The two latter words have never arisen to surface when we start talking about this dream-maker who goes by the name of Steven Spielberg. At least, not until we watch his latest work, War of the Worlds.
The reason for those first words is quite clear: those who praise him tend to faithfully worship him regardless of his misfires on Amistad or The Lost World for example, whereas for those who bash him out will suppress their feelings on marvel works a la The Color Purple or Raiders of the Lost Ark. Hardly we think “it’s good, but …” or “it should’ve been this or that, then it’ll be good or bad” since Spielberg presents his work as representation of his own dream, his own fantasy world he longs to exist in reality. Not quite an auteur though, but there is a certain visual element on each of his work, often superbly crafted that will leave us feeling mesmerized. The bleak look of World War II is captured convincingly through the lens of Janusz Kaminski in Schindler’s List, the swinging 60’s has never looked any brighter in Catch Me If You Can, and the marriage of high-technology concept and futuristic look reaches its highest point in Minority Report. Regardless my disliking towards the latter film, the look itself is enough to keep me glued to the seat and getting overblown by his magic. This is something lacking on his second collaboration with perfectly miscast Tom Cruise here.
Or at least inconsistencies keep occurring throughout the film. I jumped off my seat while reeling the glowing looks surrounding Miranda Otto and David Alan Basche, suggesting the dreamy-like surrounding in the scene. A good five-to-ten seconds there, only to be ruined with the monotonous grayish coloring throughout early scenes, with certain gap of stillness in-between the scenes. Call me being unknowledgeable on examining Spielberg’s films but I can’t help scratching my head over things you least expect from a Spielberg film. Not to mention other kind of inconsistencies in logicality of the story that will leave smiles on the faces of trivia and goofs spotter out there, and failure to bring out the best in Tim Robbins and surprisingly annoying Dakota Fanning.
Does he want a breakthrough? Artificial Intelligence does better than that. It may be a tribute to Stanley Kubrick, but Spielberg does inject his personal touch that makes the film adorable despite its semi-controversial subject. Spielberg’s films stand for his own testament on how to amuse audience in genres crossing over one another, that we often think no other directors can make or re-create Spielberg’s films. Sadly, when I set my eyes to the big screen in Lido Theatre watching Tom Cruise trying too hard to act appropriately to his character, I can’t help wondering that this film should have been directed by someone else, to make it better.
The moment of revelation? Morgan Freeman’s majestic voice over.
39 comments:
weleh...tumben film ini kok ya lagi main juga dijepun...:D
hmm.. kebetulan di Balikpapan blon ada pilemnya (wong Cineplex ajah masih satu dan "jelek"), jadi dapet DVD-nya.. tapi *lagi* pilemnya didubbing pake basa perancis. wong inggris ajah masih kembang kempis ngertinya dikasih basa prancis.. gak/blon doyan.. tapi bagus kok War of The World ini.. sumpah!! *apa coba?* hihihi :)
beneran tegang dan menegangkan.... soal komentar yg lain2... hmm... ikut ama sang empu pakar film aja deh :-p
gitu ya...
untung kemaren ga jadi beli dvd nya
nunggu pinjem temen saja deh :D
beberapa temen gw bilang jalan cerita pilem ini nggak oke, tapi visual effect nya yang menarik. penasaran juga sih
never watch this.. really want to..
who cares about the film, if there's a Tom Cruise in it? huhuhu
Hi there, nice to see you too :)
IMHO, this is worst movie I've ever seen in Q2 this year.
It is not firm as drama, or as thrilling as science fiction.
And we should not forget that this is only an adaptation from HG Wells original novel.
And as an adaptation, it is failed also to show different perspective about invasion and humanity.
I mean, Tom Cruise centric as an uncapable father, ..come on.., Spielberg should do much much better than this :)
Anyhow, I want my money back ^_^
duh nih film ga banget deh, sebel..sebel..sebel...
film ini meninggalkan tanda tanya besar di akhir cerita.
Banyak loh film action yg enggak kosong.. tapi somehow yg ini keknya enggak membawa pesan apa apa.
lagian wkt nonton di sebelah jumpy gitu sih jd gak konsen ;p
Way
I LOVE the colour purple!!!
Mengenai War of The Worlds, 15 menit pertama memang luarbiasa tegang dan mencekam.. but pas pertengahan film it just goes downhill sampe ke endingnya yang malah nyusruk six feet under.. *blah*
Pesen apa sih yang mau disampeiin si Spielberg ini?
Keeping american's xenophobia alive and running?
I came for a simple bang bang flick with amazing special effect and and maybe moments of thrilling suspenses as a bonus...
Got none significant ones :(
Disappointments after dissapointments: house of wax, ammityville horror, war of the world , mr & mrs Smith huh........
Untung Monster in Law lumayan kocak!
Fantastic Four better be good, kalo gak nonton film korea aja aahhhh....
Kembaliin duit guaaaaaa....
Yang gue heran, pas adegan Tom Cruise balik ke rumah mantan istrinya, besok paginya seisi kota porak poranda... kecuali... SI MOBIL yang tiada lecet, cet, cet...
kok ga masuk akal????
