SCI-FI WAR MOVIE: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

                “Edge of Tomorrow” (also known as “Live. Die. Repeat”) was a Tom Cruise vehicle based on a Japanese novel entitled All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.  The film adaptation has been described as a combination of “Groundhog Day” and “Starship Troopers”.  It was a moderate box office success, but a sequel is on the way.  It was nominated for Saturn Awards for Sci-Fi Film (losing to “Interstellar”), Director (Doug Liman), Actor (Cruise), Actress (Emily Blunt), and Writing.  It premiered on June 6, 2014 to promote comparisons to D-Day.

                The film opens with Earth in the midst of an alien invasion.  The mimics are extraterrestrials who want to exploit Earth’s resources.  They are a whirligig of tentacles and very nasty pieces of work.  As in most alien invasion movies, they are vastly superior to Earth forces.  It will take a miracle to beat them.  Cruise plays Maj. William Cage.  He is a PR expert for the United Defense Force.  When he is tasked to embed with the planned invasion of France to start the retaking of alien-occupied Europe, he points out to the commanding general (Brendan Gleeson) that he is a talker, not a fighter.  This gets him assigned to the first wave – as cannon fodder.  His new squad and Sergeant Farrell (Bill Pullman) do not welcome him as a game-changer and as all predict, he is killed almost immediately.  But in the blink of an eye, he has gone back in time 24 hours.  He repeats the day over and over with the same result, except that each of his deaths is different.  Naturally, he cannot convince his mates that he is in a time loop.  Grunts and gunnies are not noted for their cognitive imaginations.  He does end up encountering another looper, Sgt. Rita Vrataski (Blunt).  She is known as the “Angel of Verdun” for her heroics in battle there.  She is one bad-ass warrior.  The kind of female you only find in sci-fi movies.  Together they must save Earth by destroying the alien “brain”.

                “Edge of Tomorrow” is a very creative movie.  Of course, this is mostly to the credit of the novel, but the screenplay has done a good job adapting it and Liman has done an admirable job bringing it to the screen.  It is not without its clichés.  Farrell is a stereotype, although Pullman plays him with such swagger that he is the upper echelon of his type.  The squad is heterogeneous, but we don’t find out if any are from Brooklyn.  The movie is totally focused on Cage and Vrataski.  They are great characters.  Cage is a role tailored for Cruise. In other words, he is a cocky asshole.  Cruise did his own stunts and was very hands on in the script tweakings.  He insisted on added humor, which works well.  Blunt is amazing as a character that would give Ripley a run for her money.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with this trend of strong female warriors in sci-fi films.

                This is clearly a war movie.  Alien warriors face off against an army.  The aliens are reminiscent of the bugs in “Starship Troopers”.  They do not fire weapons, but they are intelligent.  They purposely lost at Verdun to lure the humans into a grand invasion.  That invasion is one of the great battle scenes.  It is amphibious, but the Higgins boats are airborne.  Cage’s craft is hit and they have to drop in chaos and into chaos.  It’s a slaughter.  The mimics are much more difficult to kill than the bugs in “Starship”.  The invasion scene is repeated with different deaths for Cage so it doesn’t get old.  This movie not only has a training montage, it has a Cage death montage.  The movie finishes with a behind the lines suicide mission to take out the command center.  This is another pulsating scene that is unfortunately marred by a sappy ending.  I did mention they are making a sequel, right?

                Visually the movie is excellent.  The CGI is top-notch.  The aliens are scary and intimidating.  Once again, as in all alien invasion movies, they are virtually unbeatable and it will take a miracle for a happy ending.  Cage and his mates are equipped with exoskeletons called Combat Jackets.  They allow the soldiers to run faster and jump higher.  They are the futuristic equivalents of PF Flyers.  Unfortunately, they provide little armored protection.  They are armed with a high caliber machine gun and a rocket launcher.  Vrataski prefers to use a sword because she’s a badass.  As usual for this type of movie, the UDF apparently has no artillery and there is no shore bombardment before the invasion.  Even more perplexing, there is no evidence that nukes have been used even though Europe has fallen and appears to be uninhabited.

