From The Back Row... War Of The Worlds (2005)
When he's not leaping up and down on sofas, bigging up the Admiral or snogging Joey Potter, Tom Cruise makes movies. Often they're very good movies. Sometimes they're not. Occasionally they're somewhere inbetween. With that in mind, I toddled along to the sort-of-local-but-not-as-local-as-the-one-that-hasn't-opened-yet multiplex to check out War Of The Worlds.
I liked it but I have to say, all in all, I found it a bit of an empty experience.
Yes, it follows the spirit of the book well, admittedly moving the action to America and condensing characters, but with most of the key plot points intact (all to be expected). There are some excellent set-piece shots (the crashed jumbo for example) and action sequences (the eruption and attack of the first tripod is pretty much jaw-dropping). Taelon Tom is nicely against type as "Deadbeat Dad" (his reactions to the chaos and carnage going on around him is believable) and Dakota Fanning as his daughter, though often excuriatingly loud, is excellent.
However it's not all gravy.
The end of the film seems to lose all the tension built up throughout, bolting on a Hollywood ending just to please the punters. Yes, the end of the book has the tripods stopping like that, but I think Spielberg could've done more with it (hark at me, telling an Oscar winner how to do his job). Also rumour has it that the movie had a shorter than average filming/post-production schedule; this may explain parts of the film that don't make sense, some continuity glitches, etc.
My biggest gripe though must be the aliens themselves. Spielberg keeps them out of sight in their tripods for much of the film (which is a neat trick he's played before). However, when they finally do make an appearance I wished they'd stayed where they were. The design of the aliens is too cute, a cuddly (if slimy) version of the bad guys in Independence Day.
Though it's worth watching on DVD (to see if they put in the bits they ran out time to finish up) I don't think I'll be buying it. I think rather I'll wait get the collector's edition of the 50's version when Paramount release it in November. Or wait for the CGI version of Jeff Wayne's version to come out next year.
6/10
I liked it but I have to say, all in all, I found it a bit of an empty experience.
Yes, it follows the spirit of the book well, admittedly moving the action to America and condensing characters, but with most of the key plot points intact (all to be expected). There are some excellent set-piece shots (the crashed jumbo for example) and action sequences (the eruption and attack of the first tripod is pretty much jaw-dropping). Taelon Tom is nicely against type as "Deadbeat Dad" (his reactions to the chaos and carnage going on around him is believable) and Dakota Fanning as his daughter, though often excuriatingly loud, is excellent.
However it's not all gravy.
The end of the film seems to lose all the tension built up throughout, bolting on a Hollywood ending just to please the punters. Yes, the end of the book has the tripods stopping like that, but I think Spielberg could've done more with it (hark at me, telling an Oscar winner how to do his job). Also rumour has it that the movie had a shorter than average filming/post-production schedule; this may explain parts of the film that don't make sense, some continuity glitches, etc.
My biggest gripe though must be the aliens themselves. Spielberg keeps them out of sight in their tripods for much of the film (which is a neat trick he's played before). However, when they finally do make an appearance I wished they'd stayed where they were. The design of the aliens is too cute, a cuddly (if slimy) version of the bad guys in Independence Day.
Though it's worth watching on DVD (to see if they put in the bits they ran out time to finish up) I don't think I'll be buying it. I think rather I'll wait get the collector's edition of the 50's version when Paramount release it in November. Or wait for the CGI version of Jeff Wayne's version to come out next year.
6/10
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