Mr Spielberg has lost it

Rating: 6/10 (6 July 2005)

You know that little thrill when there's a clunk and a whir as the curtains open a couple of yards wider. You've endured the sensory bashing of the ad men and you know you can settle back to enjoy the main feature. Well this time the curtains didn't budge. No widescreen and a run time which struggled and ultimately failed to reach two hours. Not exactly blockbuster qualities.
I was left with a taste of Mr Spielbergs heart not being in it. After all he's done it all before and is now probably at an age when inability to change is inexorable. At my age I can empathise with that but endeavour not to impose it on others. No spark of adventure, no originality and a not very engaging family sub plot. He just sits back and lets the effects team dictate the drama and the big names guarantee the box office.
Desperation sets in when he calls on the authoritatively reassuring tones of Morgan Freeman to attempt set and conclude the story. The brilliant little Dakota Fanning is called upon to carry the whole film far more than was expected of Drew Barrymore. Tim Robins is appears to have been coerced into a disrespectfully shabby bit part. Tom Cruise is Tom Cruise.
We take for granted the usual crash and bang special effects but when my seat almost started to come loose from it's fixings, the sound effects seemed overdone in desperation.
I hope Mr HG Wells is not travelling the ether in his time machine because if he ever sees this attempt to bring the storyline into the 21st Century he will surely strip a few cogs putting his mechanism into reverse. Ludicrous would just about sum up the arrival of the tripods. Had the writers spent more than fifteen minutes coming up with this daft storyline they might have attempted to convince us they did in fact come from Mars. Whatever silly account they might have come up with would surely been have more acceptable.
Comparisons with Independence Day are not valid. ID was fun and original. WotW is an indolent rip off.
I'm in a generous mood so a six is as generous as I can be.