Pressed out

Rating: 6/10 (11 July 2005)

I didn't really expect to much, and I was right... There is something fundamentally missing from this film. The characters, and their development are horribly plain and worst of all; the ironic tone of the ending of the book, has been "hollywood-ized" to the level that I could almost cry. Further more I didn't like the design of the tripods so much... I realize that the point was to make them look a little like comics from that time would have made them, but it feels pressed out.
Okej, that's the bad things. The good things are equally many. First of the dark, apocalyptic mood is great. You don't see more then a few clips from the devastation round the world but still feel like it's a global attack. I like the special effects, and how they blend in so well with the hand-held camera, making it feel even a bit more realistic. Last, I really like Spielberg's lately dark-in-style films (ever since Saving Private Ryan, I guess) and he brings it a step further this time. All though; I feel through-out the movie, that the death and destruction has been slightly limited to pass for lower age-rating. Thats one of the things about todays movie industry that I so terribly wrong.
All in all: this is an average kind of film. It's definitely worth seeing a couple of times, but I hope I get to see another version of the story before I die... maybe directed by Nolan or Fincher?