I have a newer, better title for War of the Worlds. How does War of the Two Sides of Your Brain sound? I admit it isn't as catchy but at least its viewers will be warned. I of course am talking about the logical, reasoning left side of the brain versus its creative, more fun counterpart. Watching this movie with the left side of the brain turned on will lead to copious scoffing. Watching it with solely the right side of your brain will lead to, well, a decent, very good-looking sci-fi adaptation.
Tom Cruise is Ray Ferrier, a union man who works on the docks in Brooklyn and commutes from New Jersey. Even though he's in his 40s, he has a lot of growing up to do, which more than likely contributed to the divorce between him and his wife, who is now with another fellow and expecting. It's Ray's turn to have time with his two kids, so the ex-wife drops them off and says goodbye. His relationship with his children, especially with his older son, Robbie, is damaged. He will not be nominated for any Father of the Year awards. As his ex-wife reluctantly peaces out, she takes an extra second to insist he takes good care of the kids. Ray retorts a response of something to the tune of “What could possibly go wrong?!”
A lot, could go wrong, Ray. For starters, thousands, maybe millions of years ago, outer-space aliens could have buried deeply into the ground enormous, walking, three-legged machines a hundred feet tall: the Tripods. The Tripods are goofy-looking, clunky monstrosities that walk around armed with a laser and zap every person in sight, turning them into ash so quickly they have no time to scream. Cities fall and countrysides are ravaged as Tripods pop up all over the planet and cause great, CGI devastation.
The story is equal parts Ray trying to safely return his kids to his ex-wife in Boston, and Ray trying to mend relations with his kids. Ray, who is supposed to take charge, be most responsible, and overall, a father and protector to his children, experiences great difficulty, and breaks down a number of times in front of his relatively cooler and calmer kids. Traumatic events abound, and his kids are drawn more and more to him. It's done so a little unevenly, as the care he gives to his children is built on the survival instinct, and in order to protect his kids, he becomes increasingly animalistic and desperate in his behavior. Ray does plenty to demonstrate how he is a protective father; however, he doesn't necessarily turn into a better father figure, which would have been more appealing. Because of this, in the ending, the new bond that we are supposed to believe exists between him and his family is not all that tender. The ending itself also boasts a twist-for-the-good that greatly detracted much of the movie's merit.
And science doesn't have a lot going for this movie, either. Most sci-fi movies either give a good explanation of the ongoings, or leave it up to our imagination. This movie is incapable of that given the subject matter, particularly the fact that there are huge walking tripods buried deep in the Earth. These shortcomings are born from the movie's source material. The original novel came out over 100 years ago, and was pretty breakthrough at that time. Science now has more to offer, and so people will find problems left and right in this movie. At least Spielberg and the writers didn't flat out say these aliens were Martians, as in the original novel. It's alluded to that the aliens came from a red planet, but I don't think it's the red planet. The last movie I can recall where actual Martians attacked Earth was Mars Attacks!, and we all know how that went.
If you turn off the left side of your brain, you won't feel the need to ask why the aliens didn't just take over the planet before humans were running the place, especially if they were already here planting these enormous walking tripods. Or how it is that a three-legged anything can walk around zapping people without tipping over when one of its legs takes a step. Or why it is zapping people to begin with if the aliens end up using people to fertilize the planet and turn it into their own. It's a shame that Spielberg selected to retell this sci-fi classic; it's just not one that can work on all levels. Spielberg has a reputation of knowing what he's doing when it comes to filmmaking, so I would like to think that he was aware the whole time that all the technicalities regarding the alien invasion are just not that plausible, and he was just in it to make a visually appealing, reduce-every-building-to-CGI-rubble kind of film. Unfortunately, that too is a discouraging thought.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Lots and lots of stuff. Apart from some galleries of production stills and sketches, and a trailer, there is a very in-depth look at the creation of the film, all the way from the homages the film pays to the 1953 The War of the Worlds, to the devision of the characters through wardrobe and writing, to the scoring of the film by none other than John Williams, to the method of “previsualization” used by Spielberg and his crew where they digitally animate the storyboards. It's a ton of great and fascinating information if you have any interest in the makings of a sci-fi film, particularly one with a lot of visual depth and imagination such as this. The entire behind-the-scenes featurette is conveniently broken up in a separate chapters. Also, no audio commentary.
"War of the Worlds" is on sale June 1, 2010 and is rated PG13. Action, Sci-Fi. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by David Koepp, Josh Friedman. Starring Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins, Tom Cruise.
