Bring on the death rays!

Rating: 9/10 (29 June 2005)

Go see this movie. Simply put, the first hour is absolutely brilliant. While the last hour of the movie doesn't equal the bar that Spielberg sets at the beginning, it was still one hell of a ride.
The characters are setup perfectly in the first few minutes. Cruise is as good as he's ever been (and hey, I didn't even think about Katie Holmes once while watching it!), Fanning is pitch perfect and Chatwin was very good also. I'll spare you plot description because I think the ads have made the point pretty clear.
Then all hell breaks loose. I've gotta say it but the destruction you see in the beginning of the movie was just phenomenal. The special effects are as real as they've ever been in any movie before this. When the aliens start laying waste to everything with those heat rays.... fuggedaboutit! When people get shot with those things, they explode into dust and it provides some horrific imagery. What I loved about the movie was that it really felt authentic. When you see how people react and what is happening in various places and the predicaments that Cruise and kids run into, it serves to make you feel like this is how it would be, were this to really happen. The scene where the family is attacked for their vehicle was chilling and horrifying to me, simply because I knew that it wasn't a stretch for humans to act in this manner. There is an obvious subtext with the whole post 9/11 world we are living in and it never gets heavy handed nor exploitative, which made me respect the movie even more. It's a B-movie in a sense but it has more on it's mind than just wanting to scare you senseless.
Then you have the scene of Ray's (Tom Cruise's character) neighborhood getting destroyed. That scene with the bridge makes you forget the commercials. That was some serious destruction going on there.
I think I might have been holding my breath through the introduction of the alien tripods. The sound design in this film is one for the home theater crowd. This movie is LOUD. The sound that the tripods make... think the exact opposite of Close Encounters. No catchy melodies but something more like the sound of an 18-wheeler's horn. I CANNOT WAIT for the DVD to be released, that's for sure. My neighbors are going to want to kill me.
Look, Spielberg did not drop the ball with this film. I know that's what you're all wondering, right? The only problems I had with the film is that the ending is a bit too feel good for me and the whole sequence with Tim Robbins slows the movie to a crawl. From there on, the movie just doesn't match the intensity of all that has come before this point. There are still some good scenes but nothing that will make you sink back into your seat with wide eyes and mouth hanging open. This film is scary, awesome and most of all, very well told and directed. The sparse music by John Williams is fine as always. Wow, the special effects.... listen, if you've gotta see this movie for one thing, watch it for the first hour and go see it in a theater with a huge screen and a kick-ass sound system. Fantastic! If you're looking for a typical Independence Day movie with a slam bang finale, I suggest you look elsewhere. This is one for the people who like to be treated as intelligent adults when told a tale. Good work and thumbs up to everyone involved with this film!
RATING: ****1/2 out of *****