|
"War of
the Worlds": Close Encounters of the Best Kind Reviewed by Graham H.
Moes We puny earthlings have been conditioned by Hollywood to expect our alien attacks from above. The early moments of War of the Worlds are no different, daring us to look skyward again to meet our fate. Yet at Steven Spielberg's direction, the intergalactic enemy emerges with a dreadful rumble from the depths of the earth. It's an effective trick that lets us know (with a thrill) that we can't trust this one to play by the rules. The 1938 Orson Welles radio dramatization of this story surprised people too, many of whom took the faux newscast for real, hunkering down to await the end or rushing to packing churches like my grandfather's across America. Now we understand why. Spielberg once said he's drawn to stories of ordinary people pursued by "big things." Think the 18-wheeler that terrorizes Dennis Weaver in Duel, the shark in Jaws, or a Big Brother state in Minority Report. Even in movies that don't seem to qualify, you find images: the boulder rolling after Indy in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the tank bearing down on Tom Hanks at the end of Saving Private Ryan. For Worlds, Spielberg has teamed again with screenwriter David Koepp of Jurassic Park (big T-Rex things). Not surprisingly, this film shares a common structure: family members pursued from one cliffhanger sequence to the next by some very big things. But whereas Jurassic Park was more amusement park ride than film, Worlds gives us multiple layers of conflict, supporting the foundation with something of more substance even as the monsters pull buildings down all around us. Tom Cruise plays a slacker dad compelled into real fatherhood through the ultimate trial by fire — the end of the world. It's a personal drama within the sci-fi machine that beats as this film's heart. Instead of settling for the thrill of the chase, Spielberg and Koepp hang it all on making us want to see these characters survive, not just as earthlings but as a family. It works, largely thanks to Cruise in his most vulnerable performance since the underrated Vanilla Sky. If you haven't seen Worlds yet but plan to, watch closely how much he invests in developing the tragic comedy of the "peanut butter sandwich scene." Or how he plays the rock-bottom point his character realizes, for never having bothered to learn a simple favorite lullaby, he can't even comfort his emotionally shattered little girl. These are moments as meaningful as anything in Kramer vs. Kramer. That they happen while on the lam from space aliens shouldn't take away from the fact. Speaking of advanced beings from a place other than our own world, Cruise's co-star, 11-year-old Dakota Fanning has been the best actress in the business since appearing in I Am Sam at age 7.
Ordinarily a scene stealer, be it opposite Sean Penn or Denzel Washington, she seems to have reached another level here, demonstrating the advanced skill of blending in, of drawing attention away from how good she is for the sake of the whole. (Julia Roberts, take note.) Given its sci-fi origins, occasionally obvious exposition and a climax some will consider less impressive than its start, War of the Worlds likely won't be deemed Best Picture material. Considered within Spielberg's total body of work, it's more Raiders of the Lost Ark than Schindler's List to be sure. But this is Spielberg from start to finish, and white-knuckle thrills are what he does best. (Actually, you could argue Raiders deserved an Oscar before Schindler's List for the flawless, tour de force filmmaking it was.) And even without the bonus depth of story, this is Spielberg at the top of his form. From a first act that claws its way out of the ground with mounting, pulse-pounding terror to its third-act nightmare come to life, he's crafted a thriller of near perfection that, while it may not send viewers running for church, should keep packing them into the multiplex for weeks to come. |
