A Good, not Great Sci-Fi Movie

Rating: 7/10 (6 July 2005)

I've only read a few of the other comments; yet, I'm fairly sure I'm going against type by saying that Spielberg/Cruise came up with a solid, technically gorgeous movie that was, nevertheless, good but not great. There were three things that tarnished the effort. First, was over-use of the patented swoop and freeze close-up. I counted no less than a dozen times this technique was used (Spielberg seems to love this technique). Second, the attempt to imbue the film with the 'everyman' feel by constantly including crowd shots, actually ended up irritating me. Telling a story like this involves getting us to identify with and care about a major character or group of characters. While I appreciate that Spielberg was giving some homage to those lost on 9-11, I still think the effort was heavy-handed. Finally, the ending wasn't corny, as some have thought - but it definitely cut off too abruptly. The use of the novel-faithful opening and closing didn't work as well as I would have liked. Having said that, let me give the movie several accolades. Tom Cruise turned in a definitely powerful, believable performance. Dakota Fanning was superb. (There was a close-up of her where you could see the woman that she will grow into shining through the child she now is --- she's gonna be gorgeous!) By and large the rest of the cast was good. While Tim Robbins did well, his character was not well-written, and again I found him almost an annoyance. Okay, no more slams, I promise! The special effects were wonderful, and the pacing was excellent. The faithfulness of the story to the original novel made me very happy, as it is one of the better-written novels of its era. I enjoyed the movie, and I will still most likely buy it when it comes out on DVD. But for all of that, I do not rank it as a great movie. Solid, good ... maybe even very good. But not great. Sorry.