Spielberg at his peak (again)

Rating: 10/10 (2 July 2005)

For sheer spectacle no filmmaker alive today (or ever)can touch Steven Spielberg (unless James Cameron ever decides to make another movie--say, Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End"?). This movie is unrelentingly grim, very horrifying, heartfelt and absolutely spectacular. Tom Cruise always rises to the level of his material and his work here makes you totally forget Katie Holmes and Scientology. Despite his riches he makes you believe that his character is a working class guy who is mostly decent, but can a jerk at times too. When he is confronted with the unspeakable horror of an alien invasion we see the fear, confusion and desperate need to take action in his eyes and in his face. Dakota Fanning is awesome too. (Is she real?) But make no mistake about it this is Steven's film. Their are veins of SCHINDLER'S LIST, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and 9/11 woven throughout David Koepp's and Josh Friedman's excellent adaptation of H.G. Well's classic novel. Strangely enough it hews pretty closely to that novel which makes me wonder if they consulted Wells who can't possibly still be alive. Spielberg shifts from the intimate moments to the grand spectacle so easily it is scary. The f/x make the Martians and their machines seem so real that you are not in the theater watching a movie you are on Eastern seaboard trying to survive their attacks. Spielberg did this with "...RYAN". He does it again here. This movie beat me up. Finally, this is not a PG-13 movie. It is every bit the R-rating that "SCHINDLER'S..." and "...RYAN" got.