Film Review: War of the Worlds

NP: Stone Roses -- Track 05

Went to see War of the Worlds at the insanely nice Regal 18 Henrietta here in the Empire State. The theater is probably the nicest one I have been in in a long time. Remember how cool it was when Brisol's Tinseltown opened for the first time and we were shocked and awed that a theater could be larger than the Martin Twin? I got the same feeling today. It was almost as nice as the Regal Cinemas on Hendersonville, Rd. in Asheville which, of course, I haven't been to since 2000.

I bore witness to War of the Worlds. I am trying to save all spoilers for the end of the review so, if you haven't watched it yet, please read until then. Don't want anyone bitching about giving away the suprise ending that has been in print for over 100 years.

Spielberg does a great job of making the characters in the movie seem small. Here is mankind confronted with ostensibly unstoppable enemies as told through the eyes of Ray Ferrier, a crane operator who unloads freighters in New York harbor. We see from the beginning that Ferrier is trapped in a world he does not enjoy. His ex-wife is married to a much better man and his two kids think he is essentially a piece of crap.

This is not the typical role for Cruise who, as we all know, likes to be the guy who no one gives a chance at the beginning and then, by the end of the picture, he has won our hearts and defeated the enemy. Top Gun, Days of Thunder, Minority Report (well...sorta), Cruise generally plays the same character. This time he is part of a much smaller humanity. There are no larger than life Rowdy Burnses or Soviet fighter pilots. It is mankind versus the aliens. Cruise suprisingly does real well as an average joe and his transformation to what he becomes (no spoilers right here! No siree!) is subtle. HIs character is very well done.

On the other hand, I am sick and tired of seeing Dakota Fanning play everygirl in everymovie. Are there no other child actors available? Seriously. She was the prisoner of the blocks in Man on Fire, Robert De NIro's crazy daughter in that movie where Elizabeth Shue dies. Is she the only female under 10 with a SAG card? She doesn't do that bad, but during one tense scene in "the basement," I wanted to yell out "YOU ARE A PRISONER OF THE BLOCKS." Of course, moviegoers in Rochester may not have liked that. There was a big fat woman in the theater...she may have sat on me.

The movie is good and downright scary until about halfway through when Tim Robbins shows up. Tim Robbins should be put out to pasture after he played Bill Gates in that Antitrust movie and a terrorist in Arlington Road. After those....no more Tim Robbins please. He was ok in that movie where Sean Penn shoots him, but I'm really sick and tired of seeing him on the screen. He plays what has to be the fruitiest, most useless character since Alicia Silverstone joined the Batman franchise. He has absolutely no place in the movie and almost destroys the plotline and the good spirits of the audience who are so far entertained. Of course, he gets the obligatory anti-Iraq, anti-Bush line in when he yells out "Occupations never work!" Please Hollywood, no more. We know you do not like the war, but you do not have to shove it down me throat everytime I pay my hard-earned six bucks to go be entertained and escape reality for 2 hours. If I wanted to hear anti-war messages constantly I'd save my six bucks and watch CNN all day.

Once Tim Robbins leaves (again, not saying how here...he may just randomly decide to make a break for Hollywood...or he could get speared by a big martian tentacle...who knows), the movie becomes enjoyable again. They get very creative with how the aliens are finally conquered (even though, again, that has been in print for over 100 years) and made the end somewhat unpredictable.

All in all, I was more pleased with this movie than I thought I would be. Cruise plays a good character, Dakota Fanning is ok but needs to go, Tim Robbins is downright horrible. The story is well-paced and they really capture a sense of helplessness and despair in the early frames. Since Tom Cruise has basically lost his mind, I would say go see this if you want to support him and his cult of alien-worshipping crazy people who go on the Oprah Winfrey show and jump on the furniture.