WAR OF THE WORLDS

3/5
tom cruise, dakota fanning, miranda otto

i remember watching the original version of this film late at night a few years ago, and all i can remember the amount of close-up shots of women screaming their lungs out. like really, really loudly.

the film opens with a voice over by morgan freeman, who says since the beginning of time earth was being watched. and humans, in their infinite complacency, allowed themselves to be watched... and to their own peril. in a series of freak lightnight storms, aliens descend upon the earth and operate huge machines in attempts to annihilate human kind.

the re-make by steven speilberg has retained some of that screaming - well, a lot of it - but packs in a very visually stunning package. i don't even remember the character's names but overall the film was quite enjoyable. the special effects were a mixture of CG and live action, put together almost flawlessly.

acting-wise, it hink everyone we believable. props particularly to dakota fanning ("i am sam") who never ceases to amaze. the directing wasn't as good or fluent as i expected from spielberg, but still bareable. i don't usually like tom cruise, but in this film he was alright. although he did play the lead role, it was as if he could've been ANYONE in that situation. for instance, he hada no special skill or there was nothing particularly exceptional about his character - he was literally an average joe and that allowed him to viewed as such - as opposed to "tom cruise who went off the rails oprah styles".

all in all, a good movie. i prob wouldn't see it again but for it was, i had a good time.

-LOki