Spielberg is older, darker, more refined

Rating: 8/10 (29 June 2005)

This year's blockbuster season continues to impress. After the superb Batman Begins, we now have Spielberg's War of the Worlds, surely one of the more impressive film-making feats of the year. One might say this is the anti-Close Encounters: rather than being a somewhat quiet, almost understated meditation on the benevolent capacities of extra-terrestrials, here we have a pure action movie that simply never lets up, hardly allowing pause for breath - if you do, the aliens will get you!
War of the Worlds marks a return after almost 25 years to Spielberg's interest in alien life. The influence of the films he has made since E.T. is apparent - his vision is much darker, and less eager to embrace the idea that beings are inherently good. For it is not just the aliens that are evil in this film; in fact, one of the more disturbing scenes highlights the extremely sinister capacities we humans have when faced with crisis and hysteria.
The influence of Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, and Minority Report (to name a few) is not restricted to plot. In fact, the way in which War of the Worlds is filmed represents a technique refined by Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski over the past two decades, and is one of the film's most impressive attributes. Rarely is a scene played out through several quickly cut shots; instead, the horror is simply presented and allowed to have its full impact without the assistance of epilepsy-inducing intercutting.
Another IMDb user commented on the realistic, personified nature of the camera, which is something I noticed too. We see the action as a person in the midst of it would: half running, half looking back, with no time for close-ups or lengthy, lingering shots. The characters are in mortal danger and their flight response is engaged, so it follows that the audience should feel the same. This is not to say the camera-work is merely functional; we have frequent camera vibration, and panning which is extremely effective. All of this combines to illustrate how readily Spielberg now takes risks with the form, and how often they pay off.
Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning are effective in their roles, expertly playing an initially uneasy father-child bond which steadily becomes strong. But we didn't go for the acting, did we? Also, John Williams' score is one of his more effective - never overly oppressive, but often present and menacing. The tripods' two-note call is the equivalent of Close Encounters' alien tune, and could become just as legendary.
There are one or two contrivances of plot involving the good fortune of the central characters, and the ending seems a little abrupt, but these pale in insignificance when compared to the sheer enormity of what has been achieved on-screen. War of the Worlds is a true big-screen experience, and worthy of its substantial price tag. Bravo, Mr. Spielberg.