Great entertainment

Rating: 9/10 (25 June 2007)

I've heard a lot of griping about this movie and I think people are just taking this medium, a movie, way too seriously. It is probably not a word for word remake of the 1898 novel by H.G. Wells. It has been reset without aliens from Mars. Fine. People have picked apart the way the plot moves along, finding flaws everywhere; for example, parts of major cities have little damage, other parts look like Hiroshima. I think we've taken this just a bit too far; this is not an English 201 course, where we dissect Spielberg's adaptation of the Wells novel, looking for strengths and weaknesses. This is nothing more than visceral entertainment, end of story.
This is my first viewing of the film and I found myself totally engrossed from beginning to end, with my nerves all tied up in knots. That the film ends abruptly is nothing new to movies and there will always be those who had mentally calculated a "better" way to end it. I think we'd be better off just looking at the story as it is. It is science fiction, not a glimpse of a possible reality, anymore than "Independance Day" was (and that is one of the silliest Sci Fi films I've ever seen). I think that our comments should be much more on how the action moves along rather than the gaps in reality. As soon as we catch ourselves measuring what is real or how things don't make sense I think we've lost the film and we should walk away. This being said, I didn't feel that there were so many obvious gaps in script continuity that made me laugh or scowl. It's a super fast paced adventure of survival with no certain outcome and that's about all we need to factor in. The way it unravels is irrelevant because it is not supposed to be within the realm of the possible everyday world.
Cruise, as usual, delivers an outstanding performance. His ridiculous commitment's to Scientology aside, he's a terrific actor and I've yet to see him fall on his face with a role. Dakota does scream quite a bit and act hysterical in the film. Don't blame her: Spielberg pulls all the strings and that is the way he formatted her character. On the other hand, did we expect a little girl of her age to be unmoved by monstrous aliens torching the world? I mean really, give the kid some slack. I'm sorry: I love her. And Tim Robbins' character is slimy, off-centered and just delicious in adding more creepiness and tension.
The special effects were totally outstanding. Look, if you're going to use CGI, you want the effects to look realistic and Spielberg knows how to deliver. You spend the big bucks and ILM and their computer droids deliver. The music was John Williams at his best. All in all, come on people: lighten up. It's fun, fast, furious, violent (heh, what year are we living in?) and fluff. Enjoy it for what it is.