Clearly Not a Feel-Good Action Movie

Rating: 5/10 (3 July 2005)

I left the theater with a real bad taste in my mouth after seeing War of the Worlds. Not so much because of the suggestions of gore towards the end of the film, but because the film impresses upon you a real sense of futility.
Unlike other disaster films, this film has no positive emotional thread to carry you through the tension and horror. The main character, played by Tom Cruise, is such an incredible loser in life and does virtually nothing heroic or redeeming (except tossing one grenade). He, and his dysfunctional family, are basically tossed about by events instead of influencing them.
Without either a positive emotional core, or characters that actually make a difference to the plot, this film ends up being an exercise in how to destroy others with great efficiency. And the ending, although faithful to H.G. Wells' original novel, doesn't play to a contemporary audience. Instead of redemption from divine design (Wells' original intent), the ending suggests that man doesn't really matter. And based on the uninteresting, lackluster characters, that suits mankind just fine.
5 out of 10. An action/disaster movie without an emotional core falls pessimistically flat.
Barky