                “Edge of Tomorrow” is one of the best sci-fi war movies.  Cruise and Blunt make a good team and their acting is excellent.  The role was perfect for Cruise and Blunt is a revelation as one of the great sci-fi war heroines.  The rest of the cast is supportive, if marginalized.  There is plenty of action for the war movie lover and the scenario and aliens are unique so it is not simply a WWII movie shifted to the future.

GRADE  =  A

 

SCI-FI WAR MOVIE: Battle of Los Angeles (2011)

                It is possible to make a good sci-fi war movie, but it takes a big budget.  If you have a small budget, you are screwed.   That did not stop The Asylum from trying to play off the success of “Battle:  Los Angeles”.  That’s right, BLA got the mockbuster treatment.  A “mockbuster” is a direct-to-DVD movie made to capitalize on a major motion picture.  They usually have similar titles to fool rubes.  Of course, The Asylum would argue that they are simply giving fans more of what they liked in the original.  Well, if you liked BLA, do not watch this movie as a companion.  It was directed, written, and filmed by the auteur Mark Atkins (“6-Headed Shark Attack”) and premiered on SyFy. 

                BoLA starts off with the legend-based premise that UFOs attacked Los Angeles in 1942.  Thank goodness this is not a documentary, because they have returned in this movie.  An alien spacecraft hovers over L.A. and four F-16s attack it.  One of the Falcons is piloted by a female (Theresa June-Tao)).  She shoots down some ICBMs that the aliens have reprogrammed in flight!  Is that possible?  When the air base is wiped out, only a few pilots escape cross country.  They encounter a F4U Corsair pilot named Rodgers (Dylan Vox) who is apparently from 1942 due to the Bermuda Triangle.  They need to get him to headquarters because he is the key to saving Earth.  They encounter a robot made out of a trash can and old car parts.  Later, they are chased by an alien craft until they are saved by a woman with a sword (Nia Peeples – the star of the movie) who leaps on the craft and destroys it!  To save Earth, a motley crew will need to infiltrate the alien mother ship in a totally original plot development.  But seriously, you have seen this before, but never this incompetently done.

                “Battle of Los Angeles” would be one of the worst movies ever made if it was not for the unintentional humor.  There are some truly hilarious moments to go along with all the head shaking ones.  For instance, when their solution to defeating the trash can robot involves pushing a car for about five minutes.  Mockbusters are not supposed to be boring.  But they are supposed to be laughable.  As with others of its ilk, one must wonder if Mr. Atkins expected the movie to be taken seriously.  I hope not.  If so, he is delusional and must worship Ed Wood.  I don’t need to tell you that the acting is abysmal (even Peeples) and the dialogue is atrocious.  Sci-fi babel is thrown in for cred.  The CGI is horrible.  Atkins would have been better off with F-16 models on fishing line.

                If you decide to watch this movie, drink heavily and view it as a comedy. 

GRADE  =  F

SCI-FI WAR MOVIE: Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

                “Battle: Los Angeles” (also titled “Battle: LA” or internationally “World Invasion:  Battle Los Angeles”) is a war movie with aliens in it, according to director Jonathan Liebesman.  He was inspired by the styles of “Black Hawk Down” and “Saving Private Ryan”.  The quasi-documentary style was an attempt to replicate video footage of Marines in Fallujah, Iraq.  The seed of the script came from a legendary incident called the “Battle of Los Angeles” which occurred in 1942 after Pearl Harbor.  Panic over the war situation led to a barrage of anti-aircraft fire to stop a supposed Japanese attack.  Apparently, this was an extreme overreaction to a weather balloon.  (The same incident inspired the movie “1941”.) The movies budget was $100 million and it grossed over $200 million worldwide.  It was filmed in Louisiana due to financial incentives.  The production had extensive cooperation from the Pentagon including using Marines as extras and the use of Osprey aircraft and helicopters.  The actors were put through a three-week boot camp to learn platoon tactics and how Marines behave.  Technical advisers were provided for realism.

