War Of The Worlds

And that’s my reason for going. After hearing so much good stuff about it (and the fact that Spielberg is one of my heroes), I knew that I had to go no matter how insane Tom Cruise has become. But before we get to the invasion, let’s invade some previews.

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE—I’m REALLY looking forward to this one. I grew up on these books (or the first two and half, anyway…sadly, I never finished all of them. I plan on reading them again soon) and can’t wait to see if WETA can top the Lord Of The Rings special effects with this and the next movie.

It looks like they’ve taken care to capture the magic that CS Lewis so painstakingly placed into his most famous series. I’m excited. December looks to be a great month for movies.

KING KONG—WOW!!! Peter Jackson is going to rock ASS with this one. After a whole year without a Jackson film it looks like he’s going to give us all a great time again. I doubt that he’ll be able to top LOTR, but I don’t think he’s even going to try. How could he? But this is still going to be awesome and worthy as a follow up. Jack Black, Naomi Watts and Adrian Brody may be upstaged by the Big Guy, but I’m sure they’ll pull their weight. Hell, who better to play an arrogant director in the 30s than Jack? Looks like he might put in his best performance yet. (Or maybe he’ll put in an ACTUAL performance. All the rest of this time he’s been pretty much playing himself.)

But we’re not necessarily going to this for the actors. It’s for Kong himself that we will be waiting in line. And he looks great. Every bit as real as Gollum.

I’m gonna shut up now. I’m starting to gush. Moving on.

ELIZABETHTOWN—Cameron Crowe. That’s all I need to go see this movie. But Kirsten Dunst doesn’t hurt. And Orlando Bloom can be cool.

This looks a lot like Garden State, but I trust Cameron to do something a little different with it. It’s about a young man (Orlando) who has failed at just about everything he’s ever done in the business world. Then he goes back home for his dad’s funeral. He meets a beautiful flight attendant (guess who?), falls in love and his life starts to fall into place.

It looks to at least be better than Cameron’s last movie. And his musical ear is still intact. I’m already there.

THE ISLAND—Michael Bay. Need I say more? I’ll probably be there, but I’ll feel really guilty about it. But this has Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson in it! And Bruckheimer didn’t produce it, so maybe it’ll have a little bit of merit.

Yeah, right. Who am I kidding. I’m sure Spielberg-lite will find a way to screw it up. I kinda looks like Logan’s Run with clones instead of people turning 30. Lots of shit blowing up, but no real substance.

But it has Scarlett in it! Yeah. I’m there. Sorry.

By the way, I thought this was an original story. It’s not. It’s “unofficially” based on a film called The Clonus Horror from 1979. Just know that going in.

STEALTH—A Stealth airplane with artificial intelligence goes rogue and starts destroying buildings in the U.S. Only a crack task force including Jessica Biel, Josh Lucas, Jamie Foxx, Sam Shepard and Joe Morton can stop it.

Uh. Ok. Moving on.

I think that’s all of the previews except for Four Brothers, which I already previewed. (In a nutshell: Looks great!)

So let’s start killin’ some aliens.

Um. Or not.

I’m sure most of us know the basic story of War Of The Worlds even if you’ve never seen the original movie from 1953, heard the radio broadcast of 1938 or read H.G. Wells novel from 1898. Basically, aliens (in the other version they’re from Mars, here they’re from another untold planet) come to Earth and start killing everybody.

The original book is written from the perspective of someone walking around 1898 London and seeing the devastation. There’s not just a whole lot of story there, so every version has had to change something to make it more exciting.

This time out Spielberg has decided to tell the (modernized) story through the eyes of an estranged father, Ray Ferrier (Mr. Crazy Cruise), who has to keep his two kids, Rachel and Robbie (Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin), safe from said aliens. The whole film is Ray trying to get his kids from New York City to Boston where his ex-wife (Miranda Otto) and her new husband (David Alan Basche) are visiting family.

Personally, I don’t think there’s a better way to make a movie closer to home for Joe and Jane Moviegoer than to put kids in peril. And there’s PLENTY of peril for these kids to get into. In fact, this is probably the scariest film that Spielberg has ever directed. (And, no, I’m not counting his WWII epics. Those are on a different plane. And he didn’t officially direct Poltergeist, so I’m not counting that, either.)

From the moment that lightening starts striking right outside of Ray’s house to when the tripods finally start to come out of the ground where they have apparently laid dormant for millions of years, to the end of the film, there isn’t a moment to stop and breath. It’s one scare after another. One dark corner to be very afraid of after another. One doe-eyed look of absolute terror on Dakota’s face after another.

And speaking of terror, if you think this movie is really about aliens, you’re crazier than Tom. Everything about these aliens said, “This could actually happen and, in fact, it HAS happened.” At one point early on, Rachel screams, “Is it the terrorists!?!” This is probably the most shiver-inducing moment in the entire film. Just to think that this is the first thought that comes into a child’s mind in these rough times is scarier than any special effect that Spielberg and his crew could have come up with. And with the recent attack in London, this story is even timelier. I don’t think Spielberg and company could have chosen a better time to make this movie. Any earlier and it would have been too soon and any later and it would have seemed a bit over the top. When Ray washes the ashes of the aliens’ victims off of his face, you can’t help but see the survivors of any terrorist attack on his face.

Janusz Kaminski’s cinematography is, as always, perfect. Not only does he use the same the same handheld effects at times that he used in Saving Private Ryan, but he makes everything look as if the camera is another person who is following the Ferriers around. This is the most realistic alien invasion film I’ve ever seen. The alien tripods aren’t seen clearly. They’re seen through a haze of destruction. There’s dust, dirt, grime and ashes everywhere and it fuzzes up everything we see. It’s horribly beautiful.

As for the performances…well, I hate to admit this (REALLY, I do), but I think this is the best ol’ Tom has EVER been. This is the first time that I’ve ever almost forgotten that he was “Tom Cruise.” I almost forgot to think of him as totally insane! He actually was Ray Ferrier for two hours. It was kinda weird. And kinda terrifyin’, really.

Dakota Fanning was, as always, excellent. She’s the latest in a long line of big-eyed Spielberg kids, but she’s also one of the best. This little girl is actually able to scream without being shrill and annoying. She’s a big reason why this movie was as frightening as it was. Justin Chatwin was almost as good, but all he really had to do was be pissed at his dad for the whole movie while taking care of his little sister because he thinks his dad is a total fuckup. (Which, actually, is a view shared by Rachel.)

Tim Robbins shows up for a short time as the crazed Harlan Ogilvy, a man who signifies all of the people who holed themselves up with duct tape and bottled water after the Trade Center went down. Or all of the people who put their families into small concrete boxes in the ground during the Cold War. He’s, of course, awesome, but he may as well be playing his character from Mystic River with a real dark streak in him.

If you’re up for some real scares, this is the movie for you. It’s fucking awesome. The only problem I had with it was the last bit where something happens that would ONLY happen in a Spielberg movie. Some have complained about the eventual resolution to the alien problem. Read the book again. That’s how it ends. And, really, that’s the most realistic ending. What I’m complaining about is the VERY end. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you see it.

And take a look at the two old folks at the end. They are the couple from the 1953 version of the story.