War of the Worlds

Not content with making an exciting science fiction movie from one of the genre’s most loved works, Steven Spielberg has aimed higher. Unfortunately, War of the Worlds suffers by coming out two weeks after Batman Begins – whereas the latter successfully blends both action and drama with political commentary and allegory, War of the Worlds sadly fails.

Were it not for the Dark Knight’s recent turn, I may have enjoyed Spielberg’s heavy-handed approach to sociological reference. His use of badly scripted jokes about European terrorists attacking the USA aside, his far too obvious references to images of the 9/11 attacks betray him. He has used scenes of a modern horror, and copied them to help us feel the horror of his plot, and I resent being manipulated like that. Batman Begins was not at all subtle, but it was far more subtle than this.

That aside, there are standard Spielberg ‘big scene’ moments, that are sure to satisfy the uncritical. The long set piece inside the basement with the proboscis-like extravasation from the tripod was entertaining, and the initial scenes are adequately shot. Disappointingly, the revelations of the beginning have been better handled in several recent disaster movies, the much-pilloried Independence Day one of them.

Much of the work between Tim Robbins and Tom Cruise is a failure – the ‘tension’ seems manufactured, and the final outcome is glossed over by Spielberg in a horrible oversight. What could have been an interesting ethical discussion instead turned into a non-issue. Given the amount of screen time spent on this sequence, this is an inexcusable waste.

Dakota Fanning, presumably written as a sympathetic character, comes across as simply pathetic… she spends all her time crying or screaming, or betraying her family to the enemy in some other way, and frankly she is just annoying. Justin Chatwin seems barely to have turned up for filming, his screen presence is that flimsy, and Tom gives his stock standard performance. Miranda Otto is wasted, although this seems more likely an effect of Well’s original story being written in the 19th century, rather than a poor choice on the modern day scriptwriters’ behalf.

The CGI is impressive, with barely anything catching my eye as glitchy or unbelievable – in fact this is the best aspect of this film. The final ending on the other hand, is woefully misjudged, with a massive buildup to an absolute anti-climax, followed by an extremely poorly scripted final voiceover, that is, at best, trite. It almost seemed, after so long getting there, that they just ran out of steam – both the aliens and the film-makers!

Unfortunately, War of the Worlds is very disappointing, and provides only minimal entertainment. The worst of the US Summer blockbusters thus far… it is this year’s The Day After Tomorrow.