Well-camouflaged nonsense

Rating: 6/10 (3 February 2008)

That Spielberg is still one helluva director, maybe even a great one, is evidenced by the effectiveness with which he disguises the fact that this movie is almost as nonsensical as "Independence Day." Tom Cruise helps by leaving his superstardom off camera and doing a fairly effective job of portraying Joe Average, and Dakota Fanning does an even better job of being (not playing) a real kid--not too smart, not too witty or brave and at times literally scared out of her wits. The main problem is that Spielberg wants to give a worms-eye view of this worldwide catastrophe, and whether he succeeds or fails in this (and he does both) it sinks the movie. There's so much that just doesn't make sense and begs for explanation, which we don't get. When were the machines buried, and why? Given the amount of digging under New York (subways, sewers, sub-basements) why has no one ever unearthed one of these contraptions? Since this burial had to have happened long before the area was inhabited, how did so many just happen to be buried under land that would one day be a major metropolis? Why does their ray leave clothing untouched, yet blasts buildings to flinders? Why is the military so helpless against these monsters? We only see one battle, and not nearly enough of that. As Cruise's son says, "I want to see more." We never even get any theories about where these things come from--it obviously isn't Mars from the way they prance around. There are some gorgeous moments--the clothes falling like snow from the sky, the burning train hurtling past--yet the whole doesn't hold together. No surprise since David Koepp wrote the screenplay and logic isn't his specialty either. But then what do you expect from a writer & director who send a T Rex strolling through a San Diego suburb at night without waking anyone up or meeting even one car?