War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds DVD is coming out soon. In honor of this latest piece of crap from Spielberg, here is the review I wrote after seeing the film at the theater over the Summer:

Today I saw War of the Worlds, the latest attempt by Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise to line their pockets with the green stuff. And good for them. But Tom, my friend, making gobs of cash at the box office doesn't give you the right to act like an ass in public. But this is about your movie, Tom, not your public life.

Overall Score 7 out of 11

Writing

Spielberg hired some guy named Josh Friedman to write this screenplay. I guess it could have been anyone, since I suspect they told him where they needed some dialogue to break up the Holocaust-like scenes of people getting fried. Maybe he actually came up with the whole movie, I really don't know. David Koepp is also listed. He has penned many hits so I suspect he did most of the typing. Maybe we won't have to pay Mr. Koepp for the sequel. Obviously H.G. Wells came up with the original story, and some of the imagery was borrowed from the great movie from the 1950's.
Overall the dialogue was somewhat realistic, considering the outrageous circumstances, I can't say I would be speaking in iambic pentameter. In the early part of the movie, Tom Cruise and his son Robbie play catch in the backyeard, and they share some jabs with appropriate cursing. Some directors in this post-Janet Jackson world would not have had swearing in front of a child, but in the real world that's what you've got. Despite playing a crane operator divorcee muscle car enthusiast, Tom Cruise's Ray manages to keep his signature white toothy hot shit Maverick grin up until the bad things happen. I think Tom could use some reverse whitening next time he tries to play an average shlump.
So overall the writing is ok. The whole subtext of Robbie wanting to join the military rather than look after his sister, just to get away from his dad is a little weak, but I guess ol' Spielie thought he needed some conflict besides the mundane spaceships-vaporizing-people trick. Ho-hum.
Directing

Spielberg can generally take a movie about a red balloon and make it an engaging emotional rollercoaster. What's that? You say someone has already done that exact movie? No shit? Well you know what I mean. Even his duds like AI and the Terminal have their Spielbergian qualities, which keeps this moviegoer shelling out the $8.50 year after year.
Thus, the shot selection, camera movement, signature point of view shots, conflict, broken family themes, technology versus man and everything else ole Steve-o has made a career out of are all present. Take one part Close encounters, one part Jurassic Park, a tablespoon or two of ET, a pinch of Private Ryan and one third to one half cup of Schindler's List, shake well or beat for two minutes, and you have another hit on your hands. Bake for nearly three hours, and check the post every month for your royalty checks, this pot roast is done to perfection - nearly. Acting

As previously mentioned, Tom Cruise plays a somewhat convincing absent father to his two kids. Although he works on the docks and is somewhat of a tough guy, he is also quite a sissy most of the time. He drives a souped up muscle car to compensate for his tiny wee-wee; he works high above the world in his safe enclosed box in the shipyard, and even when push comes to shove and he has to save his terrified daughter from the wrath of destruction, he loses it. This is a departure for grinny-boy, he plays it as most of us would. If I walked out my front door and saw those tripods turning my neighbors into shake and bake, I'm pretty sure I would crap my pants and go limp as a noodle. I think Tom's Ray character did pretty well considering. Everyman? Not quite, but close. Lose the pearly whites and he'd have it nailed.

Dakota Fanning did a tremendous job screaming her head off as any kid would have. In the past five years she seems to have been in nearly every movie and played against most of the best actors out there. She's sort of a grade school Tommy Lee Jones. She had a few nice lines, one in particular stands out as a signature Dakota line. I don't recall the line itself, but it was one of those moments when you question whether this girl is really 35 years old playing a kid, or vice versa. We will see plenty of Ms. Fanning 20 years from now, unless she burns out like that Sixth Sense kid.

The rest of the actors are really incidental. As mentioned earlier, the Robbie character, played well by relative newcomer Canadian Justin Chatwin, was mainly a sounding board for his dad's frustrations with being a terrible dad, and an opportunity for redemption. No real memorable lines or moments, except for my disappointment that he survives to the end. You old softy Spielberg.

Tim Robbins as the token nut job, who could possibly have helped save the day, but continued over the deep end, could have been played by a throwaway character actor. Maybe that's where Ms. Sarandon's sidekick is headed. Soon we'll see him playing an eccentric homeless guy on ER, or a crusty old sea captain in a made for cable movie about the merchant marine. Sorry Mr. Robbins, but Bob Roberts has left the building.

Cinematography

Janusz Kaminski has lensed many of Spielberg's hits, including the amazing Schindler's List. There were obvious influences here, from the human dust in the air, the clothes falling from the sky, the bodies floating down the river, truly some haunting imagery. The opening shot of the film was impressive and unexpected, as those long motion tracking shots have become a cliche in sci-fi and superhero movies - but it was effective here. The many scenes taking place in basements and dark places were well done.

