Utterly Terrifying

Rating: 8/10 (26 December 2005)

SPOILERS!
It has been a good long while since I've watched a movie that was as tense and terrifying as 'War of the Worlds.' Watching it was like being in one of those dreams where something huge and terrifying is after you, and you are running but you can't get away.
I suppose those who are critical of the lack of logic in having the tripods come out of the ground have a valid point, but so what? If you are willing to suspend disbelief and enjoy the movie, it's a minor issue. The scene where the tripod emerges from the middle of an intersection was absolutely terrifying; it rises to a staggering height, towering over the buildings, and then a whine begins and reaches a crescendo before the aliens begin to vaporize people into puffs of gray dust. I could completely relate to Ray (and I think the decision to tell the story from his perspectiveas a parent, trying to protect a child, was the best choice) as he dashes down the street, zigging and zagging, trying to avoid instant annihilation. He dodges into a store, thinking a building might offer some shelterand then the people to his left and right inside the store get it, like someone blowing dandelions away, followed by a car being thrown through the front wall like a child's toy. After that it was the tops of houses and buildings, and increasingly larger structures (bridges and an entire neighborhood) get blown away.
Spielberg and his CGI team got everything right with the appearance, movement, and sound of the tripods. Utterly alien in appearance and in their gait, the machines seem organic and alive  from the weird tentacles, the jettisoning of fluid from ports on the sides, the lights which look like eyes, the low frequency blatting noise, the weird feet, to the obscene, puckered orifice which slurps up humans. The tripods are "malevolence" writ large, particularly when their role in the aliens' plan for the human race is revealed as the movie progresses. I speak here of the unfortunate victim who Ray watches get skewered and drained dry of blood, which is then blown out from the rear of the tripod. Ugh!
For this kind of movie, I thought the character development was good, particularly of Ray, the divorced parent who loves his kids, but hasn't spent enough time and effort with them to earn the title 'Dad' when the movie begins. By the end of the movie, he is certainly their father, through and through. The scene where he has to let his son go was particularly poignant.
All in all, a thumbs up for this film. I will definitely be buying the DVD.