Spielbergs best since "Brothers"

Rating: 9/10 (25 August 2005)

Not a bad alien/action movie. Spielbergs movies have been a bit darker this past decade (ie: "AI") and "War" is no different. That does not mean its bad. Its a sort of combination of Close Encounters, ET and Band of Brothers. There's also this cliché in a lot of near future/distant future movies that portray military troops as mindless automatons itching to violate ALL civil liberties as soon as the first wave of attacks begin. Not necessarily so with "War". The enemy IS the enemy. There's also a certain "classic flavor" about "War". Death and dying are not shown unless they NEED to be shown to hold the story together, this becomes very obvious in a scene involving Cruise, Fanning, and Robbins. And last, for its realism, I give War a ten out of ten. There are no knock out punches (re: Will Smith in ID4 punching out an alien pilot), the situations appear about as real as they can appear given the hellish situation the characters find themselves in. Try to see this one before it exits theaters, if not, put it at the top of your rental list.