Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: War of the Worlds (2005) ::
by William the Bloody
For those of you who are completely detached from reality, a summary: Mankind is not as alone in the universe as it thinks. Even now, they are watching, and waiting, for the time to strike...! Ray works for the railroad. He is divorced, with two kids, whom he rarely sees but will be spending some time with because ex-wife and step dad are going on vacation. His teenaged son hates him and resents being left with him, and he barely knows a thing about his young daughter. Later that day, there is a lightning storm, terrible and odd; there is no thunder with this lightning, and suddenly, nothing electric works. Ray gets this creepy crawly feeling and follows the slurry of rumours to where he heard the lightning struck and left a crater. A crowd gathers around the dent in the pavement. The ground lurches, but this is New York where there are no active fault lines, so what's going on? The strange lightning, the shifting ground, suddenly adds up into something horrific as a humungous and definitely alien vehicle rises out from under the street. At first, no ones knows what to think or make of it, except Ray, who runs. And runs. Suddenly, the three legged alien vehicle starts shooting off evil beams of death into the crowd. They die instantly. Ray races home to his children. After a short initial bout of shock, he has them gather all the food they can and get the hell out of there. The children think of their mother and so Ray takes them on a journey to find her and hopefully, stay alive.
The Good: The first thing we must address is Mr. Cruise in the lead role. Surprisingly, he did not suck, and I have been known to avoid films altogether just because of his presence. His acting was actually quite good, particularly during his scene of utter shock following the death ray massacre. Next, the infamous alien tripods totally rocked my socks. Straight outta the book there and looking spectacular! Also, overall the CG effects were extremely well done, and I am the first to shake my fist at poor CG and CG blending. The death ray effects were also great. And thinking on the death rays, once we get past meeting Ray and his family, this whole film is wall to wall action and suspense! All edge of your seat, nail biting stuff! I was glad that Ray goes through the film looking out for his family and not the welfare of a woman as in the old film because this eliminates the unnecessary romance subtext and the will-they-or-won't-they hook up ickiness. John Williams delivers yet another in a long line of excellent scores. Morgan Freeman as the narrator who opens and closes the film was an added bonus.
The Bad: Dakota Fanning wasn't quite up to snuff as Tom Cruise's daughter. She did okay for most of the movie, but there were bit where she just seemed to be standing there, glaring, without emoting; just a completely neutral face. The ending of the film involving Ray (not the germ ending, but the character ending) was just too... implausible and self serving. I don't know what Spielberg was thinking, really. Part of me was hoping that it was a dream, that last bit, and that Ray would wake up with still more ahead of him to reach his goal. The effects of the actual aliens themselves was the only CG I found to be lacking over the high quality of the rest.
All in all, being a long time fan of the book, the radio play and the old film from 50 years ago, I don't think I could've asked for a better modern day, New York based retelling. The action, suspense and effects were excellent, even giving us a wonderful performance from a usually despicable Cruise. The ending was just so sickly it gave me diabetes, which was too bad because I was thoroughly enjoying until then.
B+
