Review of War of the Worlds (2005) by Liam C — 07 Feb 2015

Like I've said in the past I like to read the book before watching a film adaptation and watch the original film before watching a remake, but hey, my college tutor waits for no man, as this was useful for one of our units. But maybe I should stop that way of thinking because this film is awesome.

The film starts off pretty good at establishing the characters and I thought the alien invasion happened quite quickly, the film had a good pace but slows down for good suspenseful moments and overall I think it was crafted very well. The direction by Spielberg is amazing, he has done an excellent job here and I was solidly engaged in what was going on and it's bereft of clichés, besides one but this ends his 'Alien trilogy', as some call it, with a dark turn. After taking the time to look at all of the extras on the DVD they really did go out of their way to make sure not to make mistakes when it comes to clichés and it shows, Tom Cruise also says, 'you can't handle the truth', and that was pretty funny. I wouldn't have expected Spielberg to do something like this and I know he's made alien invasion films before, but this is really dark and it just surprised me, much like the cast. Tom Cruise, as well as everyone else, now that I think about it, certainly does seem like an odd choice but saying that, he did an excellent job, but it is Tom Cruise, when has he not done an excellent job? And they explain why they cast him and it makes sense. Tim Robbins was also a strange choice but played his character excellently, as usual. Everyone else does a good job but these two are really the main ones to talk about and I'll get onto some other characters later. There is also a pretty awesome reveal at the end with the two lead actors from the original.

This film has an excellent tone and the tripods are honestly quite terrifying, their design was intimidating and the noise they make is always something that gets to me. They never scared me or anything but for something that's supposed to be threatening, the filmmakers accomplish it excellently. I know this game wasn't released until many years later but these aliens and their sound effects reminded me a lot of 'Journey', maybe they got some inspiration from this film, speaking of games, the front cover as well as some of its themes and events, reminds me of, 'The Last of Us', too. They honestly kind of annoyed me too, I always seem to get annoyed when aliens come out of nowhere and start killing everyone, but hey, that's just me. And I know there is a deeper theme to it all but just on a basic level, it annoys me. The visual effects for this film are excellent and some of the imagery in this film is absolutely amazing, after all these years they still stand out. The soundtrack is perfect and has such a powerful sense of dread. The cinematography was a little odd though, it seems to have this grainy filter over it the whole time but besides that, everything at the start, at least, looks really shiny. I don't know if it had to be that way because of what the effects were going to look like later but it's strange. The film also has some light comedy moments that fit really well.

Whilst watching the film I was pleased that I had no idea where it was going and that I had seen no clichés all except for one, the family issue plot point is really over played and really annoying. Like, really? It's the end of the world and you're still arguing about things that do not even matter at a time like this? You don't just run off because he was never around and he was working! And I don't care how distant you are from someone, when a situation like this happens you stick with together as a group, you don't wander off alone. The children characters are annoying, Justin Chatwin does a good job but his character doesn't really make a lot of sense and something happens right at the end that really doesn't make sense but he calls him dad and that shows the character growth but that scene was strange. Dakota Fanning does what she always does, or at least at that age, and plays characters that don't act her age at all, she goes from being that child that talks like an adult to screaming her lungs off every five seconds, she's an excellent actress but it's just her dialogue and it got too much after a while.

I turned to a friend of mine and said something about wondering how something like this can end satisfyingly and within 5 minutes it had ended and it really felt odd. I understand that was the ending of the book and I understand what the ending means but like I've said, things that work in one medium don't always work in another. He joked about how this movie went from a 7 right to a 2 or 3 and while I didn't hate it to that extremity, it does explain why the audience reviews are so low, I always did question why the audience score just kept going down but it makes sense now or maybe there is something else I am missing? But it really does wrap up too quickly, it feels like an episode of 'Star Trek Voyager' where everything gets resolved hastily in the last 5 minutes with a deus ex machina and it just abruptly ends, the ending of the book at least had a build up to it, here it felt like he was rushing to meet a deadline. I understood the ending and the theme it was trying to convey, like I said, but even so, it happens quite fast and, looking back on it I think it works this way, I was just looking blank at the credits and wondering what just happened. However, after it all wrapped up and I went away to think about it, it all fell into place. It could be compared to 'Signs' because of the nature of ending but this story was written way before that film was. The odd narration by Morgan Freeman was an interesting choice but it was, again, a little odd.

It has its plot issues, more than what I've mentioned but it never took me out of the experience and the ending really didn't bother me or, again, ruin the experience even if, like I have said, the book ending has more of a build up than it does here but it's an excellent conversation starter. It's a tense, entertaining and dark film that really felt like something new. I've said the words 'odd' and 'excellent' many times but it's just a fascinating film to me and I originally said that I would go back to watch it again in the near future but I actually went back to watch it again the day after he showed us and I can't remember the last time I did that or even want to do that and that made my rating go from 4 to 5. The original story is excellent and way beyond its years and this is a remake that actually has a reason to exist. Not only are the technical advancements greater because of how long it has been since the original and a lot can be done with them but it shows the story and its themes in a modern light and it's just a really good invasion film with complex characters and smart themes, the likes of which haven't been seen a long time. I'm glad I saw it because who knows how long it would have been until I saw it otherwise? And it's another film off of the list.