Editing

Great work as always by Michael Kahn, another vet of Speilberg and other hits. My pulse was a racin' and would not slow down until well after the family minivan had escaped to the country. The pace of the movie goes from zero to 100 almost instantly once the lightning storm starts, but the editing never feels too fast. It seems to be a trend in current action flicks to show everything and cut fast to every possible angle. I don't know if this is to let the studio bosses know how many cameras they have paid for or just shoddy editing, but this film shows only what needs to be shown. There is an interesting anecdote from film editor Ralph Rosenbaum. When he was just starting out, editing tv commercials in New York, he would often get between 20 and 60 takes of a kid saying one line, with many different inflections, but after the 5th take, they were all the same. The main reason they shot so many takes was because the studio spent so much money to set and light the scene, and the ad agency execs needed an excuse to stay out of the office, they just kept at it all day.
Anyway. although we were treated to a nice closeup of a woman being pulverized, we were spared any visuals of Tom Cruise putting Tim Robbins out of his misery (supposedly this really happened once Mr. Robbins realized what a crummy performance he gave. Just kidding Mr. Sarandon.) Another good use of showing only what needs to be shown was at the end, when the Marines were firing missiles at the dying tripod. They showed the first two missile hits, with resulting flames and what not. But the subsequent hits were off camera, whereas in a Vin Diesel flick we would have seen every missile from firing to explosion, probably in one long CG shot. Once again Spielberg team, nice job.

Sound Design

It seems Skywalker Sound had some leftover sound effects from Attack of the Clones they were itching to use. I am speaking of the low hum of the tripods as they communicate with each other during the rampage. Remember the seismic charges fired by Slave I during the asteroid belt chase? See what I mean? Anyway, the sounds used during the destruction scenes, especially the sizzling, firecraker popping effects were something new. Usually exploding buildings sound like typical explosions, but there seemed to be a major electrical element to the destruction. The poof of bodies being vaporized was another surprising aspect of this movie. Surprises are good.

Special Effects / Production Design

I group effects and produciton design together in this case, as the effects in this movie are a natural part of the environment. From the distant clouds to the sequential lightning strikes, to the reflected view of detruction in the car window, you feel like this is the real world. When the tripod broke through the street surface, you really feel like it was under there. You don't have any beauty shots of the tripods, they are always in their natural surroundings, generally seen from the point of view of the victims. Nice. The scene of the plane wreckage outside the house was very nicely done, especially the absence of bodies. The orderly basement in Ray's ex-wife's house contrasting with the dirty basement where old-man Robbins met his demise is so real I was immediately reminded of a house where I used to babysit, and the musty old basement at my grandparents' house in the Catskills. Overall there really was not a thing about the design I did not like. Well, the obvious CG tentacle sweeping through old-man Robbins' basement was a bit reminiscent of the spiders in Minority Report, but again, George Lucas needs the business. I would be trhilled if it turned out that was a practical effect.

Music

Was there music? John Williams, you say? The man who whote, "Daaa-dum, dum-dum-da-daa-dum, dum-dum-da-daa-dum, da-da-da-daa" and the memorable, "daa-daa-daa-da-da-daa-daa-da-daa, daa-daa-daa-da-da-daa-daa-da-daa" and who can forget the exciting, "dum-duh-dum-dumm, dum-duh-dumm, dum-duh-dum-dumm, dum-duh-dumm-dumm-dumm." I think there was music, but sorry Johnny-boy, no Oscars this time. At least ol' Stevie understands that you can have a scene without constant music. We need more of that. More less-music please!

Strengths

Very good effects, sound, editing, pacing. I think the music was good, really I did hear it. Nice to see Mr. Spielberg kept his "kill-the-family-pet" trick out of this film. I am especially glad they did not show the destruction of London, Paris, Cairo, Rome and Cleveland. Well, Cleveland may have been ok.

Weaknesses

Ending a bit too happy for me. Previously mentioned toothy grin of Maverick could have been artificially yellowed for this flick. Would have been nice if Johnny Williams created one memorable theme for us to hum on the way to the parking lot. Just a variation of Luke and Leia, Lois and Clark or Anakin and Padme would have been fine. Finally, the Morgan Freeman commentary at the beginning and the end, along with the Men in Black shot of the water droplet, bacteria and DNA strands was not really needed. Do they think the movie audience is that stupid that we need the ending of the film explained for us. To quote Drew Barrymore from ET, "Gimme a break.

Would I See it Again? Yes. Unfortunately Speilberg doesn't believe in DVD commentaries, one of the primary reasons I rent DVDs, so I guess I'll have to warn the neighbors, crank up the subwoofer, and let this baby rip once the DVD comes out. Do they even make tapes anymore?