                The movie is set in the present.  Sgt. Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) is about to retire, unless something unforeseen prevents it.  That unforeseen event is the arrival of aliens via meteors.  They make an amphibious invasion onto the beaches of L.A.  Nantz is assigned to a new platoon whose mission is to help evacuate civilians from the city before it is bombed to stop the aliens.  The clock is ticking.  They are ambushed at the start by alien infantry.  The alien warriors are biological creatures with exoskeletons that have weapons and communications implanted.  They are 8 feet tall and hard to kill, but not invulnerable.  Although robotic, they are equivalent of Soviet infantry from WWII.  The aliens get air support from drones that quickly establish air superiority.  Nantz’s platoon, led by a green Lt., takes refuge in a police station for the last stand portion of the movie.  They find a few civilians to protect.  From the police station, the movie kicks into the escape through enemy lines sequence.  This results in a nifty fire-fight on an overpass.  Some will eventually reach safety  In the final act, Nantz and his suicide squad must save mankind by taking out the alien command center. 

                “BLA” is surprisingly good for a combat porn movie.  It has a high percentage of action, but it is not graphic because Liebesman wanted a PG-13 rating.  There are lots of explosions and copious expenditure of ammunition.  The aliens are a worthy foe and although superior, they are not “War of the Worlds” superior.  Although the movie emphasizes that they have only one weak spot, they are actually pretty easy to kill. The fire-fights are fairly equal and the tactics of both sides make sense.  The Marines use covering fire and fire and maneuver.  They have current weapons, mostly the M4A1 and M16A4.  Curiously, the American forces are missing artillery support, bombers, and helicopter gunships.   And, of course, no nukes because that would be too easy.  The aliens are armed with machine guns and grenade launchers.  Their drones fire phosphorous explosives.

                The plot is basically that of a WWII movie.  There is nothing original, but it is competently done.  There are some clichés.  Nantz is in need of redemption.  The green Lt. earns respect through self-sacrifice.  The enemy “brain” must be destroyed.  The characters are stereotypes with the addition of the now standard strong female warrior portrayed by Michelle Rodriquez (who else?).  There is only cursory character development because that is not what the audience came for, plus you have seen all the personalities before.  Thankfully, they are not forced to mouth trite dialogue and the acting is fine.  Eckhart makes a good anchor and he put his heart into the role.  (He broke an arm in a fall and continued without a cast.) The boot camp must have worked because the actors have the Marine ethos down.  They move like Marines.  Speaking of movement, the cinematography makes heavy use of hand-held cameras and you get the impression you are with them as they maneuver.  The CGI is not cheesy and the aliens are impressive, if derivative of films like “District 9”.  Kudos to the drone designer.  Those are original and their ramshackle look has led to the fan theory that the aliens are attacking Earth not only for its tropeish water resources, but possibly because warfare has decimated their home planet.

                BLA is an underrated sci-fi war movie.  It is entertaining, especially if you look at it as intended – a war movie with aliens in it.  The action is consistent and the plot, if predictable, moves briskly.  It does have an “America, fuck yeah!” vibe to it, but sometimes we just need to revel in patriotism.  Especially when it comes to protecting our country from despicable aliens who have come to take our H2O.

GRADE  =  B

SCI-FI WAR MOVIE: Avatar (2009)

                “Avatar” is the sci-fi blockbuster baby of James Cameron (“Aliens”).  The film was years in conception and was inspired by sci-fi novels Cameron loved as a child and the adventure novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs (especially the John Carter series) and H. Rider Haggard.  Cameron has made no bones about his cribbing from many sources, including movies like “Dances With Wolves”.  He got the idea for the image of the Na’vi from a dream his mother had of a twelve-foot tall blue woman.  The Na’vi language was created by a linguist professor at USC.  He developed over 1,000 words.  Cameron wanted to make the movie years earlier, but the technology was not available to match his vision.  The cinematography ended up using cutting edge stereoscopic film-making.  40% of the movie is live action and the rest is CGI.  In spite of the success of “Titanic”, Cameron had a hard time selling 20^th Century Fox to make the picture.  It cost officially $237 million (although some sources put it in the $280-310 million range) plus a $150 million marketing budget.  The risk was worth it as the movie killed at the box office and grossed over $2.7 billion. The movie was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture (losing to “The Hurt Locker”), Director, Editing, Original Score, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing.  It won for Art Direction, Cinematography, and Visual Effects (hopefully a unanimously).  It cleaned up at the Saturn Awards, of course.  Among other awards, it won Best Sci-Fi Film, Director, Actor (Sam Worthington), Actress (Zoe Saldana), Supporting Actor (Stephen Lang), and Supporting Actress (Sigourney Weaver).

