Review of War of the Worlds (2005) by Chris W — 21 Jan 2013

This contemporary update of War of the Worlds is a lot better than most people say it is. 2/3 of the movie is some of the most atmospheric,suspenseful, and intense stuff that Spielberg has made in quite a long time.

The problems come during the final 40 or so minutes. The movie does such an excellent and effective job of channeling 9/11 and War on Terror fears, paranoia, and anxiety, and then remembers that it's supposed to be a summer action blockbuster and jarringly becomes a cliched actioner with a schmaltzy and sentimental ending typical of almost all of Spielberg's work.

Seeing as how much and love and respect the man, I can't bring myself to hate on him too much for this, but thankfully what is done right still manages to save the movie from totally sucking. With Munich Spielberg (for once) made a movie that was completely adult and serious, and avoided sentimentality-and that movie was absolutely brilliant.

This came so damn close to reaching that same level, and was so close to being a masterpiece....and I don't know why it was deemed necessary to not stick with it. I only just realized that this came out a bit before Munich, but still.

... Anyways, this film does feature some spectacular moments..especially the action scenes. That I used to own a van that looked 99.9% just like the one Cruise drives around in makes me like this movie in spite of it's faults.

The acting is better than average, and the camera work is top notch. Give this one a chance. It's really good, which normally is fine, but it should have been excellent.