close to failure, but visually audacious

Rating: 5/10 (28 July 2005)

WoW is nothing but a good visual experience, including a few close-ups even though it was sometimes too palatable that we should 'read' fear. Otherwise, there were some clear flaws in the plot. First of all, the history is partially an atonement experience, as the male character tries to pay for lacking 'father' abilities. In this point, the movie ends in fact while this underdeveloped repentance story is being overwritten by the aliens attacks. Thus, we discover that Cruise is heroic protecting her daughter, but still there are many scenes which seriously lack credibility.
Therefore, it was hard to believe that Cruise needs to kill the lunatic warrior in the basement, as there was nothing imperative in his murder. Even though it is suggested that the lonely warrior was on the edge, it wasn't necessary in that moment for Cruise to resort to the killing. Or the movie do not convince me it was compulsory for him to kill. Moreover, in the scene where Cruise should perform heroically, destroying one of the aliens machines, it is hard to imagine the crying desperate people caught by aliens would react properly and mobilize to save Cruise. Secondly, it is hard to grasp the fact that aliens could not absorb Cruise more rapidly - the hands of two humans have more power than the aliens machinery - and thirdly, as in a Hollywood sequence, the hero fighting for his life has the time to leave grenades inside the machine.
To sum up, the visual fragrance of the war is effective, yet the plot undermines the narrative. The actors are playing their parts professionally and Cruise manages to express genuine fear and stupor . Yet it is a movie which clearly I would forget in a day or two.