They Say What They Say

A texted me tonight because he desperately need to escape his house and his housemate's screaming nieces and nephews, so we went to see War of the Worlds. Although how he thought that particular movie would help him relax is beyond me.

Anyway, It was a terrific movie. Very suspenseful and I was way more impressed than I thought I'd be. It had me on the edge of my seat most of the way through, and even a couple of glaringly obvious plot holes didn't detract from making me squirm. The aliens were very scary, especially the big tripods, and Spielberg handled the effects really well. Unlike his pal George, he's not at all heavy-handed with the CGI. He used just enough as was required by the plot and nothing more. Actually, the sound effects were what made it more terrifying. Things are always more scary if you can only hear and not really see. The best horror movies are mostly made up of suggestion. To show the beast is to lessen it's power to terrify. All the best directors know that.

Tom Cruise was surprisingly enjoyable, if you can gain any enjoyment out of watching a man fight for his life and those of his children. The later scenes in the basement were nerve-wrecking, especially since it was just him and Tim Robbins and very little dialogue. Dakota Fanning annoyed me a little, but she did do a great job for someone who's only eleven. And yes, the ending did seem a little trite and somewhat tacked-on, but it stayed fairly true to the source so you've got to hand it to the Steve for that.

And now I'm off to bed.