Cruise surprises yet again

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2012)

I am more and more impressed with Tom Cruise. Sure, he may act a little odd sometimes, make that a lot, but his movies are almost always a treat to watch.
The director, Steven Spielberg (you may have heard of him), shows that he can make a gritty, sometimes kind of disturbing film and totally omits any sentimentality. Even a relatively gruesome film like his Saving Private Ryan had a little bit of corn. This is ten times better than the interesting, but way overblown, Minority Report, also starring Cruise.
Spielberg makes a wise decision to make this as different from other alien flicks, like Independence Day or even his own Close Encounters, by not romanticize anything about beings from outer space. The opening narration by Morgan Freeman says it all: The aliens are simply evil.
The visual effects are simply incredible. Instead of making them kind of bright and pretty, Spielberg uses a lot of grays. The sound is pretty awesome too and quite frightening. This is as close to a horror film from Spielberg, the director, you will ever see. He produced a few.
It loses a few points from greatness by showing the aliens. I think it could have been a lot more interesting if the threat was simply the tripods. Also, the surly teen son is something that could have been omitted as well. We pretty much know how it will go down. The daughter is amazing, though. It's kind of creepy how she can be so grown-up and still a child at the same time.
Tim Robbins is pretty good, but doesn't really surprise. The surprise is what happens to his character and who is responsible for that. Pretty shocking.