Kim Gentes

Meet Ray (Tom Cruise). He is the knowningly disconnected father who, though he is street smart, lacks the common sense not belittle his teenage son or keep even basic food in the house. You start off really disliking Ray, as he gets his two children for the weekend from his ex-wife, Mary Ann. You might even despise him.

But in about 10 minutes your disposition against Ray will evaporate, as you cling to your neighbors seat and hold on for the most gripping realism based effects ever put to screen. Cruise learns quickly that alien machines are coming up out of the ground and literally distintigrating people and destroying everything. It soon becomes evident that the battle scenes aren't local, and you realize that whole world is under seige. With virtually no electronic devices or electricity usable, the cities shut down and fear takes hold of everyone.

The effects are not even describeable. You will lose perception of what is real and what is effects while you are watching this film. Buildings, freeways, vehicles fly through the air, whilst gigantic alien machines crush and "shoot" (with a distintigrating "ray" that is a very cool effect) everything in their paths. The aliens don't seem to have much of a plan, other than just whipe out everyone. The story is very straightforward and doesn't veer off into a director's fest- instead Speilberg takes the job of trying to simply tell the story of War of the Worlds, keeping all the major plot items intact.

And while the plot is good, Speilberg makes this movie about people and families, not aliens and invasion. Like every movie he does, this directory wraps our reality into his film and you immediately recognize the film as something near your home, your neighborhood, friends, and family. Cruise's character turns his self-protective and selfish character from brutish father into caring patriarch. But the transformation is not without pain. Encountering peril after peril, him and his children survive through cunning and luck to live another moment. Eventually, they run into the most gripping character in the movie, played by Tim Robbins. Robbins does an exceptional job playing the wacked out, and isolated renegade who will try to take on the aliens by himself, and you wonder if Ray and Rachel (Dakota Fanning) are safer facing the aliens than with this nutjob (you'd be right!).

The dark irony of Ray protecting his child while doing something horrible, is the tension of survival that Speilberg inserts poignantly into various places in this film. It happens once when their car is assaulted by others fighting for transportation, and another time behind a closed door with Robbins character.

Slowly Ray learns the lessons of his own decisions causing unspeakable hurt. Fanning is not just a pretentious little girl in this film, she is downright obnoxious. I can't say she is completely over the top (I mean, heck if the world was getting destroyed by aliens all around, I suppose a 8 year old girl might be freaking out), but the constant scream and freak show by Fanning was the only thing that actually distracts you from watching this great movie.

The final outcome is for you to see, and it is well done. But what happens in this film is covering for the family story Speilberg is telling here about people growing up, and about how humanity makes decisions about each others lives, and will trade one for another, if it comes to it. Cruise character moves from bad dad to Michael Landon wise by the end of the film, and you actually believe it-- its too bad the rest of us guys don't have an alien invasion to teach us to be better fathers. Then again, maybe not.

Don't miss this film on the big screen. There is no way you will believe the imagery in this film until you see it. It's even more horrifying and real than StarWars III because, unlike Lucas' recent masterpeice, what happens here is on a very real, very touchable earth, where real people (not Jedi Knights) die-- and you feel it.

Do NOT bring the kids to this film. No one under 12 should see this violence and fear.

A new epic. Really!

First off, let me say that I enjoyed this movie as just a good time of laughing. The problem was, I kept looking for a good plot, or deeper character portrayal, and that somewhat derailed me for just kicking back and taking it as a simply comedy. The jokes are shallow, but very funny, and thankfully not in ill-taste. In fact, I found this a very refreshing script, in terms of its cleanliness from sex induced humor. That isn't to say they don't have any sexual references, but there is no Saturday Night Live dialog here, and it serves the TV going audience an appropriate meal of humor they would expect.

Ferrell does a very good job with his lines, especially delivering the surprised and dumb-founded moments in the film. He hasn't been this funny since Elf. It works well and you enjoy it.

But the film has drawbacks. The plot, while clever (a movie about a real witch who gets involved with a remake of Bewitched, a TV program about a witch in suburban america). It sounds more confusing than it is, and the idea has some good traction. But the reuse of characters gets old and the lack of devotion to a clear plot leaves you feeling like they had no story to hang these good jokes and two good perfomances on.

While Ferrell and Kidman do very good jobs with their characters, remaining casting is fair to bleak. Michael Caine plays the warlock father of Kidman, and while he never misplays his roll, he isn't given much to work with but evil fatherly advice. Shirley McClain plays the mother of Kidman's TV character and she does just about everything she can to ruin the movie including dispassionate delivery of her lines and ruthless grandstanding, which is actually written into the script. McClain should have been shown out on audition of this film as she ruins every scene she tries to be a part of including an advice session with Kidman. Beyond that, the supporting cast goes from bad to worse with the assistants and stage hands of the "Bewitched" studio set being one horribly cast stereotype after another.

The movie was funny, but without Kidman and Ferrell it would have never even reached the theatres. More duet scenes with just them would have been just fine. The film wasn't the "magic" the studios would like it to be, but it is worth seeing, at least on rental if not on the screen.