War of the Worlds - Dayton Daily News movie review

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'War of the Worlds' will knock the wind out of you

By ERIC ROBINETTE
The Middletown Journal

My reaction to Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" can be summed up by most of the movie's initials: WoW.

Simply put, this is the movie thrill ride of the year.

Paramount Pictures

'War of the Worlds'

A+

The verdict: The movie thrill ride of the year.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tom Cruise, Justin Chatwin, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto, David Alan Basche
Run time: 117 minutes
Release date: June 29, 2005
Rating: PG-13 for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and disturbing images.
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What does watching this movie feel like? Take the first shark attack from "Jaws," then add the truck chase in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Mix in the first T. Rex attack and the raptors in the kitchen from "Jurassic Park." Finally, throw in a dash of the battle scenes from "Saving Private Ryan," and you'll get the idea.

Early buzz indicated this adaptation of H.G. Wells' alien invasion novel would be Spielberg's return to big-budget popcorn fare. It kind of is, but be warned: this is popcorn with a vicious kick. I came out of the movie feeling exhilarated yet exhausted.

Spielberg doesn't aim for the mindless fun of "Independence Day." He aims to knock the wind out of us, and he hits his target well.

"War of the Worlds" works because Spielberg keeps the focus on the humans. Tom Cruise plays a neglectful father who suddenly must become very attentive when the aliens attack.

Unlike most apocalyptic thrillers, which show the devastation from an all-seeing perspective, "War of the Worlds" sees its attack solely through the terrified eyes of Cruise and his children (Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin). They often don't see exactly how an attack looks, but they always know how it feels. That makes their fear, and the audience's, much more intense.

Spielberg's particular gift as a filmmaker is his ability to create just the right images to express an emotion or an idea. That gift is probably more important to "War of the Worlds" than any other film he has made.

The film offers an abundance of searing images, and many of them don't show aliens at all: A sea of dead bodies floating on the river. The carcass of a jet crashed into a house. A desperate man clawing through a windshield with his bare hands, slicing his palms as a child looks on in horror. These scenes and others will haunt me for a long time.

You know those ads that say you can lose weight simply by watching TV? Given that I felt like I sprinted for 20 miles after merely sitting in a movie theater watching "War of the Worlds," maybe those ads aren't kidding after all.