War of the Worlds review

What the hell. This Cruise\Spielberg vehicle is so taut with emotion that it just makes you laugh. By the time Rachel (played wonderfully by Dakota Fanning) goes out and sees bodies floating down the Hudson River, more than half the theater I was in was laughing because it was just too much. I remember Cameron Crowe discussing the "You had me at 'hello'" speech in Jerry Maguire and how, in any movie, it can just become too much and over the top. This movie was unrelenting in gore and frenzy. At points it almost felt like The Passion of the Christ meets Independence Day. You just could not watch anymore.

But when they move to the basement with Tim Robbins' totally whacked out character, the movie slows and the tension of the scenes there dwindles because it's the same old shit. There is a scene in the basement when an alien eye that's like a snake comes into the room to search for movement. They run around trying to avoid it and it just felt like a rehash of the scene from Minority Report where he had to get his eyes scanned because, inevitably, they are seen.

The ending, which I won't spoil for you, was disappointing and totally expected... But it seemed so abrupt and nonsensical. By the 90 minute mark of this 116 minute film I was utterly lost and utterly bored. I was left with questions after it and none could be answered.

This is the first movie in almost four years to mention terrorists. It takes a veiled swipe at the whole situation with downed airplanes and all the refugees trying to get away from the Big Evil. If I had to make a call, I would say that the screenwriters, Josh Friedman and David Koepp, were liberals. Tom Cruise's character represents stagnancy and the want to do nothing while Tim Robbins' character represents the Bush administration and their want to do everything wrong. This movie has made a mockery of the metaphor that is so tried to valiantly portray. However, this story, in any manifestation, has come at a time of uncertainty. 1898, with england on the verge of war. 1938, with England on the brink of war again. 2005, with America delved into a war.

Spielberg does a good job of doing his usual thing of bringing the human elements to the film but, like in Terminator 2, it just becomes too much as we approach the 18th shot of Cruise's eyes all welled up or Fanning screaming in the backseat. It became real then too real then over the top then comical. With a film like this, apathy can do nothing but set in.

I can't recommend this film for two reasons: Confusion, acting, and Cruise's bash of Psychiatry.