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Now, every positive thing about the movie is spot on. There is some really scary shit in this movie. One part literally made me gasp in the theatre. And I didn't think the ending was NEARLY as bad as some of y'all made it out to be.
However, there were huge problems:
1. Character development problems. I have no problem believing the son made it, and no problem believing we never noticed enormous huge ships underneath the earth. I had problems believe Ray or whatever his name was was not Tom Cruise. Although I was impressed with how much the son looked like he coulda been the son of Tom Cruise, there was very little feeling of family. Is this Tom's fault? I'm not sure, but he's done family bonding before, and very very well I might add (see Jerry Maguire). Is it the kids' fault? No, cuz Dakota Fanning is appropriately scared and the son is okay I guess. There's just not too much chemistry. There are moments where I can tell, "This should be heartbreaking." And a couple of scenes work really well. But did I ever fully give myself over to the idea of "This isn't actors, it's a real family"? Nope. And that's a problem, because it makes the film half as scary as it could've been. And considering how pretty fucking intense it is anyhow, we missed out on what could've been a classic.
2. Lack of humor/spark in the script. Some review said that Spielberg didn't use his sense of humor well in this movie. I agree. There's one scene that made me smile, where the loudspeaker at the ferry docks plays "If I Ruled the World." It wasn't too corny, it was just casually slipped in. That I liked. Other parts didn't do it for me. All the "jokes" don't really work. The stale humor of the script mixed with the humorless direction probably hurt the family chemistry, since there have been other scary movies Spielberg has done where the dialogue sparkled (Jaws, Saving Private Ryan). Put some blame on David Koepp, a fairly lame screenwriter if ever there was one, for setting up the stage for a potentially fantastic movie, but not giving Steven the dialogue he needs to bring the characters to life while he's creating this beautiful fucked-up apocalyptic world.
3. Odd thought I had, but is anyone else a little tired of the soft-focus muted-color cinematography Steven has been using as of late? It worked great in Minority Report, but here all I could think of was "Boy, the cinematography is nearly identical to Minority Report." I still think it worked, especially in the basement scenes and at other times, and it was never distracting, but Jaws didn't need darkness and muted colors to scare the shit out of me. I don't know, I had no problem with it for the most part, but I thought "Maybe this is why people keep classifying him as 'the new Spielberg', because the cinematography creates the same dark mood in AI, Minority Report, and now War of the Worlds." (P.S. I realize that they're also referring to the gratuitous sappy endings, but out of the three movies I just named, this one has the best ending for sure)
I feel like in War of the Worlds, the war was the focus, not the characters. The war is beautifully, creatively, and awe-inspiringly done. But the characters suffer and in the end, it makes this movie merely coast off the ground when it should've shot towards the moon.
Bottom line: It's worth seeing, but don't expect a classic.
Grade: 3 out of 4 stars. My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide
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