WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005) **1/2 You got a classic story, you got Tom Cruise, you got special effects, whaddya want, mermaids? Yeah, probably not, it's a movie just like it is. Stephen Spielberg directs and directs well, using all of his resources sensibly, but directs dark . Where'd that come from? The temptation is of course to blame Cruise-or more appropriately L. Ron Hubbard-for these dark and menacing tripods from space that do awful things and frighten little girls (well done looking scared, Miranda Otto). Couldn't have been H. G. Wells' novel about bad aliens invading earth, could it?!? Celebrity is a multi-edge sword and I doubt anyone knows that much better than Mr. Cruise. So for those of us able to get past the possibility that he's programming us for an apocalyptic event believed by no one beyond a pseudo-religion, there's a nice suspenseful, slightly provocative cinematic experience just waiting to frighten and intimidate us. What if aliens really do invade! You'll be happy we have the armed forces then won't you? Well, it doesn't look like they're doing a helluva lot of good anyway, but yes I guess I would. But I am anyway, I just.digress. Plus, also leave Tom Cruise alone. Religions are about the easiest things to make fun of, by definition, because they deal with the unknown and unimaginable. Kind of like H. G. Wells, but no one makes fun of him. I wonder why. I guess he didn't expect you to believe it, and that's an appealing characteristic? What has become of us, my human friends? Well, nuthin' as bad as what's gonna happen if heroes like Tom Cruise don't stop them alien tripods, man! I mean, even though Cruise is Joe Sixpack in the film and thereby unable to do much but run and hide (and he's credible enough to entertain impersonating that substrata), we know in real life he's Tom Cruise! He has his own plane, he flies high and fast, he has teams of lawyers that get the bastards, he's the only one who actually looks perfectly at home at the Academy Awards.them aliens woulda had a better chance in the movie.
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