Close Encounters Of The Worst Kind
WAR OF THE WORLDS

RATING: B

Starring: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto and Tim Robbins. Casting by Debra Zane and Terri Taylor, Special Visual Effects and Animation by Industrial Light & Magic, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren, Music by John Williams, Costume Designer Joanna Johnston, Edited by Michael Kahn, Production Designer Rick Carter, Director of Photography Janusz Kaminski, Executive Producer Paula Wagner, Produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Wilson, Based on the Novel by H.G. Wells, Screenplay by Josh Friedman and David Koepp, Directed by Steven Spielberg.

Rated PG-13, Running Time 119 mins., 1.85 to 1 Academy Standard Aspect Ratio.

Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise seem to enjoy collaborating in the genre of science fiction – their previous effort "Minority Report" may not have fully captured the essence of the short story it was based on, but the film was a well constructed thriller. Now the pair journey from Phillip K. Dick to H.G. Wells and adapt one of his most popular and famous novels for the silver screen. This wouldn't be the first time that "War of the Worlds" has been adapted into another medium – the pandemonium caused by Orson Welles and Howard Koch's radio broadcast is legendary, while Byron Haskin's big screen production has become a staple in cheesy 50's sci-fi, even though it won an Oscar for visual effects. Although Wells’ material has become somewhat dated, and Hollywood alien invasion movies have become rather abundant, Spielberg and writers Josh Friedman and David Koepp manage to give the story dramatic weight and relevance to our day and age. The London setting has been changed and the fictional Grover’s Mill of the broadcast is now Bayonne, New Jersey.

Continuing his streak of playing flawed dimensional characters, Cruise stars as Ray Ferrier, a New Jersey dockworker who's about to have his life turned upside down. Ray is one of those easy going, friendly guys we all know; someone who never reached his full potential. A divorced father of two, he shrugs off his responsibilities much to the chagrin of his ex-wife Mary Ann (Miranda Otto). Mary Ann and her new husband drop off their teenage son and young daughter for Ray to baby-sit, but it's no happy family reunion. Rebellious Robbie (Justin Chatwin) hates Ray's guts and sees him as a loser while, Rachel (Dakota Fanning) is a precocious ten-year old who proves to be more mature than her father. The storm brewing between Ray and his children doesn't compare to the mysterious lightning storm developing in the skies. It seems like a typical cloud covering but does wind blow towards a storm or lighting strike twenty-six times in the same spot?

When Robbie goes for a joyride in Ray's car, he pursues him only to find his son didn't get very far. An electromagnetic pulse from the storm has disabled every thing with an electronic circuit, leaving dozens of stranded motorists in the neighborhood streets. Even stranger is that the lightning from the storm has repeatedly struck the same spot in the middle of Lincoln Avenue and rumbles deep beneath the surface give the indication that something is moving down there. Never in his wildest dreams would Ray guess that those rumbles came from a massive machine that walks on three legs and appears to have been buried under the ground all along. The initial amazement of the people in the streets soon turns to panic as the machine begins to systematically disintegrate pedestrians and march through the neighborhood like an unstoppable juggernaut. Racing home to retrieve his kids, Ray steals a working car from an auto repair shop in an attempt to stay ahead of the mass exodus that has already begun. This is no isolated incident. This is an alien invasion and it appears to be happening across the globe.

Ray knows that to protect his children he'll have to find them immediate food and shelter. He tries to get them to Mary Ann's vacant home, but after an encounter with a TV. News crew he learns these "tripod" aliens are moving across the country and in their direction. The efforts of the military have proven ineffective, so Ray decides their best bet is to try and make it to Mary Ann’s parents in Boston. Along the journey they’ll encounter more refugees who nearly lynch them for their car, attempt to make it across the river in a ferry attacked by “tripods” and meet paranoid conspiracy theorist Tim Robbins, holed up in his basement with retaliation plans of his own.

