rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2005
Directed by Steven Spielberg; produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Wilson; screenplay by Josh Friedman, David Koepp
Starring Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins, (narrated by) Morgan Freeman
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'War of the Worlds' has single scenes that blew my away, interrupted by
laughable scenes, a silly story and an anticlimax as big as possible in a
film like this. Director Steven Spielberg is able to grab your attention in
the opening sequence (remember 'Saving Private Ryan' or the 'Indiana
Jones'-films) and not let it go; 'War of the Worlds' does not fail on this
level. We all know that at one point aliens will land on Earth and the
moments leading up to the actual attack shows how good Spielberg is in
building the suspense. But once they are actually landed the story falls
flat and we are left with technical things to enjoy.
The film has its focus on Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise), his daughter Rachel
(Dakota Fanning) and his son Robbie (Justin Chatwin). He hardly knows his
own children who normally live with their mother (Miranda Otto) and this
causes some extra problems on top of the alien invasion. Basically we see
them running, trying to survive, sometimes together with other people. This
gives us some nice scenes. One of them in a car where the camera goes
everywhere in one long shot, a couple of others when they encounter a man
named Harlan Ogilvy (Tim Robbins) who suspected the alien invasion. The
moments around this character sort of sum up the entire film. There is an
interesting and suspenseful chase sequence and an good scene that deals with
human nature, but the way the characters handle is not very believable and
from time to time even silly. Especially the Fanning character is used for
almost every possible cliché you can find in a film like this.
Still, for people who want great special effects and sometimes a little of
the Spielberg magic 'War of the Worlds' will probably do. I liked it better
than let's say 'Independence Day' but a lot less than every other Spielberg
science fiction adventure, including 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind',
'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial', 'Minority Report' and even 'A.I. Artificial
Intelligence'.