War of the Worlds (2005) Steven Spielberg

[This essay was written in 2015.]

I hate this movie. Yes, it is an adequate take on the Wells’ story modernized (though Mars is never mentioned); certainly the effects are often astonishing, as well as the sound design. 

 

An early one-sheet poster

But there are three aspects that repel me:

•         For reasons I cannot fathom, Steven Spielberg’s soul mate since Schindler’s List has been Director of Photography Janusz Kaminski. Kaminski was perfect to photograph Schindler’s List because that film was driven by a grey, dark depressing story and Kaminski’s cinematic inclinations were also grey, dark and depressing. However, Kaminski has photographed probably every Spielberg movie since, perhaps a dozen. My problem is that all Kaminski seems to be able to do is grey, dark and depressing. And, frankly, his choices depress me. This version of War of the Worlds suffers due to the lack of any meaningful color. It could have been so much better if it had been colorful, but Spielberg himself clearly prefers all his films to feel grey, dark, and depressing these days. I long for the colorful days of Close Encounters, ET, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

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•          Ray Ferrier is as about an unsympathetic lead as one can imagine. We meet him as he’s getting off his dock-worker job and we very quickly learn that he is an irresponsible narcissist slob. Tom Cruise’s performance may be on the money from Spielberg’s point of view, but it overwhelms any humanity that Ray could have shown. A warmer Ray would have been my preference, especially since he has his children... 

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•          Most importantly, any scene that included Ray’s two children, Rachel and Robby, was for me literally like the proverbial fingernails on a chalk board. From minute one, Robby’s teenage angst was nothing less than an onslaught on my sensibilities. As for Rachel, her continual, ceaseless whining seemed endless. Ray may not be the most sympathetic father, but from the start of the invasion his instincts and choices were invariably correct, saving all their lives time and time again. Despite their being perhaps ten and sixteen years old, and despite their being instantly thrust into a nightmare out of proportion with any horror they could ever have imagined, very quickly it should have dawned on them that against all probability, their father was keeping them alive. Everywhere they could see countless people dissolving and dying within inches of their car, yet at no point did they stop whining and complaining. Rachael had one speed: screaming at her father. Robby’s insolence and ignorant bravado wore me down. 

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These days, I’ll sometimes watch this movie to enjoy the Martian tripods, but I always have to fast forward through any scene with the kids. Now and again, acquaintances say that I shouldn’t be so hard on the kids; after all aren’t they behaving just like typical American kids at their ages? My feeling at those times is that somehow I doubt it. Perhaps these folks are correct about the kids’ behavior at the outset of this drama, but, excuse me, it oughtn’t take a prodigy or a rocket scientist for them to quickly figure out that their best bet was to shut up and help their dad. 

 

An early appearance of a tripod war machine.

That said, I did enjoy the several homages to the 1953 George Pal film, for example, the periscope affair that seeks them out in the ruined house, the three-fingered arm that slips out of a downed war machine, the cameos of Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, the protagonists of Pal’s film, and more.

A final note: I’ve spent a few minutes scrolling through the popular critical web site www.rottentomatoes.com looking for quotes to use in my Naysayers and Enthusiasts above and found 253 reviews from newspapers, magazines, and blog critics. I was astonished to learn that all but a handful positively loved the movie. Unbelievably, from my point of view, nearly all reported some variation of what Ken Tucker of New York Magazine/Vulture said: “Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds is huge and scary, moving and funny—another capper to a career that seems like an unending succession of captivations.” I say “unbelievably” because it’s hard for me to understand how so many critics (who are, after all, people) could not see and feel uncomfortable by the children’s ceaseless reprehensible behavior. The fact that they are frightened is not nearly sufficient excuse or justification; I cannot imagine why any normal person would so easily endure such an onslaught of negative energy and then praise the film as high entertainment. 

 

An early one-sheet teaser poster for Steven Spielberg’s version of War of the Worlds (top right). The artist chose to use the powerful 3D block lettering that graced the posters of so many spectacular epics of the 1950s and 60s, chief among them Ben-Hur, King of Kings, and Genghis Khan. Though I don’t think much of this War of the Worlds film, I adore this style of poster art.

Apparently I am one of the very few who was so effected. All and all, this film was a huge disappointment to me.

USA. Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, Amblin Entertainment, Cruise/Wagner Productions. C. 1.85:1. 116m.

CREW: Director Steven Spielberg. Script Josh Friedman, David Koepp. Based on the novel by H.G. Wells, Executive Producers Paula Wagner. Producers Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Wilson. Score John Williams. Director of Photography Janusz Kaminski. Editor Michael Kahn. Casting Terri Taylor, Debra Zane. Production Designer Rick Carter. Special Visual Effects Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).

CAST: Narrator Morgan Freeman. Ray Ferrier Tom Cruise. Rachel Ferrier Dakota Fanning. Rob- bie Ferrier Tim Robbins. Mary Ann Miranda Otto. Harlan Ogilvy Justin Chatwin. Grandmother Ann Robinson. Grandfather Gene Barry.

 Naysayer.

“It doesn’t work as a science fiction epic, it doesn’t work as a tale of families bonding in the face of tragedy, and it certainly doesn’t work as a mingling of the two.”—Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog’s Movies 

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Enthusiast.

“Steven Spielberg has delivered the blockbuster of the summer, a stunning sci-fi spectacular that’ll blow you away. Yes, I know I’m gushing, but War of the Worlds really is that good.—David Edwards, Daily Mirror [UK]

 
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