War of the Worlds
Also reviewed by:
Noah K.
Uncle Cliff
I had avoided watching this film due to the lack of praise it had received in the cinema. I don’t remember hearing any positive comments. Then there was that whole jumping on Oprah’s couch thing and Cruise telling some guy he was a jerk and I wasn’t really wanting to see anymore of his massive white teeth any time soon so I didn’t bother with the film. I was interested in the idea though. I remember listening to my Dad’s record of the original radio broadcast of War of the Worlds and it was some scary shit. And with Spielberg involved, the guy who made the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, I knew it would look great, regardless of Cruise’s input. And honestly, now I wish I had seen it at the cinemas.
After the first ten minutes I was skeptical, thinking it would be another triumph of the community (read: American) spirit-type post September 11 film. The close knit inner city town where everyone knows each other and will look out for one another in a time of crisis. And then the first of the aliens arrives, blaring it’s fog-horn sounding call to attention. From then on I was in.
One of the things that stood out immediately was the minimal use of the soundtrack. There is virtually no music for the majority of the film and it’s great. It gives it a more real feeling, like this is their real lives. It increases the drama, especially in the initial scenes, and it gives the audience the chance to listen to the horrors unfold. The sound design for the machines was excellent, from their whirring and clanking as they move to their call. They have some sections of score, but even then I don’t think they were necessary, it is much more tense, much more intimate, when there is nothing but the sound of what is happening around them.
And of course the special effects are amazing, but more interestingly in the way they do not dominate the film. In fact, they don’t even seem to be the focus, they are flashing by as we see things from the panicked perspective of Cruise and his kids. There is never a panoramic shot of the destruction, never a wide angle showing the breadth of their reign, it is just what you can see from a normal person’s view, again adding to the immediacy and tension of the film (and a technique the ‘Berg used to great effect in Saving Private Ryan) . There is also none of the common action film bullshit where we cross to the president to hear the Government’s well thought-out response plan. There is no let up from what is happening to the characters, making it more confronting and uncomfortable as they seem less and less likely to survive.
The main problems I has with the film were the troubled Dad storyline and the abrupt ending. The troubled Dad thing doesn’t really pull everything together and is not well established. But Cruise’s flawed character does bring more familiarity to the movie than it would if he were the average, gung-ho hero type. His panicked inaction is at times frustrating to watch as he doesn’t know what to do. But would we know what to do if the world were under attack? It is plausible that his responses and reactions could be his only way to deal with what is happening. The film also gets a bit weird when they end up in the basement of a house with Tim Robbins. It slows everything down a little too much for a little too long in order to get some very simple exposition out of the way. This could have been handled much quicker.
The ending is strange. Of course they have the ‘everything’s going to be alright’ hug scene, but it doesn’t really fit. After using gritty camera angles which took us into the heart of the action, made it feel like a real event, the Hollywood ending felt taped on. It would have been good for the film to stick with the realism and take a more interesting turn, but it does what it has to in putting the characters to rest and it closes off the tale without underlining the ‘happily ever after’ message. Considering H.G. Wells’ original story is already in place, the ending had to happen the way it did.
War of the Worlds is not a perfect film, there are various flaws which stand out, but I was glad to have gone along for the ride.