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Published On: Jul 13, 2005 01:40 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jul 13, 2005 01:40 PM
War of the Worlds
Chase Movie grinds to a halt and then somehow gets
even cheesier (Spoilers toward the end).
It is fairly well-documented that I love disaster
movies, so I of course wanted to see this. +, I quite liked Minority Report, so
I was fine with another Spielberg/Cruise pairing, even if the latter is
approaching full-on meltdown mode in
public.
So, here I was, an hour into this movie, loving it. I had a healthy dose of reality suspension (for a list of all of the problems I had to ignore, see Sam and Rebecca's review), and was instead enthralled by the intense pacing, amazing effects, and good acting by Cruise and Fanning, who both realistically portray the horror of the situation as well as the pathos of their strained father-daughter relationship.
And then they decide to spend way too long with Tim Robbins. I really hope he gets out of this crazy guy trend (see Mystic River), because I miss the swaggering, kind of sexy Robbins of The Player and other films. However, Robbins really isn't the problem. This part of the film just sucks the life out of the movie. Sure, hiding from aliens is tense...but not for this long, and not when you are ripping off Signs.
And then, the movie just loses it.
SPOILER!
We don't really get a full explanation of why exactly the aliens fall apart, just that Tom Cruise is somehow the only one who recognizes their deterioration. And then, in the ultimate kowtowing to cheese, everyone survives! Even the son who willingly walked into a wall of fire! Hooray! Oh wait, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. We had all resigned ourselves to his death, so where is the payoff for his life? It's just false, given that every other family on the Eastern seaboard has lost something.
So, the film is worth it for the first half; walk out at that point and you won't be disappointed.
So, here I was, an hour into this movie, loving it. I had a healthy dose of reality suspension (for a list of all of the problems I had to ignore, see Sam and Rebecca's review), and was instead enthralled by the intense pacing, amazing effects, and good acting by Cruise and Fanning, who both realistically portray the horror of the situation as well as the pathos of their strained father-daughter relationship.
And then they decide to spend way too long with Tim Robbins. I really hope he gets out of this crazy guy trend (see Mystic River), because I miss the swaggering, kind of sexy Robbins of The Player and other films. However, Robbins really isn't the problem. This part of the film just sucks the life out of the movie. Sure, hiding from aliens is tense...but not for this long, and not when you are ripping off Signs.
And then, the movie just loses it.
SPOILER!
We don't really get a full explanation of why exactly the aliens fall apart, just that Tom Cruise is somehow the only one who recognizes their deterioration. And then, in the ultimate kowtowing to cheese, everyone survives! Even the son who willingly walked into a wall of fire! Hooray! Oh wait, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. We had all resigned ourselves to his death, so where is the payoff for his life? It's just false, given that every other family on the Eastern seaboard has lost something.
So, the film is worth it for the first half; walk out at that point and you won't be disappointed.
Posted: Wed - July 13, 2005 at 09:35 AM |