War of the Worlds

The last time Spielberg did a blockbuster/serious double header was 1993, which brought us the incredibly entertaining Jurassic Park and the incredibly moving Schindler’s List This year’s double dip? War of the Worlds and the upcoming Munich. One can only hope that the second of these two will fulfill that legacy, because this one sure didn’t. It’s funny. I was really excited about seeing this movie in May/June. Then Tom Cruise went on Oprah, acted like a total loon, and I remembered why I can’t stand him. Which probably explains why I’m just seeing this movie now, on dvd, months later.

Now, while I can’t stand the guy, I have enjoyed a Tom Cruise movie from time to time (A Few Good Men, Jerry McGuire, Magnolia), and have even loved a Tom Cruise movie once (the previous Spielberg/Cruise collabo Minority Report). Really, I can’t stand him and his overacting, “look at me” antics, both in film and on Oprah’s couch.

Despite all this I was looking forward to this movie, even months after its original release, mostly because of the Man that created a new era of popcorn culture, Steven Spielberg. The guy’s a master. Unfortunately for him, this is one of his least interesting films in years. The Man’s made movies about aliens before (E.T., Close Encounters), but those were about nice friendly aliens. Maybe he should make a friendly alien movie again, because this one with its oddly amphibian “evil” aliens left me cold.

Sure, it looks great (when doesn’t the Man make a great looking movie?), but it’s pretty hollow in the center, which, not coincidentally, is where we find Tom Cruise as the deadbeat dad NY dock worker Ray Ferrier. We know he’s a dock worker because of a couple of cool shots at the beginning of him loading those giant shipping crates, but does anyone really believe Cruise can play a role this rugged? Surely not I, even if I try and avoid being inundated with TomKat “news” on a daily basis.

The most Spielbergian section of the movie happens not long after mom (a wasted Miranda Otto) drops off the two kids for the weekend with their sad sack of a father. The sky grows oddly dark and lightning starts to strike. Twice. In the same spot. Make that three times, then four. Ray and little Rachel (Dakota Fanning, who, along with Tim Robbins actually makes this movie watchable at times) think it’s pretty cool, until things get a little weird.

After the first tripod emerges from the ground amidst hundreds of NY gawkers, only to start pulverizing them one-by-one, Ray & kids hit the road in (of course) the only working car in all of NYC. The story follows these three characters throughout, though there are hints here and there of the destruction around the globe. This is a smart technique, as it keeps the paranoia/confusion level high for the audience, but it’s one that has worked better in other end-of-the-world dramas like 28 Days Later and Signs. These movies had their flaws too, but the aura of fear was kept up much longer.

The real failing of all three of these movies is the trouble in executing such an inventive and elaborate setup to its completion. Spielberg shows massive destruction (including a particularly haunting image of a plane crashed in a residential neighborhood), but the more you ramp up the fear and death toll, the quicker and tidier your ending will have to be. In 28 Days Later, our heroes waited out the apocalypse until someone could come and save them. In Signs, the alien invasion was stopped by (!!) water. Here the conclusion is even more overwrought. These aliens died from exposure to the Earth’s bacteria! As Morgan Freeman explains to us, God was Intelligent enough to Design these little single-celled creatures that help keep us (and alien invaders) in check.

Yes, I did notice that outright statement that it was the Hand of God that saved us, not science. Science surely failed those aliens. You would think if they had the forsight to bury tripods under the surface of the Earth millions of years ago they would have updated their viral and bacterial records. Or at least worn a space suit.

Grade: B-