by Matt Barr

Dakota Fanning screaming

My review of War of the Worlds: Satisfying. Too intense for the kids. (They didn't see it.)

My expanded review: Tom Cruise is excellent, pulling off the over-his-head, growth-stunted (pun while not intended not disavowed), early-40s dad better than I would have thought. You (well, I) sit there in the first half hour of the movie and try to will him to go get your kids -- which seems at first blush like it might be frustrating and distracting, but it's not. Cruise convinces us he's just in over his head as a dad, not self-centered and, well, Tom Cruise character-like. So you root for him.

Dakota Fanning is equally good. My only complaint with her performance is that some of the writing early in the movie makes her out to be a lot more mature than she is -- not her fault; when she gets into the groove of the 11-year-old overwhelmed scared little girl she's outstanding. Tim Robbins does ok slumming.

The special effects are usually understated enough to seem sinister and realistic. Only a few times do they seem to be trying to draw attention to how cool they are for their own sake, which is off-putting. (If you've seen it, I'm thinking about the snake-y thingie in the basement.) Another marginal complaint is that the alien invaders spend 2/3 of the movie seeming just wantonly destructive, and this is very well done. But then in the last third it's as though Spielberg thinks he hasn't made them unlikable enough, so tries to make them more gruesome. Gruesome would have worked throughout, but it seems like a trait that's tacked on near the end.

It gets all Spielberg-y at the end, too, which I don't think is a spoiler. On the plus side, Lisa Ann Walter makes a five minute appearance. I have an inexplicable movie crush on her.

UPDATE: Who wouldn't? (Click for full size -- you know you want to)

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