Jun 29, 2005 8:45 am US/Central
War Of The Worlds
Richard Roeper: "See It"
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Before Tom Cruise started dancing on couches and making out with Katie Holmes in public, he made a little movie with Steven Spielberg called "War of the Worlds." And though Cruise doesn't jump on any furniture, he spends most of the movie running for his life.
Tom Cruise is at the center of the story, but he's hardly in super-hero mode. Cruise plays a heavy machinery operator and divorced dad who's barely connected with his kids. When the skies above his modest house begin to sizzle with lightning, it takes a while for his paternal instincts to kick in.
Spielberg infuses the screen with his trademark low-angle camera moves and overexposed lighting, and the special effects are state of the art.
There are also some spectacular set pieces involving hundreds of extras. This is one of the most expensive films ever made, and you can see why.
As the aliens obliterate everything in their sight, mankind begins to turn on itself.
The story stalls a bit about two-thirds of the way through, after Cruise and the kids have narrowly avoided getting slaughtered for about the 15th time. This has always been the problem with the original source material and with other attempts to dramatize "War of the Worlds." The machines are so dominant that not even Tom Cruise can do anything to combat them until – well, I don't want to give it away, but let's just say the climax is anti-climactic.
Rated PG-13 for some pretty gory bloodshed and disturbing images, "War of the Worlds" is one of Spielberg's lesser efforts – but as the summer movie equivalent of a roller coaster ride, it has just enough thrills for me to say, See It.
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