This Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg predicted blockbuster came out last Wednesday, just in time for a huge July 4th rush at the box office. Whenever I saw previews or heard about Spielberg's remake of the H.G. Wells classic by the same name, I felt the urge to see this movie right away.
One disclaimer you must know when it comes to me and movies... Whatever movie I've seen lately seems to get a higher bias or rating because it's fresh in my mind. In other words, if I really like the movie I just saw, I come out of the theatre thinking how it's one of the best movies I've ever seen, even if it's not. It's like the "afterglow" of a good movie, it skews my perceptions.
Before seeing this movie, I thought I'd have that feeling coming out of the theater. With star-power like Cruise, Spielberg, Tim Robbins and Dakota Fanning, how could this not be what it was billed to be - the biggest and best movie of the summer?
In fact, an hour into this movie, I already had that feeling - that I'd leave the theater wondering where this movie would rank in my top 10 or so of all time.
Many reviewers, including myself, found a lot to love about War of the Worlds. The way Spielberg begins the story makes you empathize with a regular broken family and their struggles to relate with each other. I thought Tom Cruise did fine as the deadbeat dad, but other reviewers thought Cruise failed.
We all know it's an alien attack, but the way it begins and the lightning storms are just breathtaking. I spent much of the first hour of the movie at the edge of my seat. The aliens and their machines were believable, evil, and as scary as Spielberg hoped they'd be.
The movie also says a lot about how people - especially people en masse - react in situations of panic or widespread fear. Some pretty violent and disturbing scenes involve rioting crowds of people who are past the brink of insanity. I guess the movie also was meant to draw our minds back to 9/11 in some ways... and it succeeded. Much of the movie's story and effects were chilling, depressing, disgusting, and yes - entertaining!
However, I must be honest and tell you I left the theater a disappointed. This movie failed to achieve greatness on several accounts...
Tim Robbins is a great actor, but the scenes involving him were either too dark, inconsistent with the movie and plot, or represented Spielberg's cheesy tribute to M.Night Shyamalan's own version of alien-invasions in Signs. Since we're talking about 20 minutes of film time for T-Rob, it's important enough to mention.
Like most Hollywood action films, none of the "good guys" ever dies. Or gets hurt. Or gets tired. Or gets hungry. Even an alien movie should be more realistic.
My next thought relates to War of the Worlds as well as most movies in general - We all wish for a happy ending, and most movies deliver that. If Spielberg succeeds in making you care only about Tom Cruise's (uh, I mean Ray Farrior) family, then you've got your happy ending and Morgan Freeman's voice to tell you about it. Otherwise, in the end, some alien tripods just obliterated 90% of the earth's population and the world is covered in blood.
I left the theater thinking that this movie was more like a hodge-podge medley of OTHER MOVIES all rolled into one - and that's NOT a good thing. It's as if Spielberg spent a day watching Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, Signs, I, Robot, Saving Private Ryan, and The Siege... and then decided to make a movie about them. That sounds harsh coming from a guy who wanted to see this movie and does have some good things to say about it.
If you like huge action, disturbing attacks and fight scenes, human drama, and Tom Cruise, then this is your kind of movie. It's really NOT a movie to take kids to, since there are some violent murders by aliens and people alike.
Sorry this review is so long. I'm not trying to take Ebert's job, I just like movies. Whenever I talk to people about movies, I realize we all have different opinions, and that's good! Instead of leaving the theater thinking "that's the best movie I've seen in 2005," I was left to wonder if it was as good as Batman Begins or Revenge of the Sith.
Overall rating: 3.1 stars (out of 4)
Other ratings:
Mr. and Mrs. Smith - 3.0 stars
Batman Begins - 3.4 stars
Revenge of the Sith - 3.1 stars
The Interpreter - 3.6 stars (Best of 2005 so far?)
Sahara - 1.0 stars
Hostage - 2.8 stars
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2 comments:
Wow - what an awesome review. You should start reviewing movies that you haven't seen too. I guess that would be movie Pre-views. But not like movie previews, I guess those are called trailers, but why? Trailers follow the vehicles they're being pulled by and movie trailers are before the movie you actually want to see. Hmm.
Thanks Josh! I was starting to feel insecure about my movie review. You are a total encourager! Long live Gitgan.com!
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