War of the Worlds

WAR OF THE WORLDS

Rating: B+

Invasion never looked so good.

It's been a long time since the visual effects in a movie have blown me away. Certainly not in Titanic. Spiderman? Nope. The Matrix? Nah. The last three Star Wars films? HELL NO. But here director Steven Spielberg and the innovative gang at Industrial Light & Magic have crafted scenes so visually stunning that they carry the entire film. I'd be tempted to rush back out to the cineplex, just to rewatch the sequence when the giant alien tripods first burst up through the ground and commence wreaking havoc on Tom Cruise's beleaguered New York City neighborhood. Unfortunately, I'd also have to sit through the rest of the film.

To Spielberg's credit, he avoids the cloying schmaltziness which mars so many of his other efforts. For the most part, anyway. The major problem is the script. For a "War of the Worlds," this movie is conspicuously lacking in large-scale battle scenes, and any kind of feeling the invasion is occurring on an epic scale. I would've welcomed shots of the aliens marauding through the streets of London, wreaking havoc among the landmarks of Paris, and dropping in to vaporize Tokyo. All we get instead are lame clips from a supposed news broadcast. What's that you say - it's been done before? Dude, the whole War of the Worlds shtick has been done before. Not only the George Pal version in the fifties, but in countless other incarnations before and since. Part of the audience expectation when going to see a movie called War of the Worlds is to actually see a war of the worlds. This isn't exactly rocket science.

It's a bit ironic that the writers seem so bent on avoiding some clichés, while shamelessly regurgitating others such as mobs of crazed people turning into animals as they squabble over resources. And for all the pretensions about not reproducing Independence Day, the design of the alien machines certainly evokes memories of the aliens from that other film. Not to mention the line, "We're being exterminated" is a direct lift from ID. Worst of all is a way-too-long sequence between Cruise and survivalist Tim Robbins as they hole up in Robbins' cellar. It never seems to end, each scene is more predictable than the last, and when it finally reaches the conclusion you saw coming thirty minutes ago, suddenly the whole movie is practically over and you're left wondering where it went. Then there's an argument between Cruise and his son amidst alien mayhem which makes absolutely no sense and is downright embarrassing to watch. These writers sure make screenwriting look difficult sometimes.

When all is said and done, and the last humongous alien tripod has come stunningly crashing down through the last multi-storied building, I'm not sure I would've realized what the aliens died from had I not been familiar with H.G. Wells' original novel. The resolution is rather clumsily presented. No motive for the invasion is even offered, although I suspect the little green men invaded to stamp out our weapons of mass destruction. (Which I guess makes them the good guys after all.) To their credit, the writers introduce the novel concept that the giant machines had been buried on Earth eons ago, just waiting to be activated. Until you think about this a little, and realize all the problems in logic involved with the idea. Oh well, enjoy the visual effects. I have a feeling the DVD will become the Godzilla of its generation - with viewers replaying the effects scenes over and over while avoiding the rest of the story entirely.