A film by Steven Spielberg with Tom Cruise, a score by John Williams and cinematography by Janusz Kaminski, coming together in an everyman film about struggle against ‘the other’. An easy blockbuster right? Wrong. My advice based on Saturday’s viewing of War of the Worlds? Don’t bother if you’ve not already had the misfortune to waste your cash on it.
Even with time to mull it over, I’m honestly struggling to think of a redeeming feature – there were plot holes and inconsistencies, corny dialogue, far, far too much screaming, an overlong cameo involving Tim Robbins, and one of the most underexplained and anticlimactic endings of any recent summer ‘hit’ (basically we were all doomed apart from the stupidity of the “intelligences greater than our own”).
If it’s true that it takes about a decade to get something from inception to screen, thereby reflecting in our present-day viewing the concerns and events of ten years earlier, maybe we should blame 1995 its part in the making of this film. It was the year of the Oklahoma City bomb, the collapse of Barings Bank (courtesy of Nick Leeson), and the Srebrenica massacre. It was the busiest hurricane season in 62 years, and the year that OJ Simpson was tried and found not guilty. I know that if you searched any year it’d look pretty bleak, but if even this short summary doesn’t invoke ‘fear of the other’ and ‘struggle to survive against events outside our control’, I don’t know what does.
In the greater scheme of blockbusters though, I’m struggling to think of a better (worse?) example of wasted potential. Maybe Minority Report? A film by Steven Spielberg with Tom Cruise, a score by John Williams and cinematography by Janusz Kaminski… Ah. I was blind but now I see...
3 comments:
We watched it on one of our wedding anniversaries - possibly one where we were just very tired - and honestly, it doesn't rank very highly as wedding anniversaries go...
I haven't really got much time but.... I think your missing the point.
These films were never meant to change the world or answer deep questions (Thank God). They are more showcases of ideas that the film makers have and have used these stories to flaunt them.
Now, I'm not saying the films are great. Fair to say they wouldn't rank on any top film list of mine. I was pretty fed up with WOW as I have been a fan for years. It was the first album I ever bought as a kid (weird!). But they are akin to going on a date with someone who is all bright and shiny but not much else. But hey ....its only a date! You can have a shower to get clean later.
Anyway, I think I might open one of these blogs. Just so you can peruse my fave films and laugh at my taste!
> Just so you can peruse my fave films and laugh at my taste!
I feel it's only fair Dave... :-D
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