Spielberg botches yet another ending...

Rating: 8/10 (19 July 2005)

The story is really simple - aliens attack earth out of nowhere and without warning. Divorcée Cruise has to take responsibility for his two kids and try and take them to safety, wherever that might be. What follows is both a journey across a devastated and chaotic country, as well as Cruise's realisation that he has to become the the father he never really was.
The first two thirds of War of the Worlds are simply brilliant and, in my opinion, flawless. It's Spielberg at his very best: taught, well paced, technically perfect, funny, exciting, and horrifying all at once. Like Minority Report, this film is definitely on the dark side - not necessarily a big crowd pleasing summer blockbuster. For comparison, Independence Day also dealt with an alien invasion and the destruction of large parts of the worlds's urban areas, but it was always more about effects and spectacle. Cruise is no wise cracking hero (at least not to begin with), just a man who's really in way over his head and trying to survive.
Unfortunately, the film has a last third as well. As soon as Tim Robbins' character steps into the action, the movie starts to lose focus. Instead of keeping up the relentless pace it almost grinds to a screeching halt. It's not completely disastrous (it features my favourite scene in the whole film), but compared to what came before you sort of start looking at the watch. Acting-wise, Robbins is absolutely the film's weak link. He isn't quite as awful as he was in Mystic River, but he certainly isn't good either, which doesn't help the proceedings.
With about twenty minutes to go, the film also falls into the trap of having Cruise become the hero, and the tension is definitely gone. Overall, the last part of the film feels rushed and at times almost sloppy.
The ending also has problems. It's true to the book, but it feels a bit anti-climactic as it more or less just ends. A bit more work than having Morgan Freeman do some voice-over work at the end would have helped. Even more damaging is the fact that the sappy Spielberg suddenly takes over. A lot of Spielberg's films suffer from endings that simply are too long, too sentimental, or too "Hollywood", even if the rest of the film isn't (e.g. Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, A.I., Catch Me If You Can, Minority Report). I just don't buy the ending to War of the Worlds as it is so diametrically different to what happens before.
In summary, War of the Worlds is very watchable, and for the most part brilliant. The problem is that the weak parts are very weak. Some more work on the script and tighter editing, and this could have been a true classic instead of "just" a very good film. [8/10]