, your adrenaline will start running wild. The panic is truly evident and believable, and by focussing on just one family, Spielberg is able to make you emotionally involved with what is happening as well. There are some scenes that will stick in your mind for some time (especially that scene with the burning train, which was one of the most coldly horrific things I have ever seen on a big screen) and everything points towards a intense, fun two hours in the cinema. But then things start to go wrong. The big action is replaced with moments of the family bickering in the car. You start to become annoyed with the son (please obliterate that brat already!). Things happen that make you wonder: That's not very logical, now is it? And most of all, the fun dissapears. There is a very long scene in the middle of the movie, where the family shacks up in a cellar with Tim Robbins, who plays a man so obsessed with fighting back that he becomes a liability. This scene is really out of place with the rest of the movie. The hide and seek that is played in the house with the aliens is fun at first, but after umpteen shots of aliens peeking around the corner, we get the idea!
The movie never really recovers from that. Ray is not sympathetic enough to make you care about him and Rachel (another great role by Fanning) is really the only person that makes you feel sorry about what is happening. If you compare this movie to the last big disaster epic, The Day After Tomorrow, then War of the Worlds is lacking in almost every aspect. Sure, that movie was also not really logical, but instead of trying to give us emotional drama, Day After Tomorrow just kept coming up with more and more fun scenes. And the ending... My God what were they thinking? I won't spoil it for you, but you really cannot end a movie with such a horrible tearjerker (the only real tears, however, will come from realising that you could have left the cinema after 45 minutes and would have had a much better feeling about it).
It's not all bad, don't get me wrong, because Spielberg is Spielberg after all, and you surely won't forget some of the things you see in War of the Worlds. But if so much potential is wasted like this, you can only be dissapointed when the lights are switched on again at the end of the movie...
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Posted by: Iolana | February 20, 2009 at 12:39 PM