REVIEW - War of the Worlds

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written by Josh Friedman & David Koepp
Rated PG-13 - 118 Minutes

about this review - I received a note regarding a comment from my review of Insomnia, so I though I'd dig up this blast from the past to clear the air and for the benefit of the whole entire world.

Why Uncle Stevie? Why?!

War of the Worlds felt by the numbers from top to bottom, and featured what is becoming that standard dose of schmaltz I could really do without. An orgy of excess from the beginning to end, felt like a great big "see look what we can do" wham bam thank you ma'am, and if it didn't have the Morgan Freeman bookend narrations then it would have been a complete waste of nearly 2 hours. His voice is like butter.

There are a lot of people who liked this movie. If you did, that's your problem. My reaction was that I had seen this done before many many times. I know Spielberg can make better movies than this and I'll stick to those. I do wish I could convince this genius that a film can have heart without being sappy. The ending (and I mean the very ending) was so painfully sappy that I felt like the Velveeta processed cheese loaf was being shoved up my ass with out even being softened in the microwave first. That's not a good thing.

A good movie (as far as I'm concerned) sticks in your head after you walk out of the theater. It doesn't need a profound message or mind boggling storyline or even tour de foce performances from the cast. A bad movie could be equated to "missing time" of alien abduction lore. 2 hours that are inexplicably gone from your life. That's exactly how I felt after War of the Worlds.

I can't deny this movie looked great, with awesome visuals and special effects. The adaptation is fairly faithful to the book, even though the plot left holes big enough for me to parallel park in. This is a "popcorn movie" if there ever was one, but I don't think it's wrong to want a little bit more from a movie like this, the same way it would have been nice if there was a little more to The Lost World.

I'll try not to judge you if you liked this movie, but there are a hundred other movies that cost a fraction that War of the Worlds cost and will be a better use of your time and money. On the Mr. Blunderson Scale, I give this bad boy a "Meh."