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Steven Spielberg has been delving into serious territory for about two decades now, but War of the Worlds was arguably the first time that he combined his two contrasting sensibilities - which I'll call "serious Spielberg" and "popcorn Spielberg" - into one summer tentpole film. WOTW is a surprisingly dark, intense film, but that is what makes it stand out from the crowd of alien invasion flicks. The War of the Worlds story had been told, essentially, by Independence Day in 1996, and it's clear that Spielberg was really trying to differentiate his film from that earlier Will Smith-starrer. A palpable sense of tension is present throughout the film, with some scenes coming close to the gritty style of Saving Private Ryan. While taking the dark route mostly succeeds, there are a couple of moments where I found that it slightly reduced the entertainment value. One such instance is when there is a massive alien battle going on just over a hill, but Spielberg never actually shows us any of it because that's the sort of large-scale spectacle that he generally tries to avoid in the film. The intimate character-driven approach does escalate the sense of menace, however, and one sequence in the second half cranks up the claustrophobia very well. The first half of the film is better, though, as the story does begin to get slightly predictable once you realise that Spielberg isn't interested in showing off huge pyrotechnics. The ending seems to arrive quite suddenly too, and the director tacks on one of his infuriating epilogues, which is completely at odds with the atmosphere and realism of the rest of the film. Nevertheless, the excellently sustained tension throughout the (refreshingly less than two hours long) runtime keeps you gripped. Due to the small scale of the main story there are very few characters, so the acting is important. It's generally of a pretty good quality; Tom Cruise isn't ideal to play an everyman character but pulls it off well enough, and Dakota Fanning is certainly one of the best child actors in the business, even if her level of maturity in interviews is rather creepy. WOTW is not typical blockbuster fare and its quality owes a lot to this relative originality.
The extras
This 2-disc set basically includes several production documentaries and little else, but it proves that all you really need to make a satisfying DVD is a good amount of well-put-together behind the scenes material. There are numerous featurettes here that total almost three hours and chronicle the whole production very effectively. The film's very short production schedule is highlighted a number of times, and it's very impressive how quickly the film was made compared to most big budget films (the whole process took about 8 months, compared to the two years or more that some require). My only complaint with the documentaries is that they paint an extremely rosy picture of everything that seems a little too good to be true. Tom Cruise is especially effusive in his praise of everyone and everything, which gets a little repetitive. Still, you can't blame him for being a glass-half-full kind of guy, I suppose.
The summary
War of the Worlds is an unusual take on the science-fiction genre, and it is pulled off quite successfully. A few issues aside, it's a lean, efficient and tense film.