Mungkin ngenalin mobilnya om Tom Cruise yang guanteng kali yeeeee =P
mbak Ria,
lha wong Spielberg ama Tom Cruise nya sampe bela-belain dateng kesana koq :)
Gembull,
wah keren! jadi ngomong alien kalo bahasa prancis gimana? :D
Askar,
i'm an Indonesian after all :)
Dody,
eeerrr ... bagian yang mana yah Dod? koq gue ngerasa biasa2 aja? :D
Pras,
bagus, penghematan :)
Irvan,
elo ga bakal keilangan apa-apa koq kalo ngga nonton film ini :)
Ling,
tapi kalo Tom Cruise maennya jelek, rugi sendiri kan? ;)
Andry,
I believe that a film works differently from any other arts/literary medium, even if the film is adapted from a nover or a play, we cannot expect the two will vein similarities. that's why comparison among cross-media should not occur on the first place, and a film is treated as it is. if it fails, it means that the film fails within the structural frame of filming.
what i see is that WotW does not manage to get deep into the core of human problems facing alienation, and instead going cliche on how one hand saves the world. you are right in noting that the film stands uncomfortably at the cross of being drama and science-fiction without ever touching either side in a more precise manner.
Uli,
lho katanya Tom Cruise ganteng, koq disebelin? :P
Way,
nah nah nah! ada apa nih yang "jumpy" di sebelah, mo bikin pelem tandingan? :D
Avin,
dan mustinya pelem ini berlanjut jadi Six Feet Under, satu2 yang mati pada dianalisis, hihihihi ...
Yawning,
masih nguap? :)
i guess Spielberg runs out of ideas on how to manipulate or brainwash his audience because this is his most blatant attempt to do so.
commenting on your list of films, on the contrary, i like mr. & mrs. smith! the film is built w/ the concept of star-system a la good ol' hollywood days, and the chemistry between the leads is simply amazing :)
Ite,
mobilnya tuh baru dikirim dari pabrik pas subuh pagi2 nya :p
Hihihi, so this is what u were trying to tell me then. :D And I almost thought u're totally amazed by the movie, hehe. Silly me.
Ya, memang gue sangat terlipur mendengar suara Morgan Freeman di akhir cerita. 30 detik suara kharismatiknya meneduhkan, dan yang penting berhasil merangkum segala sesuatu yang tersampaikan dengan carut-marut sebelumnya ;)
emang ada saat2 menegangkan, tapi gak lebih tegang daripada waktu main video game :P
tom cruise dengan akting yang "I'm too cool for this crap."
man, the plot might work for the 30s decade, but didn't spielberg try a bit harder to make it convincing for 21st century viewers? yucks.
on the other hand, I LOVE Dakota Fanning.
Girl,
the looks can be deceiving, the words in store are jumbled and arranged to perfectly hide 'em ;)
Cay,
memang akhirnya Morgan Freeman dengan fasih menyimpulkan makna cerita tanpa harus ikut terlibat/terjebak dalam keruwetan visual :)
lenje,
spielberg was trapped between paying tribute to b-grade 50s film style while "obliging" to the sophistication of digital visual effect, therefore we see the half-baked work.
The only words that echoed in my head upon exiting the cinema last week after watching this was, "I WANT MY MONEY BAAAACK!!!". No offense to Spielberg's previous success and his fans but to me this movie was just a bunch of crap! The storytelling was awful, the plot establishment was disappointing and my God, those screams from Dakota Fanning that kept on goping off without any pattern was just so damn annoying! Not to mention the lame script with all its inconsistencies.
You know what, Val, I could go on and on and on, but what's the point? The damage is done and it's too severe to mend.
hampir separuh filemnya tegang banget. bikin sebel en penasaran. di awal, film in imenurutku menciptakan ketegangannya sendiri tanpa adanya bantuan dari background music-nya..so bagus. over all it's good. 8/10 lah. cuman kayaknya tom cruise kurang pas deh. kurang macho dikit for that movie..
This film is a sh... a bad one. An american type third class family drama goes on while UFOs blow up the whole world.
Yos,
i guess everyone who wrote down their piece of thoughtful mind here appreciate your suffering, and we are in our fullest understanding of the torture you had to go through. but then, i can only wonder if spielberg does his labor here for the sake of milking blockbuster revenue, or is there anything else? now that's something to think about ... :p
'Ndang,
wah! menarik! apparently kayanya baru elo nih yang suka ama pelem ini :)
Pisti,
it gave a slight sense of uniqueness as it does not manage to dwell into clicheness of having USA government, as usual, trying to act decisively. but then, the flaws of inconsistencies throughout the story itself that brings down the film to be an object of condemnation. sad, but can't help it.
There are some inconsistencies from the beginning.
1. All the electronic equipment is dead, but somehow, someone manage to have a digital camera to record the massacre.
2. They plant the giant robot all over the world for millions of years, and no one notice it? With the way we explore the earth to find oil and other natural resources???
3. These giant robots are using "eyes" to find humans? They're so advanced but they fail to create something like heat detectors? Or maybe infrared guided one?
4. First they shoot everyone into dust and then they captured people to eat. Why do you destroy things that you harvest later?
5. These aliens researched the earth for millions of years and they fail to notice that they can't live in the environment?
6. Ray's ex wife, who is pregnant, safely hide inside her house? Why we do all the running in the first place?
7. The worst is the end, when the son magically came out of no where.
Booo,
I am too stunned to answer your questions. This is a 6 year-old entry of a long deserted blog, and boom! Suddenly an email notification arrived. You made my day, and I thank you for that.
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