War of the Worlds

-Warning- this post contains spoilers for the movie War of the Worlds. If you don't want any of the plot given away, stop reading now.

Went to see War of the Worlds yesterday with Amy, Rena and Dad. I wish I would have gone to Batman Begins instead. I was fairly disappointed. It's not that it was bad... it just really didn't live up to the hype for me. There were inconsistencies galore, multiple implausible escapes and moments that made me question how hard they really tried at times. It was fun like you expect a summer blockbuster to be fun with great special effects and moments that make your heart pick up the pace a bit, but I left thinking, "That was it?"

A few observations:
I read a review that questioned why the teenage son was even needed in this movie since he inexplicably disappears midway through. I think the son was important in order to fully understand the character of Ray (played by Tom Cruise). Ray is obviously a guy of some intelligence and ability given his proficiency at his job and the fact he can give advice on how to fix cars to an auto mechanic. Ray is a likeable guy who seems to know everybody and is on friendly terms with them at the movie's start (except for his ex and his kids). Ray is in a state of suspended adolescence which displays itself in a lack of maturity, responsibility and the inability to really get started on the engine that's sitting on his kitchen table. Ray's son is at a critical moment in his development. He seems to be intelligent, likeable (to everyone but Ray) and lacks maturity as evidenced by his inability to get started on the paper that he has due on Monday and the fact he took Ray's car out without permission let alone a license. Ray hauls the kid out back to play some catch against his will and seems to criticize anything in his son that doesn't resemble Ray even though Ray is a mess. We see the kid display maturity and compassion long before Ray does and the act of Ray letting his son go his own path is symbolic of Ray letting his own immaturity go so that he can be the man he has to be in order to survive the circumstances that he finds himself in.

Really, I thought Tom, Dakota and the rest of the cast did a pretty good job with what they were given. I just thought the screenplay was pretty weak. You needed Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning and Tim Robbins to pull off the extended basement sequence where the audience finally got a break from vaporization and explosions and traded it for the psychological thrill of watching a battle of wills between two great actors. My only complaint about the sequence is that it definitely had a been here, done that feel to it. When the probe first came in and they were slinking around the basement trying to stay undetected, it was a rehashing of the raptors in the kitchen from Jurassic Park. Because of that, it didn't grip me because it wasn't fresh.

I did appreciate the fact that the movie didn't try to explain everything that was going on. Misinformation was a major theme of the movie as refugees kept spouting as "knowledge" any report they had picked up from along the way even though others had different info they were sharing with their fellow travelers. It may be that the intention was to leave some things unexplained as a way of showing us that we don't always have, or need the answers and that sometimes, in our quest to feel important or knowledgeable, we create answers that are ill fitting and incorrect to what is really going on in the world around us. Maybe that's not what was intended, but at least it gives me something to think about.

I also appreciated the fact that they didn't make Ray the savior of the film who discovered the weakness of the aliens or contributed mightily to their overthrow. Amy verbalized that on the way home. She said that in a movie like Independence Day everyone in the movie had an area of expertise or played a part in some way to defeat the alien invaders. It was nice to be at a disaster movie where you pretty much recognized the main character was helpless to stop what was going on around him (with the exception of the exit of Tim Robbins).

One of the biggest plot holes (as in the book) was pointed out by Amy right after the movie and again echoed by my good friend Tim Tedder who wrote, "I mean, to think that these super-advanced creatures (who'd spent hundreds/thousands of years planning this invasion) had never thought to send at least 1 member of their species to "test out" the planet (or, at least, to take the required air & water samples) is a bit unbelievable. Heck, I even know to do that before invading a planet! Or, at least, wear a mask and bring along bottled liquids."

It was entertaining, but won't find a way into my DVD collection no matter how many deleted scenes, commentaries and other stuff they are able to throw together for it. I may rent it again in a few years, but then again, maybe not.