Running Man

Rating: 7/10 (21 September 2005)

No military superiority, no frazzle-haired boffins, no mavericks to save us from the evil invaders - just everyone running for their lives. 'The rout of civilisation' indeed. This is what terrified me about the book; ordinary people, familiar landscapes, destroyed, transformed. I can't drive through Surrey without seeing tripods walking across the fields - even now. And at the centre of Spielberg's re-working of Wells' story the increasingly wild-eyed and desperate Everyman played by Tom Cruise. No-one does wild-eyed and desperate like Tom, and he's fine here but completely outclassed by the miraculous Dakota Fanning - if the Hollywood monster doesn't chew her up and spit her out, it would be nice to see what becomes of this nascent talent. It's diverting fare, but unlike Wells' classic and even the earlier movie version, it's hard to see what the message is here. Wells presented a nightmare possibility, Hollywood saw the Red Threat as just as pernicious as the Red Weed. This film makes no more grand statement than a poor father may be transformed into a good one by adversity. Like a friend of mine said after "Jurassic Park' - 'that was a long-winded way to persuade a man he wanted kids after all.' There were plots holes you could drive a Heat ray through - can someone explain why these creatures hid their machines under the ground, but didn't bother to do a little field research at the same time? How did Tom's son survive? I mean, I didn't want the kid to die, but come on ... And the ending - you know there's a reason the human heart is kept on the inside of the body, because it looks rather yucky displayed otherwise. Someone should tell Spielberg to keep his to himself.