Mum's Monday: War of the Worlds (2005)

Warning spoilers

The film starts with a typical, divorced father, Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise), with his ex-wife Mary Ann (Miranda Otto), who is now with Tim (David Alan Basche) and pregnant, dropping off, their 2 children Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and Rachel (Dakota Fanning), for their visitation at the weekend.

Robbie is against staying with Ray, but with Rachel, he has a connection, despite her ordering Hummus, instead of your usual takeaway.

Whilst all this is going on, news reports, on TV, in the background, starts to set up the impending doom. Ray only notices something, could be wrong, for real when he goes outside to see if Robbie has really taken the car and has gone, but first he refers to the darkening clouds as ‘Cool’.

The beginning is solid and sets up the rest of the film. It has depth and is not your usual 2.4 nuclear family, it so easily could’ve been.

It is nice to see one good thing to come out of the lightning attack, Ray and Robbie, start to communicate and connect.

The special effects of aliens and the damage they inflict on the vicinity, are extremely well done and realistic. With the excellent acting, even from the younger actress playing Rachel, this makes for a well-made film.

What I cannot explain and it is not made clear in the film, is the car, Ray is driving is the only one, that will start and is drivable. It is not affected by the lightning flares, like the others.

A part that is a little harsh, is when Robbie says that, Ray only wants to take them to their mother so he can relinquish his responsibility of them. We however, can see that he just wants to keep them safe. Ray, I believe, realises the type of father he has come across as and that, and he needs to change. We see him growing in character as the film progresses.

A shocking part, is when, they are all waiting at a level crossing for a train, the train comes along and the whole way along it, it is on fire. Ray manages to board a ferry with Robbie and Rachel, however, this film shows nowhere is safe.

We see a clever use of a mirror and a hand grenade to keep all as safe as possible. We don’t really know what stops the attacking aliens and we don’t know how Robbie ended up where he did, but this film has a heart-warming ending, and even with some questions unanswered, it is still worth watching.