MOVIE: War of the Worlds

The last Spielberg movie I was really impressed with also happend to be a collaboration with Cruise which is probably why I expected a lot from War Of The Worlds (Minority Report btw). The film was by no means bad. Good performances all round, but I think the main problems I had with it were largely unimaginative effects design, and the physical length of the film duration - a snip under 2 hours. The story, thanks to hype and what little I knew of the original, was not mindblowing to me ('modern audiences' says some old codger in disgust).

Effects work, and by that I refer to the Alien Walkers and their weaponry, had a very 'A.I.' feel. Super smooth capsules, and prominant blue and purple neon lighting. How much of this was described in the novel I can't say, but it led to a feeling that the enemy looked too good and untouchable, but also in a friendly, or emotionless way - themes that could have lent themselves more strongly to being linked in the story line, but was not emphasized so that the final effect was simply one of odd displacement. Furthermore the cage's of human's was far too reminiscent of a scene in A.I.

The Aliens hit the ground quickly, which means lots of action for a good proportion of the movie, but at the sacrifice of generating emotional empathy with the charachters. Also for a film with so much action and war, there is a serious dearth of bodies, blood and 'ugly' destruction until the river scene - which is also understated. The sanitisation of the carnage also hinders believing the emotional responses of the charachters.

Overall a good movie, but not great. Unfortunately handled with too much 'PG kid's gloves'. In an aside: War of the Worlds was always going to be Dreamworks' big earner of 2005, Spielberg being a founder. Maybe getting everyone in the door was a major factor in keeping middle america happy and the takeovers at bay - Dreamworks posted a loss last year and may not remain the only 'independent' studio in Hollywood for much longer.