Rubbish ending ruined it all

Rating: 5/10 (19 February 2006)

As someone who was certain this adaptation would be ruined by Hollywood's need to show how being American and patriotic can give you the power to save the world from anything, I was very pleasantly surprised that this latest Americanised version 'War of the Worlds' was quite faithful to the themes of the book. It was 'War of the Worlds' in the twenty-first century instead of 'Independence Day' Take Two.
As everyone knows, this story is of highly advanced aliens invading Earth and terraforming it for their own purposes while systematically annihilating the human race. However, like the book, there is no computer genius with the answer to save us or some secret government group who have a weapon to destroy the invaders. Humans are seen as little more than pathetic insects to the aliens and are being squashed just as easily as one would a spider. The film specifically focuses on the immature Ray Ferrier-- played by Tom Cruise-- and his two estranged children, sixteen-year-old Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and ten-year-old Rachel (Dakota Fanning).
The film retains the ideology of the book that humans as not as powerful as we like to think while playing on the fears of terrorism that dominate our world today. And one of the strong points of 'War of the Worlds' is that Ferrier family are not perfect nor do they have special gifts and powers that will give them an advantage as they flee the aliens. Ray is an average guy who can barely look after himself let alone his kids, Robbie is the angry teen who thinks he knows more than his father while Rachel is just a typical ten-year-old kid who wants her mother (a few people were irritated by Dakota Fanning's screams of terror but I found it refreshing to see a kid in a disaster film actually show their fear and vulnerability rather than taking it all into their stride with the ease of a military professional). Since this is a Spielberg film, the visual effects were as excellent as one would expect from him. Seeing the tripods emerge from the ground then blast everything, from buildings to people, apart in seconds was thrilling in a frightening manner and the scenes where the planet ravaged by the red weed were eerily disturbing (all that was missing was Jeff Wayne's 'The Red Weed' music).
So, why did I only give this film a five? Well, quite frankly, the atrocious ending just destroyed all that the previous hour-and-a-half had accomplished and I'm not talking about the way in which the aliens are killed since that was HG Wells' idea long, long before 'Independence Day' ever graced our screens. No, what utterly disappointed me was Spielberg indulging in his perpetual need to come over all sentimental and sweet. It was bad enough that are we expected to believe the arrogant and self-absorbed Robbie, who demanded to be left behind at a battle scene because he 'needed' to watch, was able to find his way unscathed to his mother's house despite the fact he probably isn't even capable of walking home from school alone. The character of Robbie just took the whole idea of adolescent rebellion too far with the way his tantrums continued despite the fact the humanity was on the brink of extinction, something that would surely mature even the most brattiest of teenagers. However, what was even worse was when Ray and Rachel finally arrive in Boston to an intact Robbie, we are shown a row of perfectly preserved homes, totally untouched by the invasion. The children's mother, step-father and step-grandparents then all emerge from the house all clean and well-dressed as if they had been hosting a tea party. Rather than maintaining the message that we can be picked off at any moment that the film had been depicting, this cavity-inducing ending just gives the idea that if you want to live in a crisis, behave like spoilt, snotty brat and everything will be fine or, better still, go to suburban Boston since they seem to have some sort of shield protecting them.
We may laugh at 'Independence Day' for it's improbable plot but at least it knew it was a blockbuster and didn't try to be more so instead just focused on entertaining us. With 'War of the Worlds', Spielberg might like to think he has given us an intelligent film that portrays the realism of war and invasion but he ruined all he had achieved in the final ten minutes. What could have been a powerful film, if Robbie had died or suffered, turned out to be just another less-than-average summer flick.