                The movie takes place in the year 2154 on the planet Pandora.  An evil corporation is mining the futuristic equivalent of oil called Unobtanium.  (Before you scold Cameron for the silly name, it is a word used in the aerospace industry to refer to a substance that is too good to be true and/or is fabulously valuable.)  The corporation is raping the environment, but is having trouble with the natives.  The Na’vi are humanoids that live dependent on nature.  They are at a lower level of development in comparison to the technologically advanced humans.  This is especially true in weaponry where they are basically at the bow and arrow stage.  The corporation barely tolerates a scientific project to learn the culture of the Na’vi because they see it as gathering intelligence about their enemy.  The project head, Dr. Grace Augustine (Weaver), is an anthropologist but also sees the interaction with the Na’vi as an opening for diplomacy.  On the other hand, the head of corporation security, Col. Quaritch (Lang), believes diplomacy is for pussies and is looking for every opportunity to provoke a war that will facilitate the exploitation of the environment.  The scientific project involves using avatars (Na’vi/human hybrids “piloted” by human operators through a mind link). A disabled Marine named Jake Sully (Worthington) replaces his deceased twin brother in the project with the deal that the corporation will reable him if he acts as a spy in the Na’vi camp.  Jake infiltrates the tribe with the unwitting aid of a feisty female named Neytiri (Saldana).  She is the daughter of the chief.  This is where the “Dances With Wolves” part of the plot kicks in as Jake goes native.  If you have seen that movie (and “The Last Samurai”), you can guess where this is heading. 

                The plot of “Avatar” contains nothing you have not encountered in other movies.  It is not the script that is original, it’s the mind-blowing visuals.  Cliches abound, but you can overlook them by focusing on how the clichés are depicted. Cameron has a wonderful imagination that overcomes the tropes.   Let your eyes pop and turn your brain off for a while.  The eye-popping visuals will hopefully take your mind away from the average acting and trite dialogue. The movie will not challenge your intellect much.  It is simplistic and moralistic.  Cameron is a self-proclaimed “tree-hugger” and it shows.  This is a message movie and one clear message is respect for the environment.  Another message is respect for the indigenous people of an exploited area.  Cameron has stated that the movie is an allegory for the Iraq War (he even includes a reference to “shock and awe”).  Cameron insists the movie is not anti-war, but it is anti-jingoism. Actually, it is much more of a commentary on the treatment of Native Americans in the American West.  In some ways, the film is a modern Western.  You know the type – where the Indians are the good guys.  It’s a shame that most moviegoers did not make this connection.  Unless you are a Custer fan, the movie has a feel-good aspect to it. It ends with “Custer’s Last Stand”.  To be realistic, the sequels should set the planet back on the path to being "civilized".

                Is it a war movie?  There certainly is a war between the corporation and the Na’vi, so you can say it is a colonial war movie.  Think “Zulu”, or better yet, “Zulu Dawn”.  The epic battle seals it.  It is lengthy and exhilarating.  However, it smacks a bit of the final battle in “Return of the Jedi” with the Na’vi as the Ewoks.  That is not a good look.  As in both those cases, the superior and much better armed lose.  They have cool AMP suits (armored exoskeletons) that sport 30mm cannons.  These versus bows and arrows.  But, this being a sci-fi movie, the vastly inferior natives win against superior natives by luck, finding a weak spot, or having germ allies (in this case, it is the whole animal kingdom). The villains are overcome by the pluckiness of the aggrieved natives along with the crucial help of rebels.

                In conclusion, “Avatar” is one of the greatest movies ever made.  You can criticize Cameron for “borrowing” from many different sources, but I prefer to commend him for blending proven plot devices.  He updates the “Dances With Wolves” template with astounding visuals and imagination.  It is less outstanding as a war movie than as a sci-fi movie.  It’s easier to suspend disbelief if you treat it as science fiction.

