Hey Spielberg, Where the hell is the story?

Rating: 3/10 (4 July 2005)

You know I was looking forward to this film when I first heard about it because I usually have a lot of faith in Steven Spielberg and I think he's a damn fine director. But to be honest my interest in the film began to drop when Tom Cruise became the media whore over the past three weeks or so. I was just so tired of hearing his name over and over again. I normally run out and see a movie like this on opening day but since I lost interest I didn't bother. So I went out today, Sunday July 3, 2005 to see what all the hype was about.
Based on a radio skit followed by a movie both created by H.G Wells comes Steven Spielberg's version of "War of the Worlds". "War of the Worlds" is simply a movie about aliens invading the planet earth. The movie focuses on one family as they fight to stay alive and avoid the aliens.
Tom Cruise! Steve Spielberg! A 180 Million Dollar Budget! And lastly NO STORY! I can't even begin to say how disappointed I am with this flick. I really can't! There is no excuse what so ever why this movie didn't have a story and why almost everything makes little or no sense. One minute of Morgan Freeman explaining in the beginning what's going to happen and then one minute at the end of Morgan Freeman telling us what happened, does not make up for a 2hr and 10min movie without a story. On top of it the lame story seemed like something a ten year old would make up. It's like Steve Spielberg said I want to make a movie about aliens and so someone brought him a script and he was like no I don't need a script, I am going to wing it.
Don't even get me started on all the jokes in the movie. Stop trying to make serious movies especially Sci-Fi flicks and then throw in some lame ass jokes. I know the majority of the public is dumb and needs to be easily amused when watching movies but I am tired of it. Stop putting jokes in films where they don't belong. My favorite was when the aliens started to attack and little Rachel (Dakota Fanning) followed by her brother Robbie (Justin Chatwin) ask "Is it the terrorists?" I just started laughing because it was so lame.
What else is wrong? Well we have a pointless 10 minute role by Tim Robbins as a nut job. It's pretty funny; it reminded me of the trailer trash character from "Mars Attacks." I was waiting for Mr. Robbins to scream out "I am going to kick some alien ass." Not to mention the most unbelievable and lame ending. Why does there always have to be a happy ending? Mr. Spielberg didn't you get that memo with "A.I" or did you miss that one. Also the film felt so rushed at the end, I mean no real explanation of anything. It's like someone said OK guys wrap it up, were all done with this film. The film isn't at all scary either. And finally, since everyone else mentions it what the hell? How did the digital cameras and camcorder stay working when everything else electrical went down? That made no sense what so ever but then again most of this film didn't either so I guess why should I question that? Tom Cruise (Ray) is unbelievable as a father. I mean seriously I never felt like he cared about either one of his kids. Dakota Fanning was just there; all she did was cry and scream. And when did Tim Robbins become an actor who gets a minor pointless role? I just don't get it. The acting was passable but that didn't take much. There was pretty much no real acting involved. Just running, screaming and looking scared; if you can do that then you could star in Steven Spielberg's version of "War of the Worlds." So what's good about War of the Worlds? The special effects are great! It's all special effects and nothing else. I like special effects, I do. I like movies about aliens too. I just like a story to go with them. I have watched so many movies that special effects are just there now. I don't rate a movie by special effects it needs more than that to wow me (no pun intended). You need more then special effects to create a good movie. How the heck this film is rated as highly as it is, well that's beyond me. I guess it goes to show you that the American people much rather shut their brains off when they go to the movies then think and be entertained as well.
In the end, "War of the Worlds" has nothing to offer besides special effects and special effects only get someone so far. Many people complain about Michael Bay and John Woo because his movies don't have any story and just a lot of action and special effects. Well I normally don't like those movies and I didn't care for this movie that much either. The aliens were cool but once you take that out of the equation there is nothing else to say about this movie. Bland Characters, No story, No explanation, Lame ending, and everything pretty much makes little or no sense, but hey you get Great Special Effects! Well that's about it. I was truly disappointed, let's just hope that Steven Spielberg's next movie will have some story to go along with the special effects.
MovieManMenzel's final rating for "War of the Worlds" is a 3/10. If you like movies that have nothing else to offer then special effects see this film and enjoy. If you want more than that then skip this one or wait for it till DVD or video.