Finally, a reason to go back to the movies.

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2005)

America and the rest of the world can rejoice  we finally have a legitimate reason to take ourselves back to the movies. If there has ever been a movie that needed to be seen in a theatre, then this is it. Going to the movies used to be about the experience, rather than just killing time or spending a night out with your friends. Going to the movies was something to be cherished and remembered with glee  well, here is the reason to do just that. With War of the Worlds, Steven Spielberg ushers in an entire new type of cinema: the summer blockbuster with a heart, great characters, absolutely amazing special effects, and some truly horrific elements.
The film opens by introducing us to Tom Cruise's character  Ray Ferrier  and quickly establishing the fact that he is somewhat of deadbeat. His pregnant ex-wife, played by Miranda Otto, is waiting for him when he arrives home from work with their two kids, ready to drop them off for the weekend and head to Boston with her new husband. There is an engine block on his kitchen table, his somewhat grown kids, played by newcomer Justin Chatwin and Dakota Fanning, share a small room, and he has no real food in his refrigerator. Soon, though, all of this is forgotten as weird lightning storms wreak havoc around the neighborhood. They are thunder-less and all of the lightning strikes in the same place. Ray goes off to investigate, leaving Robbie and Rachel at the house. The following scene is by far one of the most harrowing and best-directed sequences committed to film. The hole the lightning created opens up into a crater, and a monstrous tripod fighting- machine emerges from the intersection. There is little pretense as the tripod starts annihilating every thing in sight, announcing its intentions with a thunderous and utterly scary sonic blast.
This movie skirts the line between PG-13 and R, and this scene is a prime example of why it does this. Spielberg, for the most part, keeps his camera low to the ground and amid his characters on screen, creating real tension and horror as the tripods start "dusting" people with their heat rays. The vehemence that they go around wiping people out with is astonishing and compelling  it reminds one of the images coming directly after the World Trade Centers' collapse. As Cruise is running away from the machine, people around him are dusted. He runs through the resulting cloud of ash, thus covering himself in the white dust. Spielberg is playing with our most primal fears in these desperate scenes. The fear of the unknown, the fear of stronger enemy, and the fear of losing one's loved ones are all represented through Cruise's intense portrayal of a man come under fire. One of the most moving scenes for me is when he is basically unresponsive once he arrives back at his house after witnessing the initial carnage. He's completely shell-shocked; that is, until Dakota touches him and makes him aware that he's covered in white dust. A shock and fear immediately come into his eyes, and he rushes off to the bathroom to confirm the worst: he's covered in the remains of the people he once knew.
The first 30 minutes of the movie are so breathtaking that I literally did not blink. This is film-making at its best  there is visceral intensity that has probably never been matched and there are characters at the center of it all that we have reason to care about. The following hour is filled with iconic images  a bridge blowing up in a wave pattern, a river of dead bodies appearing to the horrified eyes of Dakota, a flaming train roaring through a crossing, and the sky raining clothes of dusted people.
Following this, the movie takes a surprising turn, giving the viewer the first breather in almost 90 minutes. Tom and Dakota (minus Justin) are ushered in the cellar of Tim Robbins, a kook of a guy who is just trying to come to terms with the loss of his entire family. Shortly after their quick respite, this scene becomes one of Spielberg's most harrowing, because we get to view part of the tripod up close and also the aliens themselves. There is an amazing cat-and-mouse game that is somewhat of a combination of the kitchen scene from Jurassic Park and the spider scene from Minority Report. It works better here, though, because Cruise and Fanning have given us some characters to care about. The scene takes a shocking turn at the end, which I will not spoil, which leads to the quick but effective ending.
The performances are uniformly good, but two stand out in my mind. The first is that of Tom Cruise, who basically has shown me that he can make me forget about all of the crap surrounding him for two hours by watching him. It's deeply ironic that I can get so involved in his character that I forget about his real life, and it's a testament to his genuine skill as an actor. Dakota Fanning gives the other noteworthy performance here  this is of the caliber of Best Supporting Actress. The cynics will say she only has to scream and cry, but if you really watch her on screen you will notice a depth to her performance. She has comic timing, astounding eyes that rivet you to her face, and natural "freak-out" abilities. I wish we had more actresses like her working in the business.
In short, this is the perfect movie to bring America and the world back to theatres because it combines topnotch special effects, virtuoso performances, and sci-fi horror to make one incredible viewing experience. Spielberg certainly is a master of the medium.