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Uncle Sam Reviews “War of the Worlds”

July 25, 2005 By S. K. Sloan 4 Comments

Written by: S.K. Sloan

Well, I finally broke down and went to see “War of the Worlds” this weekend.

I figured, it must be good, right? I mean, Spielberg directed it, three of the top names in show-biz are starring in it – Tom Cruise, Tim Robbins and Dakota Fanning. The critics gave it 4 out of 5 stars; plus, it gave me a chance to get out of the 110 degree heat and use up someone else’s air conditioning and electricity.

WRONG!!! Even the normally superb acting talents of Dakota Fanning couldn’t save this piece of tripe. It was almost as if Spielberg said, “you know, I’m going to take a break on this one and let my french poodle direct.”

Of course the special effects were awesome, but hey, anymore I get those every single week on Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica on my big-screen television. Where was the story? The empathetic characters? They were non-existent. Cruise’s character was a total jerk-off, Robbins was just plain weird and out-of-place, and Fanning? Well, Dakota was Dakota.

My afternoon would have been better spent getting cancer-fried in the blazing sun of Nebraska’s sweltering heat. And, I would have saved around twenty bucks.

The film did have two redeeming qualities: The beginning with Morgan Freeman’s flawless narration and the very end with an all-too-brief cameo by Gene Barry. Which reminds me, if you want to see a much better “War of the Worlds” movie, then rent or buy the 1953 Gene Barry version. A much better flick than this latest piece of trash.

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Filed Under: Film Reviews

About S. K. Sloan

Samuel K. Sloan's love of Star Trek brought him to Slice of SciFi, where he was Managing Editor from 2005-2011, and returned from 2013-2014 before retiring once again from scifi news gathering.

Comments

  1. Cougar says

    July 25, 2005 at 3:38 pm

    I disagree, this is one of the best films that have been released this year. I’ve heard so many good reviews and so many bad reviews. At least Sevens and I loved it.

  2. Kyle Nin says

    July 25, 2005 at 3:45 pm

    I, too, disagree. The point of this movie was to show what would happen if an alien invasion were to happen: sheer terror. Speilberg did a great job in conveying this. It wasn’t supposed to be a “fun time”, like Independence Day. So, in my opinion, Speilberg achieved his goal. I was definitely scared. I’d give the movie a 7 out of 10. Not Speilberg’s best movie, but not his worst either.

  3. Cougar says

    July 25, 2005 at 8:10 pm

    I’d give it a 9 1/2/10 or a 10/10.

  4. Evo says

    July 26, 2005 at 10:55 am

    Gotta go with Sam on this one. I was bored to tears with this movie, and really didn’t need to see “Tom Cruise learns how to be a good father, with aliens.”

    [Yawn.] Wake me when Hollywood has something worth. This certainly wasn’t it.

    E.

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