FFVP Review - War of The Worlds

WAR OF THE WORLDS

It’s obvious, especially to the people who continue to live in the tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT) and who work in or around New York City that much of Steven Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds” alludes to the events of 9/11. He has as much as said so in the press and elsewhere. This notion is reinforced by the scene where Dakota Fanning’s Rachel asks her father if the attacks are from terrorists. The devastation, chaos, and fences lined with messages from people looking for loved ones are right out the headlines and newscasts of the day. The movie depicts whole swatches of the Eastern Seaboard attacked by the Aliens as imagined in H.G. Wells’ London. It’s no coincidence that Spielberg’s version of the story starts in New Jersey, a stone’s throw from New York.

The Plot: Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a divorced dock worker who gets his kids for the weekend. He and they aren’t too happy to see each other. He does his best, his son does his worst, and Rachel (the always perfect Dakota Fanning) is stuck in the middle. Ray’s worked all night. He’s tired. The kids don’t care. Electrical storms shower down beams of light that pierce the surface of the earth. War machines - walking tripods - the size of the Eifel Tower sprout from the earth bringing death and destruction. Ray runs away with the kids doing everything in his power to keep them and himself alive. He always manages to stay a heartbeat away from death giving Spielberg a chance to splash the screen with some of the most intense and frightening scenes he’s ever created. Anyone familiar with Wells’ original story or George Pal’s 1953 production with Gene Barry knows how “War of the Worlds” ends, but neither of them leave a residue of fear the way this movie does.

The Great Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa, described the devastation of an earthquake he witnessed as a child in the 1920s in his book, “Something Like an Autobiography.” He spoke of hundreds of bloated corpses floating down a blood stained river under a fiery red sky raining cinders from a city in flames. As any hard core cinephile knows, Spielberg is a great admirer of Kurosawa’s work. As I was watching “War of the Worlds,” I wondered if Spielberg had read the book. Many of the visuals come eerily close to the way I had imagined Kurosawa’s description of the carnage. Bodies float down a river - at first in increments. They increase exponentially with each blink of the eye. A scorched landscape is coated in the scarlet vomit spewed forth by the war machines. Fiery death rays streak the distant sky lava-like destroying everything in their path. Ray (Cruise) is the hero by default in a movie devoid of heroes. As a total entity, it’s the identification with Rachel and her child’s eye view of horror that makes “The War of the Worlds” all the more frightening.

Entertaining? “War of the Worlds” is too close to the bone for me to call it flat out entertainment. There is humor in Ray’s relationship with his kids, but there is nothing to laugh at when fear and danger literally stare you in the face. That’s only something that happens in the movies - but not this one. At the end of “War of the Worlds,” I had one thought in my head “There but for the grace of God go I.” This is exactly what I thought the morning after 9/11.

Everyone knows “Independence Day”(1996) but what about these Alien invasion movies - 3 are from 1953

“The War of the Worlds” (1953) - This one has The in the title. The basic plot is the same but the hero is a scientist played by Gene Barry. Some of the set pieces are similar but instead of Tripods, the Aliens fly around in an Alien version of the Army’s Cobra gun ship. The special effects are still pretty awesome. You never were able to get a good look at the alien creature roaming around in the basement of an abandoned house until video was invented. Now you can freeze the frame on DVD. The sense of mystery is gone. Spielberg has a scene that echoes the old one but he shows the aliens in all their CGI glory.

“It Came From Outer Space” (1953) - Originally shot in 3-D, this is a low budget classic from Jack Arnold, the man responsible for the classic, “The Incredible Shrinking Man.” Aliens take the form of humans. But why? Richard Carlson wants to know. Classic sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury had something to do with this.

“Invaders from Mars” (1953) - Dir, William Cameron Menzies. Production design and an imaginative script that tells its story from a boy’s point of view are it’s primary assets. A space ship burrows into a sand dune and sucks up the adults when they venture out to see what’s going on. They come back - different. Same modus operandi as “It Came From Outer Space” but more sinister. Plays like a Hardy Boy sci-fi mystery/ fantasy. Look closely and you can see the zipper on the back of the alien costumes. (it was remade in 1986 by horrormeister Tobe Hooper. It’s not as much fun.)

“Earth vs Flying Saucers” (1956) - Ray Harryhausen’s animated flying saucers make this a lot of fun. This was the forerunner of “Independence Day.” Same plot. Aliens invade. The good guys win.

“The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951) - Dir Robert Wise: Michael Rennie comes to Earth to warn the world’s leaders they are on a path of self destruction that could also destroy the universe. He can’t let that happen. Entertaining, suspenseful and cerebral at the same time. With Patricia Neal, Sam Jaffe, and Billy Gray (from Father Knows Best) One of the best. Klaatu…. etc.