Justice for Wells.

Rating: Null/10 (28 July 2005)

Spielberg has finally done it. He's corrected the mistakes of the 1953 cinematic disappointment of HG Wells' vision. Granted the film does break from the novel in a number of places and updates the timeline for today. Months ago, I was disappointed from the teaser trailers that the film would not take place in the same era as the novel, and it bothered me up until the breathtaking moment when I watched the tripod rise out of the devastated cityscape in all its three-legged glory. Awe struck by the spectacular visuals, my fears were quickly laid to rest. Whether in the late 1800s or early 2005  it doesn't matter.
War of the Worlds is timeless.
It's a testament to the genius of Wells how well (no pun) the tripod designs stand up to modern era alien-invasion ships. The city-sized frisbies in Independence Day could cast ominous shadows as it hovers. "Yay." The martian War Machines, by contrast, had a dynamic movement that was interesting to watch as it defied the laws of physics with its surprisingly graceful steps. The ever-moving tentacles and the deadly heat ray had me on the edge of my seat longing to see them in action again and again, but Spielberg wisely refrained from going into overkill. Top it off by associating a mechanical "roar" with the walking death machines to play with the power of suggestion later on, and you have yourself a recipe for suspense.
Hitch would be proud.
Moving on to the characters: strangely, I didn't like the characters (any of them) at first. By the end of the film, I still didn't really like them all that much, and yet I still cared for them. The characters weren't idealistic, they weren't heroic, they didn't have very many redeeming traits, and it created this sense of reality around it. Spielberg presents a family with problems, depicting the family life behind closed doors - the arguments and behavior that the outside world, the neighbors, and friends never hear about. The family life we never lead in the presence of company, and the film never really takes time to try and resolve the family issues either (Thank you Spielberg.) This creates some interesting paradoxes. For one, when I don't like a character I typically can't connect with them yet here I did. And two, while I didn't like the characters, I adored the details about their relationship to one another such as children who would rather get the weekend visit out of the way then spend time and connect with their parent, children who really don't want to resolve their issues, a father who frustrated that he's losing his kids and his feeble and selfish attempts to win their love. So bitter, and so true. The family portrayed by Cruise, Fanning, and Chatwin is of genuine human beings with dark sides.
We get to explore the characters flaws, their dark sides, and we really don't get a chance to see life outside their darkest moments. These people don't have time to be epic tale archetypes or change the world, they're just trying to survive.
Spoiler - Unfortunately, War of the Worlds has a finale that screams "screen tested with a G-rated Disney audience." It has an ending that leaves a serious stain on the overall viewing experience. It must be nice knowing that if you're the main character in a movie, nothing bad will happen to you or your family despite the alien invasion that threatens to wipe out humanity  that no matter how bad things look, there'll be a reunion at the end of the movie and even the little dog fluffy will show up safe and sound, and the birds will chirp, and we'll pan up to a blue sky, and the world will sing "Kumbaya." Martians just decimated the earth's population, is it really too much to ask for one character to stay dead? Why not have 3 billion people rise up out of their ashes and be okay too? Why discriminate?  End Spoiler.
While flawed, War of the Worlds is still an epic experience with very human characters, and special effects that possess more wonder, more scale, and more excitement than Revenge of the Sith. If history has taught us anything, it's that the imagination of HG Wells not only can transcend mediums with maximum potency, but it will forever awe the audiences of each new generation. It was true of the novel, it was true of the Orson Welles radio broadcast, it was true with the Invisible Man and the Time Machine novels, and now it's true of Spielberg's film.