Not As Great As Expectations, But Still Good

Rating: 8/10 (13 August 2005)

Construction man Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is having a busy weekend: He's late to meet his ex-wife, odd strikes of thunder are occurring, and he has to babysit his ex's two kids for the weekend: Distant teen Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and little girl Rachel (Dakota Fanning), both of which dislike him intensely. But as the thunder gets worse, giant alien tripods come out of the ground and start blasting everyone to dust! So, the family fights for survival as they wander throughout the state.
Don't be fooled by the marketing campaign for War of the Worlds: This is not a war film about aliens and other planets, including our own: This is simply a movie where Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning wander the state of Massachusetts for two hours, and we occasionally get ear-splitting action scenes or brief glimpses of the alien tripods. War of the Worlds should have been titled "Ferrier." But still, War of the Worlds is a fast-paced, loud and interesting action movie with great production values and impressive performances from everybody. The film is massively entertaining although there isn't much substance, and there are intense dark themes that help the movie become a legitimately scary movie.
The film moves along at a killer pace, and there are moments of genuine suspensesomething I haven't felt in a theater for a long time. For that reason, War of the Worlds is a unique and rewarding theatrical experience, and it therefore pays off repeatedly. The special effects are awesome, and the way the tripods blow people to bits is actually very disturbing and, perhaps, more effective than director Steven Spielberg and company were expecting. Hey, the more the merrier, right? Spielberg gives a fabulous direction job, and supporting actor Tim Robbins gives the film's most interesting performance, however short it is. The rest of the cast shines as the movie moves along with disturbing action sequences and hardcore suspense, which means that those expecting a harmless action film along the lines of The Day After Tomorrow will be a bit disturbed: War of the Worlds is intense stuff.
But, since we've come to expect a movie about a war and worlds, when the film finally ends, we can't help but feel the "That's it?" factor. But, if you enter the film knowing that the film will go as I say, then you will find War of the Worlds to be a grand pleasurewhich is how I feel, too, although I can't say I wasn't just a little bit disappointed.