“War of the Worlds” gets off to a fine start, moving at a brisk and methodical pace; nearly fifteen minutes after the introduction of the main character the chaos begins like a slap of reality. Although this is a sci-fi alien invasion film, the reality of the situations is what truly makes it work. Spielberg has been a master of playing on fears with sound effects, editing and delaying the reveal of any visual marvels. It’s a trick that worked for Hitchcock, but Spielberg ups the ante by making the situations hit closer to home with their post 9/11 feel. There are truly terrifying moments early in the film not because of the alien threat, but how destructive man can be when he is faced with mortal danger. Cruise and his family are nearly killed when they are attacked for their car and survivors boarding a ferry scramble to keep from being left behind as ‘tripods” appear on the horizon. Spielberg even pays homage to himself with an image of tattered clothes raining from the sky: the remains of people who have been incinerated by “tripod” death rays which strikingly resembles the falling ashes of the Auschwitz victims in “Schindler’s List”.

Spielberg and his writer have wisely chosen to tell the story from the singular point of view of the main character, much like the original novel. Instead of talking military heads or government officials the military presence within the film is minimal and the focus has been shifted to a more peripheral point of the conflict. By concentrating more on the dynamics of a family than a single battle the story is given more believability and brought down to a human level.

Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin have been expertly cast to play Cruise’s estranged children. Fanning may be the cutest and most cuddly new face in Hollywood, but she’s also a talented and dimensional actress with the amazing ability to tap into raw emotion. Her character is a claustrophobe and the fact that they have to constantly hide in basements doesn’t help. She also acts on a more mature level than her father and seems to understand her rebellious older brother better than he does. Chatwin’s character is at times annoying because of his consistent attitude, but a child raised by Tom Cruise’s Ray would definitely act out in that fashion. He’s well on his way to being like his father even though he hates everything he stands for. Robbie feels that Ray is eager to get them to Boston and just dump them on their mother so he can take off and only have to worry about himself. I had a problem with Chatwin’s and Fanning’s attitude towards the aliens, with one either wanting to join up with the army to fight or another running immediately towards danger. The actions by these characters are meant to be dramatic plot devices when they actually make them look foolish.

At the center of it all is Cruise’s Ray Ferrier, a well written character who despite his flaws is a likable and worthy hero for this type of story. I’m beginning to enjoy this latter stage of Cruise’s career where he leaves all the narcissistic overtones behind to play flawed and incomplete individuals. Whenever I see a Cruise movie I’m often reminded of Sarah Vowell’s essay entitled “Tom Cruise Makes Me Nervous”. Vowell’s distinctive voice on NPR got her a gig as Violet in “The Incredibles”, but in her book “The Partly Cloudy Patriot” she writes how about how Cruise is “…always aloof and alone, seemingly judging us with his eyes. He makes us very, very nervous. Maybe that's why we can't resist him.”

In this film, Cruise gives one of his best performances and for the first time he seems like one of us. Ray is a guy who never reached his potential, blows off responsibility and makes his ex-wife nervous when she sees there’s an engine sitting in his kitchen but no food left in the house. Even when he and the kids find shelter he scolds them for only bringing mustard, Tabasco sauce and peanut butter with them to which Rachel replies, “That’s all you had.” When he decides to make them sandwiches he still doesn’t get it and his exchange with Rachel goes something like this: “Since when were you allergic to peanut butter.” “Birth!” “That’s okay, you can eat the bread.” Only when his children are placed in grave danger does he find focus. He desperately tries to shield them from the horror of their situation, but he’s ready to give his last breath to protect them. These incredible events may actually be the best thing to happen to Ray, although they’re definitely not best for everyone else.

Tim Robbins doesn’t make too much of a dramatic stretch as Ogilvy, a shotgun toting kook, who offers Ray and Rachel shelter. Surprisingly, what begins as an amusing performance gets serious as the trio plays cat and mouse with the tentacle probe of a “tripod” searching the area for survivors. Robbins may initially appear as a goof, but his increasing paranoia and eagerness to use that shotgun places before Cruise the decision that he may have to permanently silence this individual to protect his daughter. Miranda Otto’s appearance within the film is brief, but it’s nicely complimented by an appearance by Gene Barry and Anne Robinson as her parents.

“WOTW” is a surprising change of pace for Spielberg, the man who made his career on stories of encounters with intelligent life in the universe. On the one hand it’s a step down into popcorn movie territory with evil extra-terrestrials trying to kill us and on the other hand it’s a step up with a small intimate story told within a large one. The origins of the invaders aren't explained nor do they need to be. An intelligent and technologically advanced species probably wouldn't travel millions of light years across the stars just to kill us though. It’s a joy that Spielberg has returned to stories about the working class everyman, much like “Jaws”, “Close Encounters” and “The Sugarland Express.” The only problem is that it doesn’t feel quite the same because those weren’t star vehicles. His ability to tell more mature and dramatic stories may have improved since "Schindler's List" but it's hindered by the fact that he now collaborates with well recognized stars whose popularity can overshadow the production. The recognition of names like Kubrick, Hanks and Cruise can dramatically affect his stories about everyday people and the audience may bring pre-conceived notions.

