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MOVIE: War Of The Worlds
Starring Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning
Directed by Stephen Spielberg
Written by Josh Friedman (20th Century Fox)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes
A remake of a science fiction classic by Steve Spielberg, the master himself? Whoo-hoo, I'm there! I'm ready for some serious popcorn action!
This War Of The Worlds is a fine piece of work and stands tripod and tentacles above the George Pal/Byron Haskin version from 1953. With all the neato Ray Harryhausen animation that one's always been a personal favorite, so that's no small trick. Actually there's two other versions of H.G. Wells' invasion classic that I love too, Orson Wells' famous 1938 radio broadcast and Jeff Wayne's excellent rock musical from 1976. And of course you can't underestimate the power of H.G. Wells' original 1898 work which introduced the whole notion of invasion from another planet, plus little things like ray guns and biological warfare, to the masses. Steve is standing on the shoulders of a giant.
There are quite a few changes to the story, mostly revolving about the workaday dad, Ray Ferrier, played by Tom Cruise. Tom's reliably great, but Dakota Fanning as his daughter Rachel is so good she's scary. A veteran of several major movies already, this girl is going to be awesome when she grows up. Tim Robbins gets to go a little wild eyed in a smaller role spent hiding in a cellar with the two. It's rather parallel to a scene in M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, but Signs was the one cribbing from the original. Mainly the other star of WOTW is the "special" effects that Spielberg always lavishes on his movies. From the roiling, boiling fireballs to the mechanical sets moving underfoot to the ominous ululation of the tripods, they make it a marvelous thrill ride.
Actually this is not Steve's best offering this year. That prize goes to Into The West, but who cares? Still, Steve always builds these things on top of a solid foundation; it's all about storytelling after all. The funny thing is that WOTW's story is a polar opposite of ET and Close Encounters. No touchy-feely aliens here! Maybe Steve's really trying to make a statement about terrorism because unlike the other versions where the aliens come from the sky, the machines rise up from the underground like so many sleeper cells. And although Morgan Freeman intones the same opening script Orson Wells used in the radio version, Mars is never mentioned as the origin of the invasion. In any case this storytelling about-face isn't a first for Spielberg, after all he made both 1941 and Saving Private Ryan. I guess it's only a matter of time until he does a touchy-feely version of Jaws.
The Skinny:
Did I enjoy the movie? Summer sci-fi popcorn, my favorite!
Would I go to see it again? Sooner than Revenge of the Sith.
© 2005 - Rusty Pipes