War of the Worlds
Last night I took my lovely wife out to see War of the Worlds. Yeah for the
Anyway, I just had to say that that movie was horrendous. I can not really think of any redeeming qualities. It was dark, gruesome, cynical, and fairly poorly made. The escapes were improbable, the physics impossible, and the conclusion laughable. What happened to Spielberg?
Now, the book itself is fairly dark. But, there seemed to be a new cynicism that was added to this movie. It was not merely man against alien. Instead, it seemed to be turned into some kind of family against the world. Most action movies have some aspect of men coming together and conquering with man's ingenuity. But, perhaps Sept. 11th has gotten to Spielberg. The entire worldview seemed to be about the survival of the fittest and dependence on lucky happistance. I guess I am curious to know if this an indication of a cultural shift or merely an individual voice joining in the flood contrary and incoherent noise of our pop culture...
posted by Secretwallaby @ 7:54 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Yeah, Jonathan and I didn't like that movie either. Now, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...that was enjoyable.
Eh, I thought it was pretty cool. Of course, I watched the original The War of the Worlds movie and so I was happy that there was something made of much better quality. The first part of the movie was the best, but then later it got really crazy and ended up being more of an episode out of the Twilight Zone.
I don't know what the book says, but I got the impression from the movies that men never actually conquered the aliens in the books.
I thought the acting was good, though. Even Dakota Fanning who usually performs more like an adult stuck in a kid's body rather than just a plain kid. She did good in this movie.
The ending sucked.
And Libby is right, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was fun and enjoyable.
Dustin, you are biginning to overthink everything, is there no simple enjoyment without analyzing?
Beginning? I've been overanalyzing for years...but I am not sure this is one of those cases. Stories give pictures to ideas, and while some stories are just pure fluff with no point, this one was a little too preachy to make that case. And there are lots of cases that I can sit back and just enjoy a movie. Superhero movies, Star Wars, Star Trek, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc. all have elements of rediculousness, or even terrible philosophies, but are enjoyable.
But WotW didn't do it's job. It didn't make the rest of the movie enjoyable enough so that I could over look it's problems. All I could see was incoherent plot lines, implausible escapes, and great special effects...of very grewsome imagery, all pushing an interesting worldview considering the current state of the world. Hence my post. ;-)
I think it might be more accurate to see that Spielberg's concerns have been moving from a large-scale interest to the more intimate interests of the family. AI, for example, is all about that kind of love.
In interviews and reviews, the stressed aspect of this movie is that it's an attempt at being a unique action movie. It wants to show something different than other action movies, that is, capture the life of one small insignificant and helpless family in the middle of the wide mess of a global or (in this case) interstellar conflict. Tom Cruise, in dealing with his impotency, learns to love his family and do his best despite. I suppose that's a less we can all learn.
I don't think it's irrational to think that he's attempting to expand the moral from the microcosm, in the spirit of the book, to the world in general.
But I agree that the movie isn't entertaining. It turns out that it's not entertaining to watch impotent sympathetic characters be beaten upon mercilessly by a hideous evil.
It's also supposed to be a commentary on the War on Terror. I'm not sure what it's trying to say: perhaps suggesting that doing nothing is the cure? But that's just bizarre.
Have you seen Spielberg's latest project?
It's called Munich, and it's about vengeance. Very curious.
I'd have to agree about the movie...the worldview is depressing. Thanks for filling out my survery recently! Well hope your Thanksgiving was great...it was sure great to see ya.
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