Tags: Alien, Disaster, Father, Parenthood, Gritty, Disturbing, Science Fiction Summary: On the run, stay together, stay alive, is the consistent theme represented here, and with intensity Spielberg motions audiences by installing terrifying nail-biting sequences, insights into paranoia and desperation.
Cast: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto Director: Steven Spielberg Genre: Sci-Fi Action MPAA: This film is rated PG-13 for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and disturbing images.
Similar Films: “The Day After Tomorrow” (Dennis Quaid), “Signs” (Mel Gibson).
"No one would have believed in the early years of the twenty-first century that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own. That as men busied themselves about their various concerns, they observed - and studied. With infinite complacency, men went to and fro about the globe, confident of their empire over this world. Yet, across the gulf of space, intellects vast, and cool, and unsympathetic regarded our planet with envious eyes... and slowly, and surely, drew their plans against us."
"War of the Worlds", from director Steven Spielberg, is a masterly crafted cinematic achievement, dark and atmospheric; it's sequences maneuvered by an established director who's inspiration and cinematic eyesight overshadows the screenplay downfalls, allowing audiences to witness classic Hollywood, modernized with today's big budget special effects and awing visual. For those expecting the endless blow-em-up antics that dominated "Independence Day", will likely be disappointed; "War of the Worlds" is more so like the classic and overlooked "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), where survival is the prime initiative, not fighting back. On the run, stay together, stay alive, is the consistent theme represented here, and with intensity Spielberg motions audiences by installing terrifying nail-biting sequences, insights into paranoia and desperation. "War of the Worlds" is more like "Jurassic Park" and "Minority Report" then like "E.T." and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".
Director Steven Spielberg resume includes "The Terminal" (Tom Hanks), "Catch Me If You Can" (Leonardo DiCaprio), "Minority Report" (Tom Cruise), "Artificial Intelligence: AI" (Jude Law), "Saving Private Ryan" (Tom Hanks), "Amistad" (Anthony Hopkins), "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (Jeff Goldblum), "Schindler's List" (Liam Neeson), "Jurassic Park" (Sam Neill), "The Color Purple" (Danny Glover), "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (Drew Barrymore), "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (Harrison Ford), "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (Richard Dreyfuss), and "Jaws" (Richard Dreyfuss).
Academy Award nominee Tom Cruise ("Magnolia", "Jerry Maguire", "Born on the Fourth of July") effectively portrays the distant and nearly estranged father to two kids, who is given the opportunity to abandon his own selfishness in an effort to protect his family. His films include "Collateral", "The Last Samurai", "Minority Report", "Mission: Impossible II", "Magnolia", "Eyes Wide Shut", "Jerry Maguire", and "Rain Man".
The cast includes Dakota Fanning ("Hide and Seek", "Man on Fire"), Justin Chatwin ("Taking Lives"), Tim Robbins ("High Fidelity", "Mystic River"), Yul Vazquez ("Traffic", "Bad Boys II"), and Miranda Otto ("Flight of the Phoenix", "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers").
"War of the Worlds" has it's obvious flaws, including what many will claim to be a weak conclusion. Overall, anyone who enjoyed films like the following will certainly be entertained by this big budget feature: "Jurassic Park", "Jaws", "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), "Independence Day", "Godzilla", and "Minority Report".
