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If you go and see "War of the Worlds", expect two hours of the very best special effects, people mad with the threat of extinction, and creepy alien death machines. And you know what? Why not? It just wouldn't be summer otherwise.
"War of the Worlds" makes no apologies in its star-promoting advertising. "Cruise... Spielberg... War of the Worlds" is all the text one trailer needed, and rightfully so, considering the success of their previous collaboration, "Minority Report". If "Minority Report" was Spielberg slowly shedding his family-friendly action-movie skin, then "War of the Worlds" must be him plowing forward into terror, tension, and darkness. Even "Jaws" had it's humor, "Jurassic Park" had the wise-craking Jeff Goldblum, "Close Encounters" ended with polite and friendly space critters, and "A.I."... well, "A.I." didn't quite know quite what it was.
"War of the Worlds" just had a dysfunctional family and lots of aliens indiscriminately vaporizing humans.
The 1953 version of H. G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" had all the Cold War sci-fi favorites: a theory-pushing, handsome scientist, a frightened but brave unmarried woman, and funny little side characters who get zapped. It remains the best of its genre (and has to this day my favorite alien craft).
In contrast, Spielberg's rendition does something very uncommon, yet altogether brilliant. Like those in Hitchcock's "The Birds", his lead characters are nothing more than a select example from the screaming, fleeing masses. It's as if the movie, with all its heroes and battles, occurs offscreen while we follow the plight of a random, less-than-ordinary family. I imagine "War of the Worlds" is what would have happened if the family in Shyamalan's masterpiece "Signs" ventured outdoors and got caught in the mayhem.
Tom Cruise is surprisingly not charismatic, but in a good way. Spielberg spends all of the pre-war moments of the film convincing the audience that his character is a bad father, bad ex-husband, and a man who tries hard at sticking with his convictions. His two children, perhaps thanks to their father, have issues as well. But when the attack happens, we don't witness the expected father-trying-to-redeem-himself subplot, but a desperate struggle to just stay alive. And that's good Friday night entertainment.
-K. Tanaka
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