War Of The Worlds begins with an adaptation of the first
paragraph from H.G. Well's novel, read by actor Morgan Freeman, which is a clear
sign right up front that director Steven Spielberg is clearly interested in not
just making any old "aliens invade earth story", but in retelling THE classic
Earth invasion tale, the very same one which has stood the test of time for over
a hundred years, now. Spielberg's film focuses on Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) a
dockworker who lives in the blue collar town of Bayonne, New Jersey. Ray's just
coming home from an all-night shift when he meets his ex-wife (Miranda Otto,
from the Lord Of The Rings) who drops off his kids, perky 10 year old Rachel (Dakota
Fanning) and her sullen teenage brother Ronnie (Justin Chatwin) while she and
her new husband go to Boston to visit her parents. It looks like it's going to
be another weekend with the kids until Bayonne suffers a very weird electrical
storm that knocks out power in houses, phones and cars, and where lightning
keeps striking the same place several times-such as in front of a church, where
the 26 repeated lightning strikes have caused a hole in the ground.
When Ray goes with his neighbors to check out the hole, they are all caught off
guard when the very ground begins to tremble and crack open as the surrounding
buildings all crumble under the strain. A giant Tripod machine inexplicitly
rises from the Earth and begins slaughtering everyone in the area with a death
ray. The victims disintegrate into powder, leaving only their clothing flapping
in the breeze like autumn leaves. Ray races home, grabs his kids, and steals the
only working vehicle--a minivan whose solenoids had already been changed by the
mechanic--from a garage and drives frantically out of the disaster zone. And so
begins a frantic quest for survival as Ray and his kids struggle to stay ahead
of the ever-advancing Tripods.
Spielberg has mounted an impressive new version of Well's story--one that remains
faithful to the source while still smartly updated for the early 21st century.
Since we now know that Mars is a barren wasteland--thanks to the fleet of robotic probes that we launched there over the
years--the Red Planet is now ruled out as the invaders' origin, as it was stated
in the book. However,
Spielberg armed the aliens with the immense Tripod war machines that Wells
described in his classic novel, and these are even equipped with cages for captured
humans, once again as Wells described. The blood red foliage that grows all over
everything in the novel is also here, but the most noticeable thing that writers
Josh Friedman and David Koepp have done us effectively recreate the spirit of
the novel within the confines of our present day world.
Well's novel told of the invasion from the personal, ground-level view of one
man, and by using that same storytelling technique (nothing in the film happens
unless Ray and his kids witness it firsthand) as well as using a photo realistic approach
to the aliens and their equipment, we get caught up in the madness and
horror of an entire civilization being literally smashed to cinders by these
cold-hearted outer-worldly invaders. And as a result, Spielberg makes the viewer
share the fear felt by the characters whenever one of the Tripods rears its ugly
head and makes that unsettling bellowing sound, as if calling the hunters
together to chase down the fox. I reviewed the 2-Disc Limited Edition DVD of War
Of The Worlds, which comes with a second disc filled with special features.
Unfortunately, Spielberg remains shy when it comes to audio commentaries, and
the War Of The Worlds does not have one. Yet if he truly wants his work to speak for itself,
then there's no better and more eloquent testament to his talent than this marvelous film.
--SF
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