War of the Worlds (2005) Review!!!
SYNOPSIS: When alien machines start to vaporize humans on a New Jersey street, it sends the world into a panic. These machines have sprung up everywhere, rendering all electrical and mechanical items useless. As the military strikes back, humans begin to run for cover. But where is safe from aliens who can vaporize on sight?
Director Steven Speilberg and star Tom Cruise can't decide what kind of movie they want War of the Worlds to be. Should it be a homage to old school sci fi action movies? Should it be a straight action movie? Should it be a parable for what happens to ordinary citizens during a terrorist attack? Or should it be something else? The fact no one really knows what WooW should be wretches the 2005 summer film from one genre and tone to another and back again, all the while trying to keep the audience off balance enough to cover its glaring faults.
The first fault, and it is a doozy, is the casting. I'm probably one of the three people on this earth who likes Tom Cruise. Sure, he's a little bit wacky and out there, but he's capable of playing some damn good roles, both 20 years ago and recently. But what he can't do, no matter how hard he tries, is portray a schlubby everyman. He's simply too beautiful to be a manual laborer. That in and of itself casts a sour taste in your mouth from the opening minutes.
The rest of the cast is fine, I suppose. Besides Cruise, young Dakota Fanning is the other actor who gets major screentime. I like her too, but she has some horrible dialogue choices throughout the film, but especially in the beginning. Remember, this kid is very young (10, according to the movie). There is no way she should be as inquisitive, talkative and insightful as she is. For example, when Ray (Cruise) and his son Robbie have an argument, Rachel (Fanning) retorts that he'll never get through to the boy talking like that. Hello? Completely and utterly unrealistic in every sense of the word.
The next biggest problem is a 45 minute sequence with Tim Robbins near the middle of the production. Ray and Rachel (please, no Rachael Ray jokes) take shelter in Ogilvy's basement and the movie grinds to a halt. Instead of running from the aliens like they've been doing for the last 45 minutes, we're treated to the pure mindless dialogue designed to only lengthen the movie. I guess a case could be made that when Ray kills the lunatic, he's showing just how far he'd go to protect his estranged daughter. Eh alright. But in this stretch, nothing at all happens of interest. You can literally go to sleep and wake up without missing a single important story point. Not good.
Then there's the sequence after the basement boredom. I dare anyone to tell me that looks like it was shot on location...or even outside the studio. That is one of the worst inside-for-outside sets I've seen in a modern movie. Everything looks completely fake--granted, it could be due to the red stringy stuff covering the landscape.
War of the Worlds works best when it ignores the aliens and focuses on the plight of the people. The scenes showing Ray, Robbie and Rachel being forced out of their car through the ferry scenes are perhaps the most emotional of the entire piece. It isn't that much of a stretch to see our culture doing the same thing in a time of peril. Forcing people out of their vehicles, worrying only about themselves, not thinking rationally, etc. That's why I suspect someone was working on making this a terrorism parable. Unfortunately, it didn't go nearly far enough.
And then there's the ending. One of the downsides of working with previously published material is that you can't stray too far from it. So I guess it's not the exclusive fault of this production that the aliens come off as the dumbest beings in the universe. Think about it: they set up camp on Earth to take over and water is their one weakness. Are you kidding? Water only covers 75% of the planet. Did they really think they could stay away from it?
And why does it take so bloody long for the first machine to crash and burn from the water? After all, at least a couple of the aliens were underneath the ocean for a million years or so. I don't get it. Plus, in the beginning, it is made clear that the aliens can stop all electrical and mechanical instruments. So why does a video camera and regular camera, not to mention a TV news van, work? Did somebody forget about that plot point?
It's a shame I can't say something nice about this movie. It tries-it really does-but in the end, a fantastically rushed production aiming for a release date instead of for quality is the problem. Besides, any movie that has to explain its most crucial plot detail in a voiceover at the very end hasn't been completely thought out.