Not perfect, but a still rewarding experience

Rating: 6/10 (6 August 2009)

Interestingly, War of the Worlds is one of the box-office hits that few people want to admit that they like. Yet even accepting its weaknesses, I enjoyed the film to a large extent. Freely adapted from H.G. Wells legendary story, it depicts the chaos that escalates in the face of a Martian invasion as seen through the eyes of regular guy Tom Cruise and his family. The opening scenes establishing the family – particularly single irresponsible divorced dad Cruise, surly teenage son Justin Chatwin and young daughter Dakota Fanning – are some of the film's weakest moments. Then all hell breaks loose and director Steven Spielberg demonstrates that he is one of the best purveyors of well-choreographed action on screen. Our first vision of the Martian tripods rising doom-like from the ground to start its rampage amidst a horrifying cacophony of alien sound is truly a terrifying moment. The uncertain journey of Cruise and his children to escape the invasion and reunite with the children's mother in Boston takes on a believably surreal quality – coupled with the fact that we truly are never certain of a positive outcome for all involved. To be sure the film suffers from problems. The mother character, briefly played by Miranda Otto, is all but forgotten for the duration of the film when one could imagine a very proactive role. The film does move in fits and starts – sometimes understandably so, other times not. A late stage segue where Cruise and company shelter from the aliens in the basement with an increasingly bizarre and unbalanced Tim Robbins seems to have an entirely different tone from what came before. It is not that Robbins is not fine in his role, so much as the subplot is jarring. A later action scene opens with Cruise running into "old friends" who immediately become lost in the shuffle of hysteria – a development that would have been more powerful if we knew these people prior to those few moments. The visual effects and sound effects combine to make the alien horde an intimidating presence. The film's worst misstep is in the conception and portrayal of Cruise's son. Initially surly and grating, Chatwin somehow manages to only become increasingly more appalling as the film progresses. Rather than step up to the plate in the face of this apocalypse unfolding and take responsibility for his sister, particularly in light of the disdain for which he holds his father, the son can think of nothing better than trying to ditch his family at the first opportunity and strike out on his own. The film screeches to a halt every time Chatwin has one of his tantrums to the point that we honestly do not understand why Cruise tolerates it since it places them all at risk. Bad writing and acting come together in this one character, which incredibly Spielberg and company actually seem to believe we have a vested interest in. Dakota Fanning fares better as the daughter, although her shrill screaming will doubtless start to wear on the viewer after a while. She does, however, share a touching moment with Cruise late in the film where she asks him to sing her a lullaby for comfort and he embarrassingly realizes that he does not know any and launches into a tearful "Little Deuce Coupe." Cruise makes an effective leading man. Rabid detractors seem wholly unwilling to forgive Cruise for his jumping up and down on TV and adhering to Scientology (while many of the same hypocritically give Mel Gibson a pass on far worse foolishness), but I think it is well past time that everyone acknowledge what was fairly well known previously in that Cruise is a solid and reliable actor and more than holds his own anchoring big budget films. The climax is a problem. The film conclusion - taken straight from Wells - does not easily lend itself well to cinema – in that it is hardly an edge-of-your-seat prospect that the aliens are done in by the common cold. As a side note, Morgan Freeman's opening and closing narration, which praises the wisdom of God for such "protection" from the invaders, seems a bit fatuous when one must also reason that God was responsible for the aliens that launched this rampage. Additionally, the saccharine nature of the ending with Spielberg determined to give as many characters a "happy ending" as possible rings completely false and somehow seems abrupt and tacked on to what went before. Yet these failings do not obscure that there are some incredibly exciting, suspenseful and tense passages in this film, and for much of it, we are in fact caught up in Cruise's plight, which makes this a far from perfect, but still rewarding sci-fi experience.