Recent evidence suggests Tom Cruise has flipped his lid, but I’ll tell you what — the crazy SOB can still act. In “War of the Worlds,” Katie Holmes’s main squeeze reminds us why he is the biggest movie star in the galaxy with a self-assured performance that holds up under the enormous pressure of the public’s expectations and everything his director — a guy you may have heard of, goes by the name of Spielberg — piles on. Make no mistake, after all these years Spielberg is still the best in the business at making summer blockbusters, and he and his collaborators pull out all the stops. From the amazing production design to the powerful (but not overwhelming) special effects to the riveting screenplay (credited to Josh Friedman and David Koepp), everything about “WOW” screams wow. And scream you most certainly will. This alien invasion epic exploits our post-9-11 uneasiness with chilling effectiveness, boasting numerous scenes that rank among the director’s most spine-tingling. But what’s equally impressive is that here, unlike his two most recent sci-fi efforts, “Minority Report” and “A.I.,” Spielberg doesn’t allow bloated set pieces or other technical elements to mitigate the effectiveness of the human drama. Sure, the numerous sequences of aliens obliterating everything in their path are spectacular, but the most enduring moments in “WOW” involve Cruise and his co-stars trying to hold it together emotionally in a basement hideaway or inside a minivan as unthinkable mayhem unfolds around them.
Spielberg wastes little time setting things up before the carnage begins. Ray Ferrier (Cruise) is a divorced North Jersey dockworker and deadbeat dad who reluctantly hosts his kids, Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and Rachel (Dakota Fanning), while mom (Miranda Otto) and her new hubby head to Boston for a weekend getaway. An intense lightning storm draws Ray to the streets to investigate, where it quickly becomes clear that inclement weather is the least of his or anyone else’s worries. For the next 90 minutes or so, Ray guides his children on a frantic survival trip that tests the limits of his parental devotion. In addition to the stellar work turned in by his lead actors, Spielberg gets great stuff from Tim Robbins in a small but pivotal role as a deranged farmer. As psychotic performances go, Robbins is as convincing as anything Cruise has done lately on the talk show circuit. (Rated PG-13 for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and disturbing images. Running time: 116 minutes.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 1, 2005. Read the original PDF.