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Film
Opening Wednesday: The Martians are coming!
By STEVE PERSALL
Published June 23, 2005
In recent weeks, fearsome creatures have circled the globe, clearing a path for Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. Aliens? No, Tom Cruise and his new girlfriend, Katie Holmes.
From Japan to Germany and now the United States, "TomKat," as tabloids dubbed the photogenic pair, have been insidiously planting thoughts in Earthlings minds: "Go see Batman Begins, but save a few bucks for War of the Worlds."
To be fair, the romance between Cruise and Holmes probably isn't a publicity stunt simply because the Batman and Spielberg franchises don't need the extra push. Now, if this were Cocktail 2 or a big-screen version of Dawson's Creek, we might feel differently.
But this is War of the Worlds, one of science fiction's most glorified titles, from H.G. Wells' 19th-century novel to Orson Welles' landmark 1938 radio broadcast to the classic 1953 film starring Gene Barry, and each TV series or straight-to-video version beyond. The chance to see what Spielberg does with extraterrestrials who aren't cuddly like E.T. or melodic like those in Close Encounters of the Third Kind is too much for audiences to resist.
Cruise plays Ray Ferrier, a working stiff in New Jersey distracted from his strained family relations by a worldwide alien attack. Dakota Fanning co-stars as Ray's daughter Rachel, whom he scoops into his arms to flee for safety, if such a thing is possible. Oscar winner Tim Robbins appears as a researcher who may discover the key to destroying these space invaders.
As usual, Spielberg has kept War of the Worlds as secret as possible, but those preview shots of freeways fluttering like torn ribbons in the wake of death rays are pretty impressive. And few actors can muster such a determined glare as Cruise, teaming with the director again after Minority Report, a movie that gets better with each viewing.
A review of War of the Worlds will be published Tuesday in Floridian.
[Last modified June 22, 2005, 10:45:07]
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