Could have been longer

Rating: 7/10 (2 August 2005)

Steven Spielberg has always surprised me every time i witness one of his films, because his direction is one that no one else has been able to mimic. No matter what kind of film it is, there's always that touch of his magic in every shot, in the behaviour of the camera all the time and most of all his method in story telling. This is Spielberg's take on the alien invasion movie and he's made it like none other, which is impressive seeing as these movies have been around for years. Instead of concentrating on the action in it's entirety, he only ventures within a confined area around the central characters, so we see it as they see it. The camera is almost never still, always on the move, trying to hide from the action, like the family hiding from the aliens. That's not to say you don't see the E.Ts, we get some dazzling shots of them, which are, throughout the film, phenomenally frightening and imposing. But the film always focuses on the main characters' field of view. This is a huge departure from Roland Emmerich's "ID4", where the destruction was charted throughout the USA (but no where else funnily enough) thus never getting the real dirt in the face as it were from the threat of the aliens from a personal level like this film does. However, on the flip side, "ID4" succeeds in it's style by giving a better sense of epic devastation on a global scale, while here it's more confined so while we know it, we never really feel that something bigger is happening here. Plus the lack of exposition on any of the background or development to this whole event makes things a bit hollow in terms of story, yet this is also a reciprocation of Spielberg's choice of filming, since it's all from the civilian eye witness, so none of that stuff ever really seems to matter to the plot. Saying that, i accepted the sacrifices taken to fulfil what's been made, which is still a damn good film. If it weren't for the abrupt ending, it would have been perfect.
Obvious influence from the director's earlier credits (Jurassic Park, Close Encounters to name a few) are all here to push things along, mostly on the action and thrill front. Some people have shunned this retread, but I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The techniques still work, and old Steve does em the best. The father children emotional backup to this is also a bonus to something that could have so easily gone cold. Some of the most frightening scenes in the film weren't from the aliens, but from the startling reaction of human society on the events. SPOILER: The entire scene with the car, containing our family, mowing through a hoard of rabid civilians desperate to jack the transportation was one of the scariest and saddest sequences i've ever laid eyes on in film. Spielberg again displays his expertise in handling disturbing material, and another example of the camera focusing on the main characters' journey, not only the aliens themselves. SPOILER ENDED.
Lets talk special effects and art. Steven Spielberg, along with James Cameron, were the pioneering directors to utilise CGI technology in film for the first time with "Jurassic Park", "The Abyss" and "Terminator 2", all within four years. Since then, they've both handled the technology with great finesse and artistic touch, although Spielberg has been at it more frequently then Cameron, whose last big special effects film was "Titanic". While other directors have jumped into CGI like kids in a playground, playing with whatever they can, no matter how terrible the outcome, Steve has handled it with the same expertise as he did way back in '93, mostly because he chooses the best people, ILM for that matter. But they have been producing a lot of unfocused tripe too, only under Spielberg's eye do they fall in line. And they do it again here, with another completely convincing array of how CGI can aid film making when handled correctly. I keep talking about CGI because that's what all the creatures are made from. Stan Winston doesn't seem to be present with live action aliens, as they're all digital. This would normally look really bad as it recently has done, but here it looks so convincing, mostly due to astonishing practical effects to show the interaction with the live action world and characters and Spielberg's relentless camera work that rarely leaves the documentary like hand-held appearance, so everything seems to belong in every scene, nothing really sticks out as been fake. The aliens, tripods especially, have been made with a great design and are always amazing to look at because they're like nothing I'd seen before. The way they move, sound, the things they do have all been well conceived, so even though it's not always obvious as to what they're up to, it's always amazing to look at.
I wanted this movie to carry on, as it's protagonists and aliens were so intriguing, i wanted to see more of them, especially the aliens, who are given hardly any exposition as to what they're really up to. But as it is, "War of the Worlds" is still one of the best films I've seen on the big screen in recent times, and the best alien invasion movie ever.