The film does work powerfully as a piece of entertainment and Spielberg has had some help along the way. John Williams provides a minimalist score that may not feature any type of theme, but is a welcome effort of experimentation that evokes the fear of his work on "Jaws" thirty years ago. He even eerily underscores the sound effects of the alien death rays. For the ninth time Spielberg has teamed with celebrated D.P. Janusz Kaminski and their artistic relationship has produced the type of memorable signature images the director’s films are known for: a massive tripod walking tall in the silhouette of the sun, several tripods stalking humans in the hills around a river, a whirlpool opening up next to a ferry boat, sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows of a church splitting in half and the haunting image of the loose clothing of incinerated victims falling from the sky. My two favorites involve a fiery runaway train at a crossing and a moment where Cruise opens the door of a house to reveal a forest covered in red alien weed much like Dorothy’s introduction to the colorful world of Oz. The camera work is equally impressive and a continuous pan around Cruise and Co. in a speeding car doesn’t call attention to the fact that it’s an effects shot. Much of the imagery is a sci-fi geek’s dream, resembling pulp comic book covers of the golden era, and Morgan Freeman’s distinctive opening and closing narration is a true homage to Welles.

Spielberg was also wise to conceal the alien invaders in the film’s promotional campaign. The “tripods” are immense and extremely tall war machines that resemble an armored turtle shell walking on three legs with tentacles. Their first appearance is photo-realistic and so mesmerizing to watch that it’s no wonder that the pedestrians in the film do the same thing. It’s the same bit of human nature that people displayed when they ran from the WTC collapsing yet watched it at the same time and Spielberg is now stranger to human nature. The reveal of the “tripods” is almost as equally powerful as the first appearance of the T-Rex in “Jurassic Park” with a blaring horn sound that resembles a dinosaur’s roar. The gruesome method in which they spread their alien red weed is equally terrifying. I was surprised that the alien species controlling the “tripods” weren’t a little more imaginative and oddly resembled the diamond headed E.T.s from “Independence Day.” Dennis Murren and his ILM team have done a remarkable job of blurring the line with CGI and real life locations like the Bayonne Bridge which is completely decimated.

With his trusted “Jurassic Park” series screenwriter David Koepp, Spielberg has attempted to pay homage to Wells' novel as well as the radio broadcast. They’ve also wisely avoided any political themes or the religious overtones of the ’53 movie version. I'm not looking for any racial angle here, but I was rather surprised by the lack of minorities in the film, particularly the refugees fleeing the invasion. Maybe the casting department felt Cruise would be left to watch the invaders in wonderment alone, since any Black or Hispanic with common sense would run immediately instead of gawk at a 200 foot alien. Sure Rick Gonzalez and Yul Vasquez pop up as two neighborhood homeboys that Ray knows, but they're gone before you can say "Minority Report."

This new version of “WOTW” is a perfect example of Spielberg’s and Cruise’s growth as a director and actor. If Spielberg had made this film a decade earlier it probably would have been told on as grand a scale as “Independence Day”, but the visual spectacle would have overwhelmed the story. This would have probably been his next “Jurassic Park” where audiences would come just to see epic battles, visual effects and a story with no character development. The same goes for Cruise, who would’ve probably played a flashier and confident character, perhaps interrogating an alien with “I want the truth!” With two of the biggest names attached to this production, audiences may feel misled when they discover this is a more intimate story than one with a grander scope. I’m happy to see Spielberg venture towards more mature and darker material, if only he trusted his audience more and didn’t cop out with his third act in these types of films. I don’t want to give away the film’s conclusion, but just as Spielberg has grown up he has to realize that today’s audience can handle a little tragedy or sour note in a movie ending. Still, this is a richer and more dimensional film than the average alien invasion movie and will definitely stand the test of time and may improve with age. “Independence Day” may have raked in big box-office business, but just about everyone looks back at it as soulless cinema nowadays.