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Ok, let's get this out of the way; I'M FREAKING SICK AND TIRED OF KATIE AND TOM. I feel better. So what about this movie he's in? Some sci-fi thing? Yeeeaaaaaaaaah, he's in a movie, isn't he? And by Spielberg? AND it's a remake? Intriguing combination, isn't it? It's a testament to how powerful these two are that this movie started production in NOVEMBER! Yes, filming started a bit after Halloween and it's done in less then a freaking year! It's still good to be the king... but it's better to be Spielberg. (Sorry Tom, but as rich as you are, Spielberg per Forbes is worth over a billion bucks. And for those keeping score, Lucas is worth over three billion. Geeks rule!) So what happens when you combine the biggest Movie Star on the Planet with the Best Director of a Generation working on a remake of a campy sci-fi classic? Well, you get something that's pretty dang good... BUT...
The story... oh heck, if you're a sci-fi fan you're familiar with the aliens-come-to-Earth-to-whup-ass-and-take-names-but-are-repelled-at-the-last-second schtick. The first thing that catches your eye on the story is the perspective is different from most films. Usually the principals are power brokers; military leaders, political folks, et al. Heck, the President got to fly a plane and kick ET's ass. (A tip of the hat to Will Smith for that one.)
In this case, it's not the powerbroker's that are the center of the story. Instead, Friedman and Koepp have us follow the insane journey of a crane-operator from New England who's stuck with his two kids for a weekend visit. Think of this as 'The Real World' meets 'ID4'. That makes this story feel real and so terrifying. You don't know what's going on as a civilian, just that a bunch of biiiiiiiiig, baaaaaaaad tri-pod things rose out of the ground and are BLOWING UP EVERYTHING! You try to escape, but you don't have Air Force One to save you, just a truck, and a few thousand people who will do ANYTHING to get a ride in that truck. There is a very harrowing scene where Cruise and Co. make their escape in a min-van, and suddenly refugees riot and steal their van. There aren't any Maverick heroics here; Cruise looses the van and everyone barely escapes with their lives. However, this is what happens in real-life; people panic, social-order gets pitched... and people die.
Visually, the movie is stunning. Ok, this isn't a surprise. However, that assumption doesn't do the film any justice. Whether the trip-pods were CGI or what, they were scary as hell! Seeing them stomp through the countryside blasting their energy/plasma/death-ray things was an amazing sight, and they looked so incredibly real. Then you see TONS of them tromping through the country, exterminating everyone and destroying almost everything.
Problems? One is the movie seems to use every trick Spielberg learned from 'Jaws' and 'Jurassic Park'. Granted, it's still well done, but it feel like sometimes he's relying on the old 'Oooohhhhhh... can't see it from this angle but you'll see it in a second' trick.
The other problem is Cruise. No, his ACTING is fine. The problem is he's Tom Cruise, Super Star. Most actors immerse themselves into their roles so you just see The Character. The great ones seem to be possessed by their characters. Crowe, Washington, et al inhabit the characters they portray. However, some actors have such powerful personalities who they are over-shadows who they're PLAYING.
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