GRADE  =  B 

SCI-FI WAR MOVIE: Aliens (1986)

                “Aliens” was the sequel to “Alien” (1979).  James Cameron was a young 31-year old director who had not yet released “Terminator”.  He was approached to write the screenplay and he decided to make the sequel a combat film with a mix of terror.  He envisioned it as an allegory about the Vietnam War.  The Colonial Marines exemplified the overconfident American army which had all the firepower, but was thrust into an alien environment against a primitive enemy that was relentless.  He wanted Ripley back to be a feminist hero, but contract problems with Sigourney Weaver almost led to Ripley being written out.  Cameron was given a paltry $18 million budget.  The film was shot in England, but American actors were used.  The movie was a critical and box office smash.  It won Academy Awards for Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects.  It was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Sigourney Weaver), Art Direction, Original Score (James Horner). and Film Editing.  At the Saturn Awards for science fiction films it won Best Film, Direction, Writing (Cameron), Supporting Actor (Bill Pullman), Supporting Actress (Jenette Goldstein), and Best Performance by a Younger Actor (Carrie Henn).  The aliens’ nest set was a decommissioned power plant. 

                “Aliens” takes place 57 years after “Alien”.  Ripley (and Jonesy the cat) are found drifting is space.  At a meeting with the evil corporation, Ripley is disbelieved (she’s a woman, after all).  She is shocked to learn that a colony has been set up on the planet where the Nostromo encountered the alien.  Communication has ceased with the colony.  A company man named Burke (Paul Reiser) convinces a very reluctant Ripley to join a squad of Colonial Marines on a rescue mission.  An android named Bishop (Lance Henriksen) is along.  Needless to say, Ripley is not enamored with him.  The squad is your typical heterogeneous unit filled with braggadocio and disdain for the potential “bugs” they may have to exterminate.  Their commander is green and will need to gain their respect.  Luckily, they have a gruff sergeant to motivate them.  You know this is a war movie when they arrive to snare drums.  The colony is located on an inhospitable planet and the settlement’s interior is cinematic prison/factory/ghost town.  They encounter one survivor, a little girl named Newt (Henn) and Ripley develops a mother/daughter relationship with her.  In a pulse-pounding and pulse-expending recon, they discover a nest of aliens.  It’s game on, as Hudson (Pullman) might say.

                “Aliens” has been called the greatest sequel ever and it is hard to argue with that assessment.  Cameron’s decision to change the sequel from horror to war was brilliant.  He did not take the lame sequel route of trying to recreate the vibe of the original.  Although more comfortably placed in the sci-fi genre, it is certainly a war movie.  It is basically a squad behind-the-lines movie.  Their tactics are realistic and the weaponry is amazing.  What sets it apart from a WWII movie is the strong female character.  Ripley is iconic and set a new standard for a woman who challenges the male-dominated world. (It is a bit depressing to think that in 2179 nothing has changed in this respect.)  in fact, the film has three strong female characters.  Ripley was ranked #8 on AFI’s list of screen heroes in 2003.  The character does not suck all the air out of the room, however.  The movie is blessed with several indelible characters – Hudson, Hicks, Newt, Vasquez, Bishop. Hell, even Paul Reiser’s slimy Burke is a great villain.  The actors are up to the characters with several doing their best work.  And I haven’t yet mentioned the aliens.  There is less left to the imagination than in “Alien” and the queen is a brilliant addition to the xenomorphs introduced in “Alien”.  Special effects wizard Stan Wilson deserves huge credit, along with Cameron.

               

                It is hard to imagine how the movie could have been better.  (Other than a cheap scene where Ripley dreams of giving birth to an alien.)  The sound track (amazingly done by Horner in just three weeks) and sound effects are amazing.  The movie takes the commando mission and last stand tropes and puts them in a futuristic monster movie in a haunted house setting.  This hybridization works because all the elements are maxed out.  The movie starts strong and builds consistently to one hell of an ending.  Ripley’s duel with the queen is incredible and includes one of the greatest lines in movie history:  “Get away from her, you bitch!”.  If that does not get you fired up, nothing will.

