(Jaws, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, E.T, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, AI - Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal)
Producers:
Kathleen Kennedy, Paula Wagner & Colin Wilson
Screenplay:
Josh Friedman & David Koepp
(based on the novel by H.G. Wells)
Cinematographer:
Janusz Kaminski
Music:
John Williams
Cast:
Ray Ferrier: Tom Cruise
Rachel: Dakota Fanning
Robbie: Justin Chatwin
Harlan Ogilvy: Tim Robbins
Vincent: Rick Gonzalez
Julio: Yul Vazquez
Director Steven Spielberg's previous foray into extra-terrestrials
gave us the awe-inspiring Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and the emotionally
charged
E.T.
Now, Spielberg completes his unofficial alien trilogy with an
altogether nastier remake of H.G Wells's seminal novel The War Of The
Worlds.
Transplanting the book's 19th-Century London setting to 21st-Century
America, Tom Cruise plays dockyard worker Ray Ferrier, whose disrespectful
children from a previous marriage - Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and Robbie (Justin Chatwin) -
are left in his care over the weekend. Little does Ray realise that the
planet is about to be invaded by huge alien "tripods" that proceed to
exterminate everything in their path, and test his paternal skills to their
limit.
As expected, War Of The Worlds is a fantastically well-made piece of
filmmaking from Spielberg, who quite simply is the best visual storyteller
working in movies today. The film opens with a beautiful narration by Morgan
Freeman that sets the tone, and then effortlessly becomes a family drama
that sets up the dysfunctional Ferrier family with light comedy. By the time
you've settled into this personal groove, Spielberg shakes the ground
(literally) and the invasion begins. It's an awesome spectacle to behold.
The key ingredient to this 2005 remake is the emphasis on reality, neatly
filtered through 9/11 paranoia. Unlike 1996's
Independence Day,
the movie
takes itself seriously throughout and presents the characters with
situations everyone can imagine happening. Similar films have taken great
pleasure recently in destroying familiar American landmarks, but they all
lack the emotional reality of WOTW's opening attack by a Tripod - simply
marching down a street and zapping fleeing people into ash. That sequence
is, quite simply, a stunning moment of disaster cinema. Likewise, a tense
sequence aboard a departing ship as a Tripod emerges from the sea to upturn
the vessel is beautifully done.
Cruise is his usual charismatic self and actually quite believable as the
down-at-heel father of two thrown into such a nightmarish situation. One
sequence with a mirror, where Cruise realises his ash-covered body is
actually the remnants of slaughtered people, is particularly chilling. His
machinations over how to protect his children and survive this incredible
scenario is also very well played.
Dakota Fanning is fabulous as Rachel, but for anyone following her work
recently (Man On Fire, Hide & Seek) will already know she's perhaps the best
child actor currently working - and will undoubtedly be collecting Academy
Awards in the next ten years.
Tim Robbins plays a crackpot basement-dweller in the latter third of the
movie, doing well with such a clichéd character, but his appearance also
signals the unfortunate downturn in quality.
Ultimately, War Of The Worlds is inconsistent - with the final 20 minutes
leading to disappointment. The build up to the first attack is masterful,
and every action sequence similarly enthralling, but when Act III
transplants the explosive terror to the quiet basement of shotgun-toting
loner Ogilvy, the film begins to limp where once it sprinted. The finale,
while still in keeping with the book's infamous "solution", also leads to a
premature saccharine ending that jars with the preceding grim tone.
However, there's too much to enjoy for War Of The Worlds to be considered a
failure. No other alien invasion movie has been told so expertly and from
the perspective of real people. A sequence with the US army retaliating
against the invaders eschews conventional big-budget action grandstanding
and instead paints a more realistic display of audio carnage and unseen
terror lurking over the brow of a hill...
In summation, 2005's War Of The Worlds is a fantastic piece of popcorn
entertainment with a pleasing sense of reality woven into its fabric. There
are moments of brilliance sprinkled throughout, although they all hang on a
fairly mundane storyline that only works thanks to some fine acting and
superb visuals.
The only disappointments lie in the latter third of the movie, where it
would have been much braver of Spielberg to have concluded on a more
downbeat tone. However, even with its obvious flaws and trite "Hollywood
Ending", War Of The Worlds is still a masterful display from a director
still at the top of his game after 30 years...
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
