I liked it, Tom Cruise is getting better as an actor, he's actually trying to play a character instead of just himself like in past movies. He was ok in The last Samurai as well, he's losing his youth, so he may as well learn to act to keep getting big roles.
The design of the aliens and the special effects were terrific, really top notch. Apart from those gonad baskets holding up all the people. That was daggy as crap. The noise the aliens made was VERY EERY! They got that just right. I'd have to listen again, but they do two notes, one after the other, a tritone I would think - known as the devil's interval! This interval was banned from use in much old music (middle ages etc) because it was waaay too scary and unpleasant! Think the first two notes from the simpsons, or the intro to purple haze by Hendrix, or the start of killing in the name by RATM. All uses the tritone to sound wierd.
I think the kids were SUPPOSED to be annoying and worry too much about trivial matters (Dakota Fanning) because they didn't initially understand the scale of the problem or what had happened. This helped create tension in the relationship and make Cruise have to take responsibility and try and be a good Dad. It makes sense that as the daughter realises the scale of the invasion, she becomes markedly less annoying. Her back problem wasn't too annoying for her when she was about to get killed. It totally works with the plot.
Speilburg also had some nice subtle satire thrown in:
Robbie: "Is it terrorism?"
Cruise: "No Robbie, its not terrorism..."
Robbie: "Where did they come from then? Europe?!"
Cruise: "NO ROBBIE! THEY'RE NOT FROM EUROPE!!"
I thought this was funny.
There are only two big problems I had with the movie. One is the continuity of how Robbie escaped that massive explosion and got to his Mum's house without a scratch (a little cheese is expected, it IS SPIELBURG!!), and the other is the credit the narrator gives GOD at the end, by mentioning God as if he had some grand plan to save all the humans (the aliens didn't have the
right to live on Earth? God had only chosen humans as the top dogs?!).
It was VERY STRANGE TO MIX UP A SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION TO WHY THEY (the aliens) DIED WITH A RELIGIOUS MESSAGE ALSO!!
I was totally fine with the ending otherwise, the bacteria/disease thing is a nice idea. Obviously you can't have some big fight and have Team America win, thats just pure cheese. Even though the aliens were so smart, and potentially could've worked out the bacteria thing, I don't think thats too bad an inconsistency. Its consistent with the book, and I can suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy it. It was possible they had bigger worries than wondering about little bacteria. They might've easily had a superiority complex with all those huge tripods and lasers and just assumed they would kick arse (which they did for a while). The sheilds going down without explanation was fine, the viewer should be wondering why the aliens are dying (as the humans in the film would be feeling - just an unsure kinda optimism happenin'..) until the bacteria/disease thing is explained perfectly well at the end. If you need more explanation, you just can't suspend your disbelief enough to enjoy a film, or you're just a dumbass.
Great film overall, I liked how crazy and realistic the humans behaved in that mob kinda mentality... I didn't expect Spielburg to portray the majority of humans soo darkly. I liked how the only song Ray knew to sing to Dakota was about a hot-rod. It was a very cheesy but ultimately touching scene where it really hits Ray just how crappy a Dad he's been so far. Yes, a cheesy plot, but the characters were so (erm.. human?) and realistically portrayed it overcomes the simplicity and inherent cheesyness of the storyline.
A great movie slightly dampened by the religious reference at the end, and Robbie not dying. I think if Robbie had died it would've made the movie much more powerful and strengthed the emotional complexity throughout the rest of the film, particularly at the end when delivering Dakota home. It would've been a strange, almost joyous, victorious defiance as well as a feeling of powerlessness and mortality, which would've made the ending much more interesting and involving instead of just cheese. I expected them to all go inside and eat apple pie and have cranberry ice-cream after the reunion.
Well, they are flaws an American film (particulary one by speilburg) is expected to have, and within these confines of film-making I thought it was a thoroughly impressive and entertaining (not to forget tense and suspenseful) movie.
8.9/10
, like my friend , and on the other hand dakota fanning got so annoying i found myself strangling an invisble neck during the movie specially when she started screaming in the van.