GRADE  =  A+

SCI-FI WAR MOVIE: Independence Day (1996)

                “Independence Day” initiated a resurgence of summer blockbusters and made a superstar of Will Smith.  It was directed by Roland Emmerich (“Midway”).  He wanted to make a movie about aliens that did not have them sneaking and hiding.  It was the highest grossing movie of 1996 and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.  There are over 3,000 special effects shots, twice the previous record.  The movie also set a record for most miniatures.  Some of the effects and miniatures were necessary because the Pentagon withdrew cooperation when Emmerich refused to remove references to Area 51.  The mega-patriotic score won the Grammy.  It won the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film.

                The movie opens on July 2.  The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence unit picks up a radio signal from the moon.  The soundtrack blares REM’s “It’s the End of the World” in case you were one of the few moviegoers who were not impacted by the movies massive advertising campaign.  Genius nerd David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) makes the huge leap to recognition that those ominous alien spacecraft hovering over key iconic landmarks are not here bringing gifts.  He drives from NYC to the White House to convince the president (Bill Pullman) that his approval ratings will go up if he leads the world in a war for survival.  The crisis will also do wonders for David’s relationship with his former wife.  The dastardly communistic aliens blow up the White House in the greatest money shot in sci-fi movie history.  What seemed extreme in 1996…  As usual in an alien invasion movie, the humans have all the pluck, but the aliens are seemingly invincible.  Their fighters are so superior that it takes Will Smith to bring one down.  Their space ships have force fields so they have nothing to worry about, even violation of the cinematic interplanetary treaty forbidding Earthlings to use nukes in our defense has no effect. It’s going to take a miracle, like in every other alien invasion movie.

                 The movie hops around following its ensemble of stereotyped characters.  There would have been a lot of fired agents if the movie had gotten the box office it deserved.  Just to mention the most egregious:  Randy Quaid steps right out of “National Lampoon’s Vacation” to play an alcoholic, alien abductee who will switch from flying a crop duster to piloting an F-18 with no training.  As usual in movies of this ilk, any average Joe can save the world.  The climactic suicide mission is led by the kick-ass President of the U.S. who happens to be an ex-fighter jock. The silliness eventually reaches an idiot-pleasing crescendo and (spoiler alert) we win against all reason.  The last ten minutes are a shitfest.

                How anyone could have left the theater without shaking their head and covering their face is beyond me.  If the goal of the film was to insult the intelligence of millions, mission accomplished.  It accomplishes this mission by cribbing its list of sci-fi war movie clichés.  Pompous patriotic score – check.  Lame humor – check.  Happy rousing ending – check.  Redemption character saves the world – check.  Vastly superior aliens defeated ludicrously – check.  Huge crowd-pleasing explosions – check.  The list goes on.  If you want to turn your brain off and allow yourself to be entertained, fine.  But don’t try to argue it is a good movie.

GRADE  =  D

SCI-FI WAR MOVIE: The Last Starfighter

                “The Last Starfighter” is a beloved sci-fi movie from 1984.  It was directed by Nick Castle and written by Jonathan Beutel.  Beutel got the idea when he saw a boy playing a video arcade game and associated it with the King Arthur sword in the stone story.  The movie was the first feature film to use CGI instead of models.  The movie had an amazing 27 minutes of effects. 

                Alex (Lance Guest) is a whiz at a video arcade game called Starfighter.  He lives in a trailer park.  One day an alien named Centauri (Robert Preston in his last film role) arrives and takes Alex to his planet.  His high score in the game has made him a prime recruit to pilot a real starfighter to help defeat the evil Ko-Dan who are threatening the benevolent Star League.  While Alex goes through training, he is replaced by the clone Beta Alex for comic relief.  Beta Alex has to interact with Alex’s girlfriend Maggie (Catherine Mary Stewart) with humorous effect. (Additional scenes involving Beta Alex were added because of positive test audience responses.)  Meanwhile, Alex and his navigator Grig (Dan O’Herlihy) must single-handedly duel with the entire enemy armada.

