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The Movie: Reuniting star Tom Cruise and director Steven Spielberg again after "Minority Report", "War of the Worlds" is a remake of the H.G. Wells novel, adapted by writers David Koepp ("Panic Room") and Josh Friedman, and moved to present day. The picture stars Tom Cruise as Ray, a working-class divorced dad who, as the film begins, has custody of his children - his son Robbie (Justin Chatwin, stuck with an annoying character) and Rachel (Dakota Fanning) for the weekend. A freakish lightning storm sweeps into town, and before long, a giant rumble is coming from the town square as a giant alien machine rises from underground, attacking the population and wiping out the city within moments. Ray scoops up his kids in the only working car (everything electronic - aside from camcorders and the occasional car, apparently) and heads for whatever cover they can find. The remainder of the movie has the trio on the run up the East Coast to Boston, with the aliens consistently on their tail. Alien invasions on film are quite a bit slicker these days than they were in "Independence Day" nearly ten years ago, as the CGI work in "War of the Worlds" by ILM is frequently astonishing, and easily among the best of its kind in recent years. Where the movie falls short is when the aliens are actually seen, as the creatures are definitely not unique and look somewhat cheap in comparison to the rest of the movie's visuals. Despite logic issues (and there are some surprisingly big ones here, aside from the selective electronic devices that work, such as the fact that nothing the aliens do is ever explained - for example, we see them vaporizing people left and right early in the movie, then later in the movie, we see them harvesting blood from humans. So...why were they vaporizing people if they needed them?), Spielberg's picture moves swifty, attempting to zip over any inconsistencies, but there are definitely questions here that will linger in the minds of most viewers. As dopey as "Independence Day" was, it did certainly offer less inconsistencies than this does. As for the performances, they're generally pretty good, as Cruise gives one of the better performances he's given in recent years. Fanning, while okay, was more impressive in her scenes in "Man on Fire". Here, she simply is on-hand to scream a lot. The attempt to have a family working out their issues in the midst of a horrific event is not a total loss here, but it could have been more developed here or simply lost, as, by the time the credits roll, that section of the film hasn't been brought to a satisfactory conclusion. By keeping the scope limited almost entirely to the areas that the main characters venture through, "War of the Worlds" does keep the audience right in the middle of the action more than most similar movies do. The film is also pretty dark and rather scary at times, and although there have been plenty of instances where I've wondered why a movie got an R when it deserved a PG-13 or a PG-13 when it deserved a PG, this is one case where an R may not have been such a bad idea - it's not a film that kids should see, as it certainly could be the source of a few nightmares. Overall, when "War of the Worlds" works, it is a tense and often visually stunning - in an epic and occasionally haunting way - picture. However, there are a few things that defnitely take away from the feature - the occasional large plot hole and a poor ending that feels sudden, bizarre and ridiculous (and is wrapped up with a terrible narration to summarize what the movie didn't about what happened.) While watching the film, I couldn't help but think a re-write of the script in order to clarify points (and change the embarassing ending, which is bad enough to take away from everything that came before it) could have really gone a long way to improve the overall film. The DVD VIDEO: "War of the Worlds" is presented by Dreamworks in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The presentation is easily one of the best I've een in recent months. Sharpness and detail are exceptional, and the picture boasts impressive (and consistent) definition and depth to the image. Aside from some very minor shimmer, the picture appeared bright, smooth and "film-like", with no print flaws, edge enhancement or artifacts. Colors remained bold and rich, with very nice saturation and no smearing or other concerns. Black level remained solid, while flesh tones looked accurate and natural. This is a very impressive effort from Dreamworks. SOUND: "War of the Worlds" is presented by Dreamworks in Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1. The film's sound design is also stunning, providing a full-on assault in many scenes and eerie quiet in others. Surrounds kick in throughout the feature to deliver dynamic, powerful sound effects, ambience and reinforcement of the score by John Williams. Scenes such as the lightning strikes and the attack on the ferry boat are examples of some of the film's many exceptional-sounding segments. Audio quality is marvelous, as sound effects have impressive punch and power, while music and dialogue remain crystal clear. Bass remains bold throughout - both heard and felt. Both the DTS and Dolby Digital presentations certainly provided a fine experience, but the DTS did provide some noticable improvements over the Dolby Digital presentation, including tighter, deeper bass, more seamless surround use and slightly improved clarity and detail. EXTRAS: There is a Limited Edition 2-DVD set, which offers a series of featurettes and other supplements. The only extra on the 1-DVD edition is "Designing the Enemy", a 14-minute featurette that looks into designing the creatures and visual effects issues. Final Thoughts: "War of the Worlds" could have used some definite screenplay revisions to iron out some considerable plot holes and an ending that (along with other issues) doesn't fit well at all. Still, when it works, it works well. Dreamworks provides a DVD with little in the way of supplements (at least on the 1-DVD edition), but outstanding audio/video quality. Rent it. 
Film Grade The Film C+ DVD Grades Video 98/A Audio: 97/A Extras: 70/C- |