November 27, 2006

  • War of the Worlds

    Rented 'War of the Worlds.'

    OK, it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: Spielberg is a genius. He can make commercial movies that are astonishing spectacles, while still making a statement about the times, and about the human condition.

    The real flaw of this movie is that it stars Tom Cruise. It's not that he's bad in it or anything; in fact he's pretty good. The problem is that when you see the face, it's the face of Tom Cruise. If it had been anybody else, this picture would gel 100%. But it's Cruise, which is a constant distraction.

    Beyond that, however, everything about this movie is just great. I should have seen it in the theater. It's a great thrill ride, and very dark and creepy. There are some loopy plot problems, but oh well. We see the aliens shooting people with a heat ray, but then we see that they're harvesting humans. We hear at the beginning that the aliens have been plotting to take over the earth, presumably from *us,* but then we learn that the aliens planted war machines under our feet tens of thousands of years ago. None of these things really jibe with the other, but the confusion often reflects the varying news we were hearing at the time about, for instance al Qaeda. Plot problems or reflections of the world? Spielberg probably won't answer.

    Note that at the same time I rented this movie, I rented 'The Andromeda Strain,' another big-budget (for its time) sci-fi thriller. The commonality of these movies is this: Airborne pathogens. But beyond that, neither movie rewards the efforts of humans: In 'War of the Worlds,' the aliens just die because they got sick. They came here ten thousand years ago to plant machines, but they didn't take their booster shots? Ahem. But in 'Andromeda Strain,' the crystalline virus just randomly mutates into a harmless form and is neutralized by seawater. Either movie, the efforts of man (and the efforts of aliens) are basically meaningless in the face of the hardships of the universe.

    So, uhm... yay.

    And speaking of 'The Andromeda Strain'... Robert Wise? Who knew? Click through and look at that list of films. It's pretty freakin' impressive. Dude edited 'Citizen Kane.' He was an assitant sound editor on 'Of Human Bondage,' 1934!

Comments (8)

  • Tom Cruise is ruined for me now. Grated my nerves and he is done with me and movies...

  • I suppressed the Cruise reflex and was able to enjoy WotW. I thought the sound effects were the star :)

  • I didn't much like it as a film - the ending especially - "oh, yeah, home to the untouched, well-dressed family" - very 1940s. But I thought the brilliance was the view of American refugees... echoed by fact just a few months later when Katrina hit.

  • didn't Robert Wise also direct Sound of Music? but ahhh those "Mercury Theater"-Wells alumni, always amazing...

  • I enjoyed the film too, and I completely agree with your "It's Tom Cruise" analysis of the main problem.

    Although there were also loads of complaints that the ending (having the aliens killed by bacteria) was unoriginal and old-hat, and that kind of stuff always amuses me...

  • Can I just say - having "airborne pathogens" as your tag is absolute genius. Surprisingly it's not that common on Xanga.

    *applauds heartily*

  • I didn't like that take on War of the Worlds because it was too claustrophobic. I know that Spielberg was focusing on "one man's story" but I never felt like there was a world-wide alien invasion going on... and that just killed it for me.

    That and the whole "their war machines were already buired under the ground!" bit. If the aliens had been here before, why not take over then?? It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

  • richard presten's "andromeda strain" has much more to it them you think. You should read "the cobra Event" or "the Hot Zone". They will scare your pants off. All about airborne pathegens and forms of ebola ziare, Marburg, which are uncurable. One is a true story that happened in new england. I even have a friend who lived there when it happened.

    dont trust hollywood. they always mess up the story. I know. I live in it. hahaha.

    -dan

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