Good start, disappointing ending

Rating: 7/10 (13 July 2005)

The first hour of 'War of the World' was mesmerizing; I can't remember the last time I was glued to my seat, with goosebumps running down my spine. It was all too real, too scary. And the strong effect continued until about midway. Then it all started to go downhill.
It's a well-known cinematic principle in horror films that the less one sees of the creature, it is bound to be more terrifying. Therefore, before we actually see the aliens, they are as scary as can be. And then they come into full view, looking, as a friend of mine put it, like "bad ETs". They were just too cute, too cuddly, too, well, Spielberg-y. It seems that the acclaimed director just can't let go of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', which featured kind and benign aliens. The creatures in 'War of the World', despite their frightful spacecrafts, are nothing more than a metallic version of Gizmo (of 'Gremlins' fame).
In addition, the relationship between Tom Cruise's character, Ray, and his son is absurdly simplistic. It seems that it takes an alien attack on earth for them to finally hug and admit that they love each other. And how the son survived his woes is another unbelievable mystery, which, conveniently, remains unexplained. The one redeeming character is Ray's daughter, Rachel (Dakota Fanning), who so convincingly conveys the emotions of fear and confusion one assumes would be felt during such a catastrophe.
Don't get me wrong - 'War of the Worlds' is not a bad movie; it is simply too ambitious for its own good. If you choose to ignore the underlying (and totally ridiculous) Oedipal undertones and philosophical arguments, what you get is one effective and frightening horror film.