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In Reply to: War of the Worlds: posted by tinear on July 26, 2005 at 12:11:37:
a minor reason, anyhow.
The problem with WotW is there is no antagonist, except for overwhelming machines. And...there is no foil for Cruise. No one actor can carry an action film for that long, and Tom certainly can't. The movie is a one-trick pony which is fine for popcorn but, compared to The Terminator, for instance, it pales. Think of all the powerful characters in Terminator, their interractions, the orchestrated tensions, the complexity and number of scenes.
Now, WotW: monotonous "excitement" with extrordinarily repetitive scenes of slogging machines burning rays into exploding bodies.
When at last we see the creatures for a few moments, they look familiar, do nothing menacing, don't actually hurt a fly. They're inept, boring, and ineffective as plot devices.
Compare this to the wonderful acting ensemble in Jaws, Raiders, or Jurassic Park and realize how far Spielberg has fallen.
Follow Ups:
And the reason the aliens were so dull/simple when we finally saw them was to drive the home the idea that the technology of killing, the ability to do it in such a detached way, can turn even the docile into remorseless killers.That said, I thought it pretty much sucked in it's execution but not because of those things (in fact those things are what gave it the potential to be interesting and maybe even provocative). It sucked because it was sooooooo unreal in ways that could've and should've been more real if we were going to identify with the one person and feel the threat of our own technology without being taken out of the movie.
Things like the turbines of the crashed jet still spinning the next morning (or of a commercial jet flying the day after the whole world has been EMF'd and attacked by aliens). Like the son going over the hill and having the whole hillside blow up like the tree line in Apocalypse now but he gets to Boston before them. Like thier finding a clear path through every bit of highway littered with conked out cars and hysterical people (or through the jet crash debris). I mean, at least make it an off road vehicle and have them use it that way. I also never felt like TC was really those childrens' father. Never felt that bon. And the capper of ridiculousness was the mother's family coming to the door of the pristine street in Boston like they wer just about to sit down to a Sunday night lamb dinner. I mean the whole world is in flames except for one street in Boston where nobody even seems shaken up.
There were several more things like these but thankfully I've forgotten them.
Anyway, it seems like you're picking on the movie for the wrong reasons.
"Where are we going? And what am I doing in this hand basket?"
s
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