Alien Invasion at its Best

Rating: 8/10 (13 August 2012)

Steven Spielberg is well-known for his moderately-budgeted, box office hits and classics, but in 2005 he brought to the screen a new and different looking adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic novel that was truly an intense shocker; War of the Worlds. Starring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, this sci-fi blockbuster revisited the alien invasion sub-genre with a vengeance; think 'Saving Private Ryan' but as a PG-13 movie with aliens as the enemy. The violence was not held back, the intensity was dialed all the way up and the performances of the two leads were spectacular. Tim Robbins' small but effective role was pleasing as well.
When it comes to the alien invasion sub-genre, there have been many films released to this day that have both been great and terrible (terrible being the recent Skyline and Darkest Hour films; they had great aliens and designs, but terrible scripts and direction). Happily, War of the Worlds was kind of a mix of Saving Private Ryan and Independence Day, having the intense close encounters with thousands of people being killed off, and an emotional human story at the center of it all; a father trying to bring his family to safety. The script was fantastic, having only a couple moments where it wasn't all believable. The visual effects, top-notch, even to this day; Steven Spielberg knew how to place their money on the sets and CG. The music was as classical as ever as well, with John Williams bringing us another suspense-filled masterpiece that's also loaded with emotion and trauma. For the film itself (in running time) there were plenty of unanswered questions, but some of those questions could be answered with a sequel (which i hope Steven sees), while some questions you have to answer yourself.
Overall, War of the Worlds was and is a fantastic alien invasion film that shows us that a sci-fi blockbuster can act like a powerful war drama loaded with heart and emotion. Transformers can be put to shame with this movie in mind
9/10 Stars***