"War of the Worlds" Review

I had the opportunity to see a preview of Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds on Tuesday, and it's pretty good. As I was driving home from the theater, there was a wicked thunderstorm brewing. Lightning was flashing, and for just one second, I swear I saw one of those alien tripods lumbering across the horizon. It's one of those movies whose imagery sticks with you well past the running time.

The film is a return to form in both storytelling and effects for Spielberg, but one in which he inverts some the themes of alien interaction established in Close Encounters of the Third Kind or E.T. -- these aren't friendly aliens greeting us as universal benefactors, and instead of a playful musical motif, these suckers blast what sounds like a foghorn before aiming their death rays.

Playing an every-guy who's at first unlikeable and never a real action hero, Tom Cruise is good enough to make you not think too often about all the pop culture crap surrounding him lately (although I was reminded about the are similarities between parts of the movie's storyline and some of what Scientologists believe).

The story is told almost completely from Cruise's character's perspective as he experiences what is befalling the Earth - and you are able to piece together the larger story only as he does. The more personal narrative separates this film from the likes of Independence Day, and while there aren't shots of national landmarks being obliterated as in that film, the specter of September 11 hangs heavily.

Dakota Fanning is already a good actress and has a bright future, and Tim Robbins is sufficiently unhinged. I would quibble with a couple of plot points and the film seemed to wrap a bit too suddenly, but I would see it again and strongly recommend it.