War Of The Worlds
Steven Spielberg returning to good honest blockbusters is certainly good news for the rest of us. While his recent films have hardly been lacking (actually The Terminal might have been, but Catch Me If You Can has its fans, and even Minority Report provides a decent two hours' entertainment) you no more want to see Spielberg helming middle of the road dramas than you want to see Keanu Reeves tackling Shakespeare (again), or Steven Seagal in a musical romantic comedy.
Back in the eighties, and most of the nineties, you could usually rely on Spielberg to provide your summer entertainment. Even when he was only producing you'd end up with Gremlins or Back To The Future. But, in the days and years since Jurassic Park, the blockbuster forum has been thrown open to filthy hacks like Michael Bay and Stephen Sommers who, if there was any justice in the world, would be back serving burgers behind a franchise counter. I can only live in hope that if Steven Spielberg were to return to the blockbuster forum full time then this dream might just come true.
On the evidence of War Of The Worlds, Spielberg can still deliver. Pretentious as it might sound he has a total understanding of the language of cinema and effortlessly thrills his audiences, while pulling their other strings as needed. In fact Spielberg's talent is in hiding those strings. The willing deception of cinema - your investment in the proceedings - is lost once you, as an audience member, key into what the director is trying to do. You sit and watch one of his films and find that even a rubber shark can't erase the exhilaration of Jaws, whereas the overuse of really crap CGI in something like Van Helsing can bring you crashing right back to your cinema seat.
While the 'wow' factor is still present and correct, Spielberg has also brought something to the party from his grown-up films. You'll all remember how the opening of Saving Private Ryan, or much of Schindler's List made you feel. When people die in those film it has a real impact, largely because these things really happened. In your typical summer popcorn movies when people die it's all part of the fun (except when they want to Have An Emotional Moment or, sometimes, Teach A Moral Lesson). In War Of The Worlds it's not fun: thousands of people are dying and humanity is on the brink of destruction and it's both bleak and terrifying. You can actually believe this is the apocalypse which (and I'm not the first person to say this) makes War Of The Worlds something akin to the Schindler's List of blockbusters.
This is all part of the emotional rollercoaster however. Most people will probably go to the film expecting something like Independence Day (another cinematic abomination, but a fun one at least - just try and tell me what fun there is to be had from a limp, yellowing piece of cinematic lettuce such as, to pick a random example, Van Helsing), wherein there was never any doubt that the day would be saved, and by the Americans of course.
Here (if you don't already know the story at least) you really feel there's no chance. That at least makes it different. There are some stunning effects - the tripods are outstanding, the emergence of the first tripod particularly effective - but it is the emotion of the film that carries you through. You have the visuals, which you want from your blockbuster, but you also have the qualities that made Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan such compelling viewing.
You also have some expertly handled characters. We all know that a good script can become worthless in the hands of some directors. We also know that the Flawed Hero has become a hackneyed and artificial device to fool us into thinking we're watching real people on the screen. With all credit to screenwriters Josh Friedman and David Koepp, War Of The Worlds does bring us some genuinely believable characters.
Tom Cruise plays his hero like a 40 year old adolescent, a guy who shuns his responsibilities and generally proves to be a complete twat within the first ten minutes or so. His teenage son is, not surprisingly, unwilling to do as he's told - stealing his Dad's car early in the movie, and then acting impulsively through (most of) the rest of the movie. Equally the daughter may be the sensible, mature character at first, but quickly succumbs to almost uncontrollable bursts of panic and fear once the Martians arrive.
In short everyone's selfish and annoying at times, everyone displays their better qualities at others. It's a brave and confident director that presents you with people that you wouldn't necessarily want to hang out with, and then takes you along with them through the entire movie (for another good example of this try watching Monster).
There were a few problems with the film. The rushed schedule, I imagine, made the finished piece a little disjointed. Particularly in the final half of the film our characters seem to lurch from one scenario to another, as you might expect to do in a computer game. There does appear to be a large chunk missing prior to the final scene, though I understand the book ends rather abruptly.
There's also part of me that would have loved to seen/heard the opening titles with that old da-da-daaaa playing over them - you know what I mean, don't pretend you don't!
