“War of the Worlds” (Paramount Pictures)
“War of the World” is a frightening, horrifying film about aliens taking over the earth. It has an award winning performance by Dakota Fanning, but Tom Cruise once again is just Tom Cruise. The excitement and thrills are there but the heart of the movie is missing and director Steven Speilberg’s efforts to involve the emotions dissolve like humans caught in the laser flashes of the aliens’ weapons.
The film starts by introducing us to Ray Ferrier (Cruise). He is a divorced father of two, Rachel (Fanning) and Robbie (Justin Chatwin). The film takes place on the weekend when Ray has custody of the kids. His ex-wife (Miranda Otto) is off to Boston to see her parents and she has her new husband in tow.
A thunderstorm comes up and lightning is flashing all around. It is an odd storm because there is no thunder, and the wind is blowing in the wrong direction. After the storm is over no cars in the vicinity of the storm will run, and something is rumbling under the earth. You guessed it, the aliens pop up and the “war of the worlds” has begun.
The rest of the movie concerns Ray and his two kids staying alive, and that ain’t easy. They are running from the aliens and fighting off a mob crowd that wants their car.
The special effects of the film are okay, not great but okay. I don’t know what I expected but I expected more. The plot of the movie is sluggish. You never latch into the transformation of Ray which is what the movie is all about. You see him change in what he does but you never get a feel that it is correctly motivated.
As Rachel, Fanning mirrors the horror the audience faces. She is totally believable in her fear of the aliens and that helps make the audience feel the fear too. Cruise on the other hand seems to be running on idle emotionally. There are tears in his eyes but they never seem to come from his heart. Or maybe I have just OD’d on Cruise mania of late.
The ending of this movie is so sweet it will make you gag, and as for realism – forget it! Where is the Spielberg touch And the Spielberg magic It isn’t in evidence here.
The film is rated PG-13 and that is a lenient rating. This movie has profanity, and violence in enough abundance as to produce some giant nightmares.
The movie entertains but it doesn’t awe the audience, and I expected to be awed. Spielberg turned on my “heartlight” with “ET” but this movie didn’t even choke me up once. The lack of emotion in the film must be laid at Cruise’s feet. He is the impetus of the movie and the focal point. If we don’t feel it for him then we don’t feel it for the hordes of humanity being squashed.
There are a lot of unexplained moments in “War of the Worlds,” most of them concern issues we have to take on blind faith. This, along with the pure luck of Ray and his family, rob the movie of its effectiveness and null some of the plusses.
I scored “War of the Worlds” a zapped 6 out of 10.
