Okay. War of the Worlds review time. Hmmmm...

Damn it, but that Spielberg dude is the master of set pieces! He can create a moving tableau like no other director. I loved that bit where the church cracks in half! He can even sustain it for almost an hour when he's at his best (qv: opening battle sequence of Private Ryan).

But give this guy a whole movie (as the carte blanche he has been given since the 70's), and look at him slide...

Spielberg couldn't tell a whole two-hour story if his life depended on it. As a matter of fact, I gave up on caring about Spielberg and his characters at just about the one hour mark, and decided then and there to just enjoy the scenery. What a lame second half! The air just came rushing out of this hot air balloon and the whole flaccid enterprise came settling to the ground in a heap of tawdry folds. Yikes!

The one thing good I can say about it, is that the marketing campaign was superbly orchestrated. From Tom Cruise's so-called crazy outbursts, to the reminders of Scientology that somehow tied so well into the film - WOW! - whoever directed that campaign should be given the reigns in the next blockbuster summer flick - it'd go boffo deluxe!

I even felt bad for Dakota Fanning in this mess - gawd, she is capable of so much more - what a freakin' waste of talent - not to mention Tim Robbins - poor bastard...

This is a bad movie.

2 out of 5 (D+)

YHou cannot say that Spielberg cannot tell a 2 hour story. Look at every one of his films besides this one. Even taking away his 70's films, Raiders, E.T., Jurassic Park and his newer ones like SPR and Catch Me if you Can are all more than 2 hours and they are masterful.

ET, Jurassic Park, and Saving Private Ryan would all be top examples, imho, of his inability to tell 2 hour stories. Even Raiders of the Lost Ark and Catch Me If You Can, while better told tales than the first three you suggested, once again depended on a series of strong set pieces to carry them...

Just thinking of Saving Private Ryan irritates me! Spielberg opens with the best combat sequence ever filmed, and then follows up with the most boring, meandering, sloppy stew of a war story ever directed...

War of the Worlds is more of the same.

Just thinking of Saving Private Ryan irritates me! Spielberg opens with the best combat sequence ever filmed, and then follows up with the most boring, meandering, sloppy stew of a war story ever directed...

Well, I can't debate your opinion. E.T. is one of my fave films and Raiders is flawless....my opinion of course.

I agree, they are both phenomenal films.

I loved it. It doesn't have the world's best screenplay and the ending is a bit flawed and nonsensical, but I found most of this film to be absolutely terrifying. The fear, paranoia and anxiety created in the original story are well presented here. The film also has some haunting imagery that many will find disturbing, which I can't say I was really expecting. This is actually more of a horror movie than anything else. Tom Cruise is fine as deadbeat dad Ray Ferrier. It won't go down as one of the actor's best performances, but he fills the role admirably. Uber-talented Dakota Fanning is given the shaft by the script; we've seen what she's capable of before (such as turning an absolutely horrendous movie like Hide and Seek into a passable one), but Rachel mostly just sits around and screams. I suppose Fanning does this well, but she is unfortunately not given that much to work with. Justin Chatwin makes little to no impression as Robbie. Tim Robbins supplies some very brief comic relief but the whole section in his basement felt somewhat unnecessary. Miranda Otto is vastly underused. Anyway, War of the Worlds' strength is not in its acting. Steven Spielberg effectively builds tension to heart-stopping levels during certain moments and many of the special effects are breathtaking. Terrific film. A-

Can you imagine the aliens having sex with humans?

Kinda gives the term "foot up your ass" a whole different meaning.

And Libs, oh dear Libsina, you're so crazy. :fishing:

Yes, she was underused, but yet again I thought she did incredible. She nailed exactly how a girl that age would react; scream for mommy and nag, and Fanning continues to act more real than a lot of adult actors, in my opinion. No hints of fake/forced acting on her part, like most child actors. I think she is brilliant in that respect. Anyways, thanks for the comments.

This is nowhere near as good as Independence Day. There is no sense of joy that the aliens are defeated, because it's too poorly executed to celebrate. I gave it a B because I love the subject matter, and there was good stuff throughout, but there was also bad stuff. For instance, it wasn't too bad that Cruise just happened to get lucky and find the only car in the world that wasn't a military vehicle that would still run, but it was dumb that he also found one that didn't require gasoline, no matter how far he traveled. What the hell was that about? Sloppy stuff like that isn't my bag, and Spielberg is better than that.

The ending was pretty lame and anticlimatic. I would say that my fears about this film being rushed so they could make the July 4th date were confirmed.

I still think you'll drop your grade once you've reflected on it some more. :down:

You do know that when Will Smith smacks the aline, the alien had just crash landed and pretty much incapaciatated.

Yeah, but when you point flaws out in this movie like this, hell, look at ID4 for a moment: Will Smith pulls the hatch off the Alien ship and punches an Alien in the head and says "Welcome to Earth" no more than just 2 scenes earlier when this thing was flinging Brett Spiner around the lab by his neck head 1st into the glass window in mid air??? This thing would've ripped Will Smith in half not to mention the Quarantine factor would've ben in question after coming in contact with this thing.. Oh and here's another classic ID4 Nitpick moment: Will Smith and Goldblum crash this Alien ship into the desert, the military races toward the crash to see if they were Ok and Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum are seen through the Binoculars swaggering as they walked like nothing ever happened to them.. Not a mark, blemish or even a cut or bruise.. :laugh: So enough of the WOTW nitpicks.. Both movies are Sci-Fi action and like with any Sci-Fi movie, there will always be disbelief, but it's the job of the moviegoer to suspend it long enough to enjoy it..