Title: War of the Worlds
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi
Cast: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning …
Director: Steven Spielberg
Release: (2005)
For Steven Spielberg, peering through the camera lens on the set of War of the Worlds must have often felt like déjà vu all over again. But despite the fact that Dakota Fanning, co-star of Spielberg’s 2005 blockbuster summer alien movie, bears a striking resemblance to a young Drew Barrymore, co-star of Spielberg’s 1982 blockbuster summer alien movie, that’s probably where the similarities between the two co-stars ends. I’m guessing that the two young actresses each came away from their experiences with distinctly different impressions regarding the friendliness of aliens.
In his 2005 venture, Spielberg directs Fanning and headliner Tom Cruise in a visually stunning retelling of the H.G. Wells classic of the same name. While neither of the film’s two marquee stars’ performances stand out in any way, they are both capably adept as the support beams in a house built for the special effects. Tom Cruise delivers his officially patented Tom Cruise Standard Performance Package, including all five faces in the Tom Cruise Catalog of Emotions (The Smile ™, The Devil-May-Care Charmer ™, The Puddle-Eyed-Desperation-Moment ™, The Over the-Top-Inspired Speaker ™, and The Slow-Motion, Over-the-Shoulder, Some-Bad-S*#t’s-About-to-Go-Down, Thousand-Yard Stare ™).
But all of that is secondary to the real star of this film, which is Spielberg’s effects. The visual effects are both of outstanding quality and more creative than just elaborate spaceships and explosions. Spielberg continues to raise the bar for himself with effects such as a surreal rainfall of assorted clothing in a dark woods, a bridge rippling like ribbon candy - whipping 18 wheelers across half a city block and a close encounter with a speeding train on fire from the inside out. And those aren’t even the scenes with the aliens in them, where you know the real focus went into.
Whenever studios look to update a piece of classic literature to modern film, especially a big summer blockbuster, there will always be those stuffed-shirts out there that are just dieing to tell you how much the truncated film version loses the nuances of the book that made it great to begin with. If anyone tries to turn you away from this film for that reason, tell them to go pound sand, because what this movie gives up in the subtleties it gives back in the experience. And that, in the end, is what movies are all about.
Grading
Story: N/A
Acting: B
Visuals: A+
Originality/Innovation: A (for effects, not story)
Enjoyability: A-
DVD Extras: C+
Overall: A-
|
