Total war – almost

Rating: 8/10 (29 September 2013)

At the end of the 19th Century, H.G. Wells wrote a couple of brilliant science fiction books, "The Time Machine" and "War of the Worlds" – both were set in the future and both were subjects screaming out to be made into movies, which, fortunately, were being invented right about then.
In the 1950's, George Pal had first crack at the movies. They were entertaining, given the limitations of the special effects at the time with Pal's "War of the Worlds" the better of the two. The film generated an impending sense of doom – despite light playing on the fishing line holding up the Martian flying machines.
Spielberg's updated version keeps to the spirit of the novel while also paying a little homage to Pal's version – of course, this time round, the special effects are awesome.
When H.G. wrote his story, Mars appeared about the size of a blurry orange marble through even the most powerful telescope. By the time Pal made his film, space flight was still in the future and Mars was still as good a place as any from which to launch an invasion of Earth. Not so for Spielberg, with satellites orbiting Mars and robot vehicles rolling across its surface, we know there isn't much there – certainly not aliens.
Spielberg's film proposes aliens that planted latent mechanisms on Earth long before humans began to walk and talk. They only needed to be activated to begin the takeover of the planet.
The film gets under way as Tom Cruise's character, Ray Ferrier, has his teenage son Robbie (Justin Chatwin), and twelve year old daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning), staying with him while his ex-wife and her new husband visit her parents in Boston.
Just as Ray and the kids settle down for an awkward weekend together, the alien Tripods rise from the ground and devastate Ray's 'hood.
Ray decides to leave and takes the kids, first to his ex-wife's house, and then on to Boston.
After many close shaves, Ray and Rachel encounter Ogilvy, a key character from Wells' novel. Although Tim Robbins plays the part in an over-the-top manner, it is a sequence that reinforces the helplessness of mankind and gives a possible explanation for the alien invasion.
When Rachel is snatched up by one of the Tripods, Ray quickly galvanises the people into collective action, and allows himself to be taken up to rescue her by depositing a hand grenade enema inside what appears to be the Tripod's giant sphincter. The resultant explosion topples the Tripod – Ray is fighting back in the best traditions of Hollywood superheroes, which also confines the movie to a more superficial level than it need have.
Ray and Dakota reach Boston as the aliens begin to topple over – they have no immunity to earth's bacteria to which humans have long ago developed immunity. Before the closing scenes, Ray arrives at the home of his ex-wife's parents who turn out to be Gene Barry and Anne Robinson, the stars of the Pal version, 50 years before – it's a nice touch.
Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" gives more depth to the human drama than Pal's depiction – and also Wells' for that matter. Spielberg avoided a larger view of events, except for the opening and closing narration by Morgan Freeman, who, as Cedric Hardwick had done so brilliantly in the Pal version, intoned edited versions of Wells' stirring words.
Spielberg's film is fast-paced, and although it is updated to a modern setting, it captures that sense of awe that made Wells' novel so gripping.