War Of The Worlds

A lot has been made of the wackiness that is Tom Cruise. Yeah, it looks like he's gone off the deep end. But, to review effectively this movie, I must ignore all of that.

This was a really good movie, right up to the end. The end blew.

Now, I'm NOT talking about how the war ends. The war ends the usual way. The same as the book, the same as the other movies. What I'm talking about is the film's "epilogue". It's wrong. I'm sorry: I can't go into more detail than that without giving things away. But mark my words, there should have been some changes to the end.

ANYWAY, the rest of the movie was great. The effects are amazing (of course). But what surprised me was how much I enjoyed Cruise's performance. Cruise plays "Ray", a blue collar union guy, divorced, with 2 kids. He's a crappy father. It's his weekend with the kids, and he forgot. He's unresponsible. He's a child. He has nothing but condiments in his refrigerator. And he's stuck with his daughter and son when "it" hits the fan.

I really liked the development of Ray's relationship with his kids. Dakota Fanning is very good. Yes, she's annoying in this movie, but it's a believable annoying. She acts like an 11-year-old girl who is watching the world be destroyed, and isn't with her mother. I've never seen the actor who plays the 15-year-old son, but he's decent. Filled with self-righteous anger and resentment toward his father. There are some great character development moments in this movie, between and amongst them all.

This is an epic, end-of-the-world movie told on a very personal level. There's no Army general discussing tactics. You don't see the President. You don't see any famous landmarks get destroyed. You only see what the family sees. And they see a lot. It has a "Signs" feel to the story-telling; that is, if the family in "Signs" lived in New York City.

But, in spite of how much I really liked the film, the ending soured me. I'll probably get it on DVD, and just stop the film at a certain point, and pretend the actual ending was never there. Yeah. If I can do that, then I can recommend this movie wholeheartedly.