DVD Reviews

War of the Worlds – Blu-ray Review

By Frankie Dees Jun 1, 2010, 15:44 GMT

An earth-shattering adventure that both "rivets and amazes" (Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune), "War Of The Worlds" reunites superstar Tom Cruise and Academy Award(R)-winning director Steven Spielberg for one of the most awe-inspiring cinematic experiences of all time! A contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells\' classic, the sci-fi thriller reveals the extraordinary battle for the future of humankind through the eyes of one American family. Fleeing from an extraterrestrial army of killer ...more

Reflecting the post-9/11 landscape, Spielberg, once Titan of the benign alien picture i.e. ‘Close Encounters’ and ‘E.T.,’ shows whippersnapper destructionists Emmerich and Bay how it’s done with a ravaging, gritty and peculiarly underrated adapt of H.G. Wells 1898 source novel.

With Tom Cruise in the passenger seat (who has rarely been better as a working-class Joe pushed into the role of being a responsible, protective father amidst extraordinary circumstances), Spielberg fashions one of the more resonant blockbusters of our time with a raw, desaturated look courtesy of cinematographer Janusz Kaminiski that lends itself perfectly to the mechanized, 10-story tripod alien terrorists that unmercifully devastate the American Eastern seaboard (among other places that we don’t see).

And as if to say he’s not playing around, we (thank God) don’t have to witness any landmarks being destroyed – just good ‘ol fashioned working-class Joe’s and their neighborhoods. So no, we don’t fall prey to the Statue of Liberty being raped by one of the tripods (a scenario that Bay or Emmerich might have been hard-pressed to avoid) or the White House being destroyed for the umpteenth time.

Well’s original novel, I believe the first to confront the idea of malevolent aliens with an eye on our gorgeous Earth (Martians in the novel and most subsequent versions, not classified as such here), is the perfect framework to put up a mirror to the respective era’s fears - industrialism and technology in the novel, the infamous Orson Welle's broadcast capitalized on pre-WWII anxiety and the Pal 53’ feature was all about Cold War paranoia.

So then, when Dakota Fanning’s little pipsqueak asks ‘Is it the terrorists?’ in a moment of escape and buildings crumble behind them, it’s no joke and Spielberg gains a topicality and a tension that other cheesefests like ‘Independence Day’ can’t hope to match.

The pic starts strong and rarely lets up as it opens with N.Y. crane operator Ray Ferrier (Cruise) immediately establishing what kind of character we’re dealing with. Zooming home in his classic Mustang, late for meeting his ex-wife with their kids for his weekend custody, the ex Mary Ann (Miranda Otto) is not amused as not are his kids, teen son Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and young daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning) both of whom do not seem all that thrilled with their obligated stay with Dad.

After a few terse words between father and son, Robbie takes off in the Mustang but before Ray can find him, he gets caught up with the crowds looking into the sky. What appears to be a storm to end all storms emerges with pounding lightning bolts coming from the sky and knocking out all electricity and even cars. When Robbie comes home safe, Ray takes off for a curious look at a crack in the street.

As curious onlookers peer into the hole, what feels like an earthquake erupts and a gigantic tripod terrorist comes tearing out of the hole and vaporizing everyone in sight leaving nothing but ash and, curiously their clothes.

No pause for explanation or justification, the aliens set forth in destroying everyone they can as quickly as they can. This sequence plays out almost like pure horror with death and madness surrounding the fleeing Ray as he runs home.

Good with cars, Ray is one of the few to figure out how to get a vehicle started and escapes with his kids with the idea of getting them to their Mom. Unsure as a father but trying his best, Spielberg sends his fractured family through a war-torn trek to get to Boston where May Ann is visiting her parents. Notable sequences of terror continue as they walk through the eerie aftermath of a crashed airliner and escape a doomed ferry.

Unable to control his son’s sudden desire for patriotism, he’s forced to let his son scramble into a military attack on the mechanized monsters to get back his daughter which leads into one of the best sequences of the film. Ray and Rachel take refuge in a farmhouse cellar with Harlan Ogilvy (Tim Robbins) - a man with a noticeably demented desire for revenge.

One of the clear ode’s to the George Pal pic, an eyeball-adorned tentacle sweeps through the cellar that has Ray and Rachel rush to escape all the while Ray tries to keep Harlan from attacking and killing them all.

The ending comes quickly and true to the novel and despite some grumblings regarding the son character has some shadings that reminded me of John Ford’s ‘The Searchers’. The pic isn’t perfect, particularly for those that wish to overanalyze - i.e. how did that guy have a working vidcamera when all electronics died?

And didn’t they have a kitchen full of food when Ray was forced to slap some peanut butter on some bread? But most of these issues are nitpicky when considering the effectiveness of the film as a whole.

Unfortunately, while the film was a hit, I think it got a bit overshadowed by Cruise’s crazy antics that summer including the notorious Oprah couch jump. Silly when thinking about it now, but the backlash against Cruise’s eccentric behavior still seems to unjustifiably continue onto this day.

A shame as all that media brouhaha no doubt soured the relationship between Cruise and Spielberg, a working collaboration that spawned two of the best sci-fi pics of the decade.

We get a 1080p AVC 1.85:1 encode that perfectly matches the director’s and cinematographer’s intended look but doesn’t make for an amazing high-def experience considering the intentional softness and grittiness of the picture where colors have been drained and grain added.

Make no mistake, this is the best the pic will look at home and still looks amazing as long as you keep in mind what Spielberg was going for.

The DTS-HD Master Aud track, though, is nothing but a marvel and will no doubt have your neighbors at the door asking you to turn it down. The LFE channel will shake your pictures off the wall and I can only consider that a good thing!

Special Features have been carried over from the 2-disc DVD, unfortunately with nothing new for the Blu-ray release, which are mostly a series of featurettes and a photo gallery. ‘Revisiting the Invasion’ has some quick cast and crew interviews, ‘The H.G. Wells Legacy’ runs 7 minutes and has the Well’s family talk about the famous author, ‘Steven Spielberg and the original War of the Worlds’ is 8 minutes and shows Spielberg talking about the Pal version of the flick and how he secured some cool cameos.

‘Characters: The Family Unit’ takes a look at the, um, family seen in the film. ‘Previsualization’ takes a look a the previs work, ‘Designing the Enemy’ looks at what into the creation of the aliens and the tripods, ‘Scoring the War of the Worlds’ gives us a closer look at John Williams score.

‘We Are Not Alone’ has Spielberg sharing a few quick words on the alien pics he made thus far. Along with ‘Galleries’ and the ‘Trailer’, the meaty extra is the hour and a half ‘Production Diaries’ which covers all the aspects of production. Comprehensive but I still would have liked something new.

‘War of the Worlds’ is the perfectly mature counterpoint to Spielberg’s more innocent earlier alien pics, great pics made of a simpler time (if you’ll pardon the old adage). The pure definition of a smart thrill ride, the only negatives I have for the package is a lack of new Blu-ray content.