While Martian war machines appear across the globe, the horror of the assault is depicted through the eyes of one American family who refuse to give up the fight for survival. Steven Spielberg retells H. G. Wells' seminal science fiction classic. Read more
| Starring | Tom Cruise, Justin Chatwin, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins |
|---|---|
| Director | Steven Spielberg |
| Run time | 112 mins |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy |
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Paranoid science-fiction that plays on current fears of terrorism and surprise attacks, of lethal destruction from shadowy enemies; it begins brilliantly but cannot sustain its opening, visceral sense of menace and terror.
Given the clampdown on timely press screenings and its star's assorted diversionary tactics, you'd suspect 'War of... read more on Time Out
If you can get over Tom Cruise being cast as a working class dockworker with a 16 year old then you might be able to turn a blind eye to what, upon reflection, is a poor effort from Speilberg. Shunted forward to fill the schedules of him and Cruise, whilst Indiana Jones 4 and MI:3 were delayed, it was shot in 72 days with ten weeks pre-production work and it shows. Take out the CGI and I don't really believe this film has anything to other over the likes of The Day After Tomorrow or possibly even Armageddon. Speilberg said that this is the most realistic film that he's ever shot, yet it has gaping holes running through it. Given that Speilberg hasn't produced a really good film since Schindler's List I think his Abraham Lincoln biopic may be his last shot at a good film because on his blockbusters I think he's lost it and they were his strength. There's so much that could be ripped apart in this film and I'm aware that I may be over-critical but the more I think about it the more that this film sucks, and I'm not putting an extra bonus point on just for the CGI.
This was such a dissapointment, I wasn't expecting high art but even as a big money film, this was almost too poor for words. A nonsensce script that was full of holes, Video cameras and car headlights working in a electrical blackout, a totally unmotivated parting of two main characters (to illistrate a laboured point about Cruise's parenting skills) leading to an unexplained introduction to Tim Robbins character which in turn leads to a truly unsubtle justification for Guanatamo Bay to mention just a few.
The real shame of it is that the two moments of genuine tension are ruined because the rest of the story telling is so cheap the film doesn't earn it. Almost unmitigatted rubbish from a Director who must know that this is substandard. The ending is so stupid and unearned that people were laughing when I watched it, I would have joined them had I not been rueing the fact that I had improved the Box Office by one. Do not bother with this film!
It's been a long, long time since Indiana Jones last threw his hat into in the ring and rode off into the sunset. Nearly 20 years in fact. Long enough for George Lucas to make three more Star Wars episodes and Steven Spielberg to put his name to three Jurassic Park movies, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, AI, War of the Worlds and Munich, to name but a few. Hard to imagine either man needed to resurrect the archeologist adventurer certainly not financially. Creatively? It seems unlikely. Read more