Review – War of the Worlds (2005)

I’ve seen a lot of bad movies in my life. Heck, I’ve seen a lot of bad movies this year. But this is the first bad movie in awhile that I’d actually classify as a disappointment. Though Wells’ novel wasn’t an eternal work of staggering genius, it could nonetheless have been turned into an entertaining – maybe even interesting – movie. Certainly this monster-budget picture had all the technical quality needed to pull it off. But then Tom Cruise gets cast in the lead role. His charmless charm and witless smirking may have made him ideal for roles in movies such as Top Gun, but two decades later it just doesn’t work anymore. I also suspect Cruise’s presence may have been in some way connected to the Scientology elements that appear to have crept into the story. But oddly enough, the direction is far worse than the acting. I’ve never been the world’s biggest Spielberg fan, but in the past I’ve at least been impressed by his ability to pace a production. But no longer, or at least not here. The story moves relentlessly from one peril to the next with almost no gaps in between for plot or character development. The result is a two-hour movie-going experience roughly akin to the interminable chase sequence in Texas Chainsaw Massacre only with Martians instead of a guy with a chainsaw and the entire human race rather than a teenage girl. The combination of Wells, 9/11 and a lot of expensive effects could have been used to make a much better movie. See if desperate