War of the Worlds

I don't think Steven Spielberg's heart is in it anymore. Each and every one of his films from recent memory has the same exact theme. All together now -- families don't communicate, get ripped apart by external forces, only to discover that what they wanted all along was each other. There are more plots in this world than that one! And it's particularly weird that he seems to be able to take any kind of film, sci-fi or otherwise, and ground it in the relationships among family members. I shouldn't diss this approach so heavily, but like I said, it gets old. For those unfamiliar with H.G. Wells' book, the original text has aliens from Mars attacking Earth and attempting to wipe out all of mankind. And this is the premise of the film, except that the aliens aren't necessarily from Mars and while they come from outer space to do their attacking, there's an important component of their attack hiding out beneath our feet. Creepy, you betcha. And absolutely, utterly and completely implausible. You mean to say that when we drilled for oil, built a tunnel for a subway line or, heck, mined for salt, we never ran across these things?! The ridiculousness of this grabs you from the get-go and never leaves you, giving the film a stoooopid taint that is unfortunate. Because the special effects rock -- those long-legged machines wiping out each and every human are exactly as terrifying as they should be. And the acting, for the most part, is excellent. Tom Cruise plays a deadbeat dad saddled with his two kids as the horror begins, and only mis-steps (mis-acts) a couple of times. There is also an interesting sub-theme running through the picture, that of the difficulty of allowing a child to go fight a war that seems to be a lost cause. Spielberg doesn't take this far, as it isn't the thrust of the film, but I think any comparisons you might draw with the war in Iraq are justified. I hated the voiceovers at the beginning and end (and I adore Morgan Freeman's voice). Totally unnecessary -- does he think we need an explanation for the terrors we're about to see? And the ending sucked eggs. So, I liked it and I dis-liked it. If I were to rent it, I'd fast forward to all the scenes of Cruise emoting and buildings being torn to shreds and ignore the rest of it.

year: 2005
length: 116 min.
rating: 2.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407304/combined