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War of the Worlds

Steven Spielberg is the father of the summertime blockbuster. His movies are big, fun, over-the-top productions. They are also extremely popular and tend to rake in big bucks in the box office. War of the Worlds, a tale of harrowing destruction starring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, is no different.

In this adaptation of the famous novel by H. G. Wells, Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) must protect his daughter (Dakota Fanning) and son (Justin Chatwin) from an extraterrestrial attack that was millions of years in the making. They must run from large, spectacular robots firing lasers and sporting unearthly long tripod legs, the insect-like alien race piloting them and their own kind, angry and stressed-out human beings.

Spielberg wastes no time setting up the characters in the film before he sets loose the aliens and begins the destruction. In the first half of the film, these creatures remain ominous, over boding and mysterious. However, they do begin to lose their fearful nature later on, and that’s one of the few things that bring this film down a peg.

Otherwise, this film is another of Spielberg’s masterpieces. Besides being a thrilling sci-fi adventure flick, it also touches on issues such as terrorism, issues that hit very close to home for just about everyone nowadays. There is also the struggle between Ray and his son, who wants to go with the army to fight the aliens. This is a struggle many families are dealing with right now as well. Giving people something to relate to in a sci-fi film is important, and Spielberg succeeded at that.

As the body count and the tension in the film rises, we are blessed with amazing feats in cinematics. Mass destruction by an outside race of beings never looked so good. Spielberg created this effect with a high class team of computer FX professionals and the use of sets and sound stages, which are starting to be used less and less in film.

There is never a dull moment in the film, and time and time again we are reminded at just how good of an actress Dakota Fanning is. This is a film that will absolutely be one of the top blockbusters of the year, and there is good reason for that. So forget Signs and other movies of its kind, because nothing beats the original tale of invading creatures from another planet.

Written by: Matt Balmaseda

Reviewers Rating: 9
Reader's Rating: 6.20
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