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War of the Worlds
Release Date: June 29, 2005
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter: David Koepp
Starring: Tom Cruise, Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto, Dakota Fanning,
Justin Chatwin, Rick Gonzalez, David Alan Basche
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and
disturbing images)
Official Website:
WaroftheWorlds.com
Plot Summary: On June 29th, 2005, Earth goes
to war. From Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures comes "War of the
Worlds," directed by Steven Spielberg and starring international superstar Tom
Cruise. A contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells's seminal classic, the sci-fi
adventure thriller reveals the extraordinary battle for the future of humankind
through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it. The film also
stars Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin, and Tim Robbins.
Cruise stars as Ray Ferrier, a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father.
Soon after his ex-wife (Miranda Otto) and her new husband drop off his teenage
son Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and young daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning) for a
rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.
Moments later, at an intersection near his house, Ray witnesses an extraordinary
event that will change all their lives forever. A towering three-legged war
machine emerges from deep beneath the earth and, before anyone can react,
incinerates everything in sight. An ordinary day has suddenly become the most
extraordinary event of their lifetimes - the first strike in a catastrophic
alien attack on Earth.
Ray scrambles to get his children away from this merciless new enemy, embarking
on a journey that will take them across the ravaged countryside, where they
become caught in the desperate tide of refugees fleeing from an extraterrestrial
army of Tripods.
But no matter where they run, there is no safety, no refuge... only Ray's
unconquerable will to protect the ones he loves
Review by Peter Veugelaers © 2005
- Who said they don't make 'em like they used to?
Following 9/11 terrorist attacks, mainstream
movies about terror and post ground zero politics are coming out of the woodwork
including The Interpreter, The Manchurian Candidate and Michael
Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. Director of War of the Worlds Steven
Spielberg has gone one better, instead of making blatant film statements like
the latter films have done, he has crafted out of mise-en-scene, editing, score,
production design, and visual effects a foreboding parable about modern-day
terror, but which only goes so far to frighten audiences. It is not surprising
that Spielberg, who directed sci-fi classics Close Encounters of the Third
Kind and E.T., is right in his element.
The domestic problems of a family get
swallowed up by a world-wide calamity of extraterrestrial proportions. Lightning
strikes are vehicles for giant alien tripods to enter earth and exterminate city
streets and townships, stuff which even the military cannot force back. Tom
Cruise plays a divorced father of two – a girl (Dakota Fanning) and a teenage
son (Justin Chatwin) whose burgeoning independence is threatened by his father’s
over protectiveness.
The interesting premise, which keeps in tact
the 1953 b-grade version, builds momentum which is not sustainable for its two
hours and emphasises action and imagery over story and character. The clichéd
and elemental human element is overpowered by a handsomely mounted and
photographed (by Janusz Kaminski) production, including eye-popping visual
effects. The movie does not quite hammer the 9/11 angst when it comes to its
human characters and even the sense of terror and mass hysteria is left wanting
in a haze of visual splendour.
Although a director’s film, Cruise comes out
best among the special effects and Fanning’s continual screaming is
representative for her whole character – rather underdeveloped. War of the
Worlds gives the story an extreme make over, an impressive looking and
exciting edition to Spielberg’s mantelpiece, but not as appealing as his
classics, such as E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark, although an
improvement on later movies The Terminal and Minority Report.
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