War of the Worlds (2005)

SPOILER WARNING!!! This post spoils movie War of the Worlds (2005) and all the other versions of this story.

This movie is hard to analyze. There is so little to analyze. Whole movie is a depressive trip to end of the world drowned into 9/11 imagery. There are many scenes and stages which are clearly from 9/11. Like one where air plane crashed to neighborhood. There doesn't seem to be any other theme than 9/11 and escaping horrors of 9/11. Characters doesn't grow during movie. They just lose everything and try to survive from alien machines. Movie starts with 9/11 imagery goes to nightmarish hell where aliens do what ever they want. Only during last 10 minutes something positive happens when our hero manages to destroy one alien machine and after that bacteria start to kill aliens. Before the end army manages to destroy one malfunctioning alien machine. Then it is all over.

Movie shows alien invasion from perspective of divorced man who tries to take his childs to their mother. Only thing that changes between characters is that son starts to respect his father. Nothing else changes between them. Father and daughter doesn't change anyway even when they go to hell and back. I didn't like how son was there like nothing had happened after last time we saw him. He made father to choose between him and his sister during battle between army and aliens. He wanted to join battle and father had to let him to not lose daughter. Scene ends in fire and audience is let to believe that son was killed. Son waiting them like nothing happened in the end ate impact of that scene.

Aliens are reduced to nightmarish monsters. We learn almost nothing about them. They have planned this for ages because their machines were under cities when they attacked. Aliens are so evil that they fertilize their plants with human blood. Their plant are red and grow fast. This makes areas they control look like red hell. In the end bacteria kills them. If they had their machines here for ages, one would assume that they should know about bacteria or should have done some tests.

This movie has potential to be better. It is rare that this high-profile movie is this depressive and dark. Problem is that there are no happy moments. Chemistry of main characters doesn't work for this kind of movie. I don't mean actors chemistry. Main characters are divorced father and his kids who doesn't want to be with him. This means that even light moments are uneasy at some level. In the beginning we see how kids don't want to be with their father and father doesn't care much about kids. In next lighter scene we see how much better mother lives with his new man than father lives and father doesn't know anything about his kids. During next lighter moment son tells that father is taken them to mother because he wants to get rid of them and son tries to join passing military and leave father and daughter alone. Next lighter moment comes at the end when father and daughter get to mother, her new man and her parents. In this scene there is feeling that everybody is glad that daughter survived and are uneasy that father is there.

There is only one interesting character in this movie. He is Tim Robbins as creepy guy in cellar. Cellar scenes are best ones in movie. They tone down destruction and you don't know what to expect because you are now sure what creepy guy would do.  Because son is not there to tell how bad father is, father and daughter seems like real family. The only little promise of happiness for father during the movie.