Introduction
Steven Spielberg is my favorite director for bringing science fiction onto the big screen. So when he teamed up with my favorite star Tom Cruise to bring H.G. Wells all-time classic War of the Worlds onto the big screen, I was drooling.
The Plot
Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and Robbie (Justin Chatwin) are visiting their estranged father Ray (Tom Cruise). Whatever Ray does, he is unable to win the respect of his two children making him feel like a loser. But, then his world is about to take a spin in the eeriest manner.
Suddenly unseasonal lightnings lash out at New Jersey. But soon people realize that these were not any lightning, there is something stranger going on. Suddenly from the spots from where the lightnings strike, out come huge tripods who start killing people immediately.
Ray picks his children and starts running from the tripods, only to hear that the tripods are everywhere fanning the whole earth. Ray just about manages to keep a step ahead of the aliens and their killing machines.
So what happens next? Check out this Spielberg offering of H.G. Wells classic.
Critic’s Viewpoint
Spielberg had created magic with movies like E.T., Jurrasic Park and The Lost World. So much was expected of this offering from Spielberg. Like the other Sci-fi movies of his, War of the Worlds comes with excellent graphics and special effects.
The tripods and the aliens are able to bring fear onto the screen which was lacking in the original 1953 offering. Also the concept that the tripods were buried under the earth under our own eyes had Spielberg genius written over it.
But, the good news ends there. Despite the great visuals and one stroke of genius by Spielberg, the movie fails to do justice to the classic. In the classic, the masterstroke of H.G. Wells was the fact that the aliens who were so technically superior to bring the humans to the knees within a few days were brought down by the minutest denizens of the planet earth, the bacteria. The same bacteria that we are hell bent on removing to make the planet a safer place for ourselves, thus making the statement that we should not tamper with the nature as everything in the planet has a purpose. Somehow, this message has not come through the movie.
There is just a brief background statement which tells unclearly as to what led to the demise of the aliens. This also made the movie end in a quite abrupt fashion thus taking the sheen of the movie.
Acting wise Tom Cruise gives a decent performance, but looks a bit distracted in this movie. Definitely, this is not one of his better performances. Dakota Fanning as his daughter is too hysterical and loud for my liking. Spielberg’s ability to make kids perform brilliantly was one of his keys for successes like ET and Jurassic Park. Somehow here he is not able to get the same out of Dakota. None of the other performances are really anything to write home about.
Summary
Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds is a much better effort from Hollywood to bring H.G. Wells timeless classic to the screen than the 1953 original. But given the technological advancements since 1953 this was to be expected. But the movie still fails to deliver the heart of H.G. Wells plot.
I would give this latest offering from Spielberg an average 3 star rating.