                “The Last Starfighter” is a charming bit of fluff.  The premise is very creative, but the rest is standard sci-fi fare aimed at 14-yearold boys.  What stood out is the state of the art visuals and it is nostalgic to watch the movie today.  However, the effects seem cheesy now.  It’s like you are watching a video game.  The plot is full of clichés.  The reluctant warrior.  The evil villain.  A fight against all odds.  The con-man mentor.  The woe is us destruction of the base.  The screenplay plagiarizes a bit from “Star Wars”, but that is not surprising.  It many ways it is a low rent “Star Wars” knockoff.  Unfortunately, that tells you the acting is average, with the exception of Preston.  The dialogue is not campy enough.  And the movie is just not that suspenseful.  The happy ending is to be expected, but Alex’s victory is guarantee because he has the “Death Blossom”.   Seriously, how can you lose with a weapon with that name?

                As far as it being a war movie, the strategy and tactics are actually fine.  The bad guys launch a surprise attack a la Pearl Harbor.  The invasion is defeated by taking out the command ship, which is typical in sci-fi war movies.  There is a special weapon, although everything else is standard.  The enemy has nothing scary.

                If you are a nerdy gamer, this is the movie for you.  Not only does Alex’s gaming skills give him a chance to save the Universe, but he has a hot girlfriend. 

GRADE  =  C

SCI-FI WAR MOVIE: War of the Worlds (2005)

                This is the first in my series of reviews of war movies in a sci-fi setting.  “War of the Worlds” was Steven Spielberg’s attempt to balance the alien ass-kissing of his “Close Encounters” and “E.T.”.  He was determined to make a scary aliens movie.  But with typical Spielbergian feel-goodies, of course.  He thought H.G. Wells’ novel was perfect for this redemption.  Screenwriters Josh Friedman and David Koepp made the wise decision to place the movie in the present.  That allowed them to tap into the 9/11 vibe.  Spielberg used five different sound stages for the film.  He also used cutting edge computer technology for the effects.  The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (losing to “King Kong”). 

                The movie centers on Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) and his children. Since he is played by Cruise, he has to be a charming asshole.  He is divorced and immature.  His relationship with his kids will need a major crisis in lieu of family counseling.  Lucky for him, aliens invade on cue.  Well, they don’t really invade.  Spielberg did not want the cliched spaceships hovering.  Instead the aliens arise from pods buried underground for God knows how long.  Just like the terrorists of 9/11.  They have death rays that turn people to ash.  The ash reminds of the debris from the Twin Towers.  Ferrier and his kids escape NYC in the only functioning auto and vamoose on an interstate that is conveniently not blocked by stalled vehicles, allowing them to go 80 MPH.  This is the beginning of the head-scratching moments that will populate the film.  They head for Boston to return the kids to their mom.  Along the way they encounter the chaos of a greatly superior enemy pillaging America.  The Army (including the first cinematic use of real M1 Abrams tanks) cannot do anything against the alien tripods (a nice reimagining of Wells’ crafts) because of their force fields.  This does not stop civilians (including the son) from running toward a battle site in a particularly ludicrous scene.  The big reveal of the icky aliens occurs when Ferrier and his daughter are holed up with a lunatic survivalist (Tim Robbins).  His son has gone astray, as teenage boys are wont to do.  The aliens are worth the wait, as is what they are doing to people.  All seems lost for mankind since the aliens cannot lose.  But do you think Spielberg would let that happen?

                This is a stupid, stupid movie.  The fact that it was a blockbuster tells you a lot about the movie-going public.  People must have been attracted to the special effects, which are very good.  And Cruise was at his most charming with a cute little girl (Dakota Fanning) to protect.  These elements do not overcome the silliness of the plot.  Everything is predictable, especially if you know it’s a Spielberg movie aimed at a wide audience.  No significant character dies.  The family is reunited in one of the most treacly endings in sci-fi movie history.  The characters are all stereotypes, especially Ferrier.  His redemption arc is not exactly ground-breaking. 

                Since this is a war movie review, allow me to point out that the movie comes up way short in its depiction of war.  The military has no intelligent answer to the enemy.  Nukes are not used (even thought they probably would not have worked) and the only effective weapon is grenades in the hands of a father desperate to rescue his cute daughter.  The “combat” consists mainly of the aliens blowing shit up.  That’s cool, but it’s not exactly a fair fight.  As in many sci-fi war movies, mankind’s balls are pulled out of the fire by pure luck.  If we ever have a real alien invasion, don’t be confident based on what you have seen in movies.

GRADE  =  C-