War of the Worlds

Tom Cruise plays a deadbeat dad trying to reconnect with his estranged children, set against the background of an alien invasion. Maybe that's a little unfair to War of the Worlds, the "father as hero" theme that seems so popular recently (or maybe it always has been and I'm just beginning to notice) is rarely used quite so well. Cruise's character isn't really a hero at all, merely a man desperate to protect his children and lucky enough to (mostly) be able to in the face of the interminable Tripods. Indeed in a very nice touch, his son whom he knows little about acts in a manner more selfless and heroic.

The films perspective is rather neat, and again another trend that may or may not be current, being incredibly small. Following characters who may bare witness to, but are not directly involved or responsible for world changing events. Cruise does not save the earth or even at any point spark out a xenomorph and welcome it to Earth. It's a (pleasantly!) surprisingly desperate film as things progressively go from bad to worse and the characters and indeed humanities situation becomes increasingly bleak. Cruise, after a shaky start in which he's a little too much of himself, goes on to impress as a man grimly clinging to his own sanity for the sake of his offspring. (His daughter is the young girl from Taken, who also impresses, but does wear thing quickly with all her comedy neurosis.)

The third act drags the film down a little, dragging on as it does, having literally nowhere to go once things have passed "worse" and I felt Tim Robbins was poorly used, his character containing little of the subtlety he's capable of, but on the whole the film is a decent shot at apocalyptic fiction. It's a bit of a shame they named it War of the Worlds really, while much of the plot and many of the essential details are similar I would like to see a more faithful adaptation, setting and all, and feel there would be greater room for both if the name hadn't been commandeered, but then I suppose it might not have had Tripods in it if that were the case, which would have been a shame in it's own right. It is tremendously eerie to see the iconic machines stalking the landscape and the film contains some powerful imagery of which they are generally at the centre.