Yesterday, I went to watch Tom Cruise’s War of the Worlds. I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting in terms of quality. One reviewer said that the movie was disappointing and that he couldn’t come to care for the main characters because in a time of crisis such as was being depicted, why should we as the viewers care about one man and his children when entire cities were being destroyed? Another reviewer said that the movie was a “must see” and was greatly entertaining.
I’m going to have to agree with the second reviewer. War of the Worlds was every bit an action movie, but I found myself much more enjoying the emotional aspect of it: Ray (Tom Cruise) doing everything he could to keep his children alive. I’m not a parent, but I have no doubt that those of you who are that watch the movie will be able to relate to this aspect of the movie.
In addition to the emotional aspect, the movie was balanced by a healthy dose of action and special effects eye candy. While the Tripods were outlandish (should we have expected anything else?), they were believable as every part of their design seemed to serve a function as part of the aliens’ ultimate goal: the destruction of mankind.
For the aliens themselves, though, I couldn’t help but recall the aliens from another summertime extraterrestrial warfare movie: Will Smith’s Independence Day.
Unfortunately, I’m not prepared to compare the movie to the book or the original War of the Worlds movie. It has been far too long since I’ve read the book, and I’ve only seen a partial bit of the original movie probably an equally long time ago.
From the Christian Perspective
- Several expletives and vulgarities.
- Quite a few instances of violence, most of which was “sci-fi violence” between the aliens and humans. There was, however, no graphic displays of the violence.
- A big one for me that irritates me to no end whether it appears in entertainment or literature is that the movie assumed a lifespan of Earth that has been at least millions of years old. The aliens are described as having buried the Tripods on Earth before we showed up millions of years ago. This of course destroys the foundation of all biblical truth. In an odd balancing act, though, the movie ends in an affirmation that it was God which created. I can’t go into more detail about that, however, without giving away the ending.
All in all, I found the movie entertaining, suspenseful, exciting, and worthwhile. The ending was a bit too abrupt for my tastes, but it was at least plausible.