Steven Spielberg, a director synonymous with science fiction in the early phases of his career, solidified his reputation with blockbuster hits like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and [E.T.]https://peakd.com/hive-166847/@drax/film-review-e-t-the(). These films, which dealt with First Contact, were influenced by one of the classics of science fiction cinema, the 1953 film The War of the Worlds, an adaptation of H.G. Wells' eponymous novel that introduced the theme of First Contact to the genre. It was not until much later in his career that Spielberg decided to pay homage to that film by directing a 2005 remake.
Like most famous adaptations of Wells' novel, Spielberg's film switches plot from late Victorian England to the present day. The protagonist, Ray Ferrier (played by Tom Cruise), is a stevedore who works in Brooklyn, New York, and returns to his home in Bayonne, New Jersey, where his pregnant ex-wife Mary Ann (played by Miranda Otto) leaves their two children – a 16-year-old son, Robbie (played by Jason Chatwin), and a 10-year-old daughter, Rachel (played by Dakota Fanning) – for the weekend while she visits her parents in Boston. Ray is far from the ideal parent, and his relationship with his children, particularly the rebellious Robbie, is strained. However, their familial problems become irrelevant when strange events begin to unfold in their neighbourhood. It becomes apparent that the Earth is being invaded by unstoppable and seemingly invincible aliens intent on destroying entire humanity. Ray and his family narrowly escape the carnage and embark on a perilous journey north, with the vague intention of reuniting with Mary Ann. Along the way, they have not only to escape murderous aliens but also deal with panicked, shell-shocked, and insane survivors who might be as dangerous as the aliens themselves.
Spielberg was presented with a challenge to tell Wells' all-too-familiar story in an original way. His idea was to present it from the perspective of an ordinary blue-collar protagonist and show destruction and carnage at a relatively limited setting, avoiding the tropes of showing destruction on a global scale, as seen in films like Independence Day. Spielberg also tries to remain faithful to Wells' novel, with little heroics and the protagonist, like the rest of humanity, seemingly powerless against the enemy, with mere survival being the only victory. The story is much darker than in his early First Contact, and War of the Worlds can arguably be seen as the darkest of all Spielberg's films.
This concept works, to a degree, in the first part of the film. Again, Spielberg proves himself to be a master of using modern Hollywood technology, with old-school special effects perfectly aligned with the best CGI. However, in the second part of the film, War of the Worlds loses much of its tempo. This is partly because Spielberg needs more quiet moments for the protagonists to realise what is going on and for viewers to get some exposition. However, it also allows the audience to notice how poorly written the characters are, especially Harlan Ogilvy, a former ambulance driver played by Tim Robbins. He is depicted as a caricature of survivalists, a category of people that Hollywood liked to ridicule or show as villains, which is exactly what Spielberg does in this film.
Spielberg also made his film under the shadow of the real-life catastrophe of 9/11, and this is reflected not only in the film's generally dark tone but also in a somewhat schizophrenic attitude Spielberg and many Hollywood filmmakers had towards this apocalyptic event. Spielberg seemed to be torn between dark nihilism and the desire to reject Bush-era jingoistic militarism on one hand, and the need to have a conventional film that celebrates family values on the other. The former is most obvious in the scene in which Robbie, against his father's wishes, joins a futile attempt by the US military to fight the alien invaders. The latter can be seen in a somewhat predictable but, in the context of the film, not that convincing happy ending.
Moreover, the generally poor script by Josh Friedman and David Koepp doesn't help matters by straying from Wells' source and having alien tripods appearing from the ground instead of from the sky. This left too many unexplained questions and created some speculations over Tom Cruise's Scientology beliefs influencing the script, which, in the end, didn't help public perception of the film.
War of the Worlds was a great commercial success, but the reviews, although generally positive, weren't too enthusiastic. Spielberg himself claimed that those results could have been better if not for Cruise's real-life antics, leading to a falling out between the great director and his main star. In the long run, it turned out that Spielberg's film failed to match the impact of the 1953 film classic, and, although a good film per se, it represents one of the lesser works in Spielberg's filmography.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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