Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are frequent collaborators who share some of the same problems.
Lucas’ final three “Star Wars” films have pandered to the lowest common denominator of moviegoer, becoming the cinematic equivalent of a Counting Crows album.
Spielberg has done much of the same, while leaning on some of the top draws in Hollywood to stay successful. Tom Hanks made the flufftastic “The Terminal” bearable, Leonardo Dicaprio and Hanks were excellent in the crowd-pleasing “Catch Me If You Can” and now Tom Cruise is left with the task of saving the often yawn-inducing “War of the Worlds.”
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Unfortunately, Spielberg’s recent films have gotten increasingly bland, and WOTW might be Spielberg’s worst turn since “The Lost World.” No performance from Cruise or any other actor could have made WOTW more than a tired retread of other recent alien films and the horrible clichés that always accompany them.
First of these clichés is the man with something to prove. Cruise plays Ray Ferrier, a divorced dad whose kids don’t really appreciate him anymore. You might remember this character from “Independence Day,” when he was played by Randy Quaid as crop duster Russell Casse.
The kids, cute little Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and angst-ridden, rap-rock-loving Robbie (Justin Chatwin), hate when they have to stay at Ray’s crappy New Jersey house, and they even call their father by his first name – at least until he redeems himself and the family has some silly, saccharine moments.
Aliens hit the city by way of a huge electrical storm early on, and the Ferrier family’s initial race to get away is the most exhilarating portion of the film. After they finally get some space away from the aliens, who fight from ships and enormous tripods that can instantly incinerate people (think Lucas’ AT-AT walkers from “Return of the Jedi” with three legs instead of four), the film begins to repeat itself.
We only follow Ferrier’s family of three as they try to make it to Boston to find their mother, so most of the rest of the film is running. There are a couple of Cruise’s classic every man becoming a hero moments, but all humans are virtually powerless against the aliens, who have force-fields that protect their ships – also like “Independence Day.”
Instead of awesome man-on-alien combat, we get senseless killing and destruction by the enemy and a shallow tale of Ray learning what it means to be a father.
An abrupt conclusion and a drawn-out side story featuring Tim Robbins, who resurrects his “Mystic River” Boston accent, makes this film all the worse.
Cruise takes a break from his roles as rich and successful yuppies to play a poor construction worker, and is hardly believable. Fanning is as cute as ever, but I’m starting to wonder if she’ll ever get any good material.
Naturally, the special effects are magical, and act as the real star of the film. The special effects are truly the only way the filmmakers top “Independence Day,” thanks to ten years of technological advancements.
It’s important to note that Spielberg makes several hardly subtle connections between his alien-invasion subject matter and 9/11. Also important to note: these connections are stupid.
Without much of a story and zero edge, Spielberg can’t make this movie any better than other glorified special-effects romps. Did someone say “Star Wars”?