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E.T. Phones in an Air Strike“Not with a bang, but a whimper...”By Robert J. Sodaro War of the Worlds: PG-13 (119 minutes) Starring: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin Directed by: Steven Spielberg
We are not alone. If we were to listen to H.G. Wells, our nearest celestial neighbors apparently hate us with the white-hot passion only a neighbor who feels that you’ve planted trees too close to the property line and wants to chop down the tree, and torch the house feels…oh wait, that’s me. Mars is a war-like, dying world, and its inhabitants, covet our planet in the worse possible way. So, since they are the meanest, toughest SOBs on the solar block, they’ve determined that instead of sending envoys to the UN and attempting to negotiate a peaceful settlement they are simply going to rain down the interplanetary equivalent of apocalyptic fire and brimstone, burn us from the face of the Earth, simply take what they want, and turn us into some sort of environmental soy sauce. (as an unavoidable aside, I can only wonder if they had chosen this course — to approach us through the UN, would this film have stared Nicole Kidman instead of Tom Cruise, (thus bumping him over to last month’s Interpreter and making this part of their divorce settlement?) But I digress)
So, in an unwarranted, sneak attack worthy of the Japanese, (and looking suspiciously like the alien invasion from Independence Day) they make their move (Oh yeah, when we finally see the aliens they also look very similar to those E.T.s as well, giving this reviewer pause). The resulting devastation is the subject of this Summer’s first big blockbuster SPFX film (before you shout, Revenge of the Sith came out in the Spring). And what a monster this one turns out to be, indeed! Tom Cruise plays Ray Ferrier a divorced, working-class, hard working, New Jersey dockworker. Ray’s prospects for the weekend involve turning down some very lucrative overtime for the opportunity to spend some time with his estranged children, Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and Robbie (Justin Chatwin). While his ex-wife and her new husband head off to Boston for the weekend to spend time with her mother. As Ray has just spent the last 12 hours working, the first thing he does, is tell the kids to order food, and passes out on his bed.
To say that the world to which he awakens is vastly different from the one in which he went to sleep is the understatement of this entire film. By the time he has awakened, the invasion has already begun, only not yet in New Jersey. In the background, while Ray interacts with Rachael, news reports on the TV indicate that something is amiss over in Europe and Russia, and is only now hitting the airwaves here. Needless to say, that changes soon enough. A lightning strike (or rather 27 strikes) hitting the same place, just down the street from him, is the first indication that something is very seriously wrong. As a result of the strikes, all electrical power is gone. Ray tells Rachael to stay put while he goes to look for Robbie (who has taken Ray’s car for an unapproved drive). He finds Robbie and sends him home, then continues on to investigate the point of impact along with many of his neighbors. What they discover, is not just a hole in the middle of the crosswalk, but a three-legged alien assault vehicle, that rises up out of the street and begins incinerating the fleeing citizens. Rushing home to collect his children, Ray sets off on a cross-country trek to hook up with his ex-wife and reunite his family. Why he thinks that Boston will be any safer than New Jersey is beyond me, but this is the only thought in his mind. (To be fair to Ray, though, this is what his children want, and as they later point out to him, they feel that he is merely attempting to dump them off on their mother so that he can be done with them, and not have to worry about them any more. Yet as the journey progresses we see that Ray’s commitment to his family (including his ex) runs far deeper than that.)
To anyone who hasn’t seen this film yet, it works, it truly works, and the thing about it that works the best is that while most films of this genre have a tendency to focus on the group of high-level individuals who are deciding how best to deal with the problem (in the 1953 version we follow Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) and the other scientists as well as the senior military officers who are attempting to solve the problem and defeat the off-world invaders, in Independence Day we follow Professor David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) and U.S. President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman) as they direct U.S. and foreign forces to attack the alien invaders). Here, in this version of WotW, we follow dockworker and ordinary guy Ray Ferrier and his children as the flee in terror from the invaders, with no knowledge of what is going on other than what can be gleaned from those around themselves. This angle, is so unique to this genre, that it sucks you right in and then propels the story along. We, as the omniscient audience have the additional knowledge of the previous film, radio broadcast, and Morgan Freeman’s voice-over at the opening of the film to guide us.
The film’s story also faithfully follows that which we already know (not that you need to have foreknowledge of either the book, the previous film, or even Orson Welles’ classic radio play to follow this film, as each stands independent of each other). In fact, save for the two films difference in time (1953 & 2005) and the fact that in the ‘53 version, the Martian ships landed on Earth and then flew around the countryside, while in the ‘05 version they came up from under the Earth and then walked around on their telescoping tripod legs (in the book, they walked also). So the film receives high marks for its faithfulness to the source material, as well as updating it to modern times, plus the humanizing approach it took by following ordinary citizens rather than the upper-level echelon types. Also, the entire scene on the ridge when Ray and his family find themselves in a running firefight between the military and the aliens is not only terrifyingly real, but completely plausable. Further, the scene with Ray, Rachael, and Harlan Ogilvy (Tim Robbins) in the demolished farmhouse harkens back to visuals from the ‘53 film.
Still, there are some very obvious flaws that occur in the film. After the first strike in NJ when the ElectroMagnetic Pulse (EMP) burns out all of the electrical appliances (lights, car batteries, watches, etc.) someone is seen shooting the aliens on their video camera, and Ray finds a car with the keys in it that starts up and drives off with his family. Now, while I am willing to accept the car faux pas as a cinematic “gimmie” so as to get Ray and his family out of the immediate area, I’m baffled as to how the video camera could possibly work. (One explanation that was offered up by a fan was that the EMP only burnt out active electrical appliances, only that’s not the way EMPs work.) So, we’re at something of a loss as to what Spielberg’s response to that one would be (although on www.imdb.com the “goofs” section for the 2005 version of WotW, offers the following explanation “It's a special Hollywood EMP that disables only the electronic equipment that the filmmakers want it to.” Another one states that “If we assume that the camcorder is working despite the EMP because it was switched off when the EMP struck, we must also assume that every automobile in the entire city was turned on at the time, since the minivan, once fixed, is the only working vehicle until the military shows up.”
Still, these are relatively minor points, and while they may detract from the overall film, they admittedly enhance the visuals and add to the terror and tension surrounding the attack. Ultimately, Spielberg’s WotW stands up to its predecessors, and makes for a fine addition to the legend itself. While I never actually read the print version (or heard the Radio version in its entirety) I think that both Wells and Welles would have enjoyed this addition to their oeuvre. Oh yes, and as an unavoidable aside, I would respectfully ask that you all indulge me for just a moment, and take a quick sidestep over to my regular blog site, and check out this, particular post. You see, one of my younger cousins had — not only a walk-on role in WotW — but something of a close encounter of the personal kind with Misters Cruise and Spielberg whilst on the set. The info (as well as some pics) are all in the post. Way to go David! __________ This entire article is copyright © 2005 Freelance Ink, All rights reserved. It cannot be reprinted without specific, written permission from the author. Robert J. Sodaro has been writing professionally for over 20 years. During that time, his movie reviews and articles have appeared in numerous print publications, as well as on the web; currently his reviews appear on the Web here and in print in MoreSugar. Comments:
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