awsmith Reviews

War of the Worlds (2005)

Utterly Terrifying

[8/10 · 26 December 2005]

SPOILERS!

It has been a good long while since I've watched a movie that was as tense and terrifying as 'War of the Worlds.' Watching it was like being in one of those dreams where something huge and terrifying is after you, and you are running but you can't get away.

I suppose those who are critical of the lack of logic in having the tripods come out of the ground have a valid point, but so what? If you are willing to suspend disbelief and enjoy the movie, it's a minor issue. The scene where the tripod emerges from the middle of an intersection was absolutely terrifying; it rises to a staggering height, towering over the buildings, and then a whine begins and reaches a crescendo before the aliens begin to vaporize people into puffs of gray dust. I could completely relate to Ray (and I think the decision to tell the story from his perspective—as a parent, trying to protect a child, was the best choice) as he dashes down the street, zigging and zagging, trying to avoid instant annihilation. He dodges into a store, thinking a building might offer some shelter…and then the people to his left and right inside the store get it, like someone blowing dandelions away, followed by a car being thrown through the front wall like a child's toy. After that it was the tops of houses and buildings, and increasingly larger structures (bridges and an entire neighborhood) get blown away.

Spielberg and his CGI team got everything right with the appearance, movement, and sound of the tripods. Utterly alien in appearance and in their gait, the machines seem organic and alive … from the weird tentacles, the jettisoning of fluid from ports on the sides, the lights which look like eyes, the low frequency blatting noise, the weird feet, to the obscene, puckered orifice which slurps up humans. The tripods are "malevolence" writ large, particularly when their role in the aliens' plan for the human race is revealed as the movie progresses. I speak here of the unfortunate victim who Ray watches get skewered and drained dry of blood, which is then blown out from the rear of the tripod. Ugh!

For this kind of movie, I thought the character development was good, particularly of Ray, the divorced parent who loves his kids, but hasn't spent enough time and effort with them to earn the title 'Dad' when the movie begins. By the end of the movie, he is certainly their father, through and through. The scene where he has to let his son go was particularly poignant.

All in all, a thumbs up for this film. I will definitely be buying the DVD.

Open Water (2003)

A Realistic Example of What Can Happen

[7/10 · 28 February 2005]

This movie was very tightly directed with a minimalist approach to telling the story. There is almost no dialogue except between the couple, and much of the action (e.g., the dispatching of search and rescue craft) is portrayed with no talking at all.

Watching the movie is like reading a report of an airliner crash. You can see the negligence and mistakes of the players unfold and lead to the inevitable loss of life.

I thought the movie did a good job of building up the tension in a way that is entirely realistic and convincing. The playfulness that is sensed as the couple interact with the ocean's inhabitants fades away to a much more sobering tone once they surface to discover that their boat is gone. The same environment which they were enjoying only moments before now becomes threatening and hostile. Of course, it was hostile all along, and apparently our divers took few precautions for their own safety. There is nothing to indicate that they ever attempted to get their bearings as they headed out to sea so that they might know in which direction the land might lie. They are ignorant of local currents.

Opportunities for survival come and slip away, beginning with the decision of whether to swim toward a boat in the distance, or wait for their own charter to return. It is hard to fault the husband for deciding that the better choice is to stay put, and that is also part of the horror of the movie—you can see how everything that happened could very easily unfold. Yet, you have to wonder . . . if they had made a determined effort to swim toward one of the boats, could they have made it? Could they have gotten to the marker buoy?

There are a few things our protagonists might have done to increase their chances of survival. For example, they probably would have been a little safer if they had tried to swim underwater for periods, rather than just floating at the surface. They could have seen more swimming underwater, and would have made more difficult targets for the sharks. Of course, they had no way of knowing which direction to swim, apparently. While at the surface, they could also have stayed back to back, and thereby increased the chances of seeing a shark before it struck.

The sharks are not huge—four or five feet, probably sandbar sharks or duskies, which can be dangerous, but are not known for their aggressiveness. There were no big tiger sharks, which can get very large and are known man-eaters. But these more common sharks are there, and in numbers, doing their job. They are slippery, spasmodic, cautious yet curious— and hungry. And that is what makes the movie frightening, because once the husband is seriously bitten and blood is in the water, we know the sharks, in their relentlessly efficient manner, will end up accomplishing the job that Nature has assigned to them.

The movie does not really explain how the husband dies in the middle of the night. We really feel for the wife when she kisses him and relinquishes his body—only to watch it float away and be jerked to and fro, then disappear beneath the surface. I kept hoping she would not watch what was happening.

I have to agree with others that the ending was a major downer. I was hoping that the helicopter pilot would spot her. But I could not fault her decision. She saw the futility of her situation, and chose an option which, presumably, would not force her to experience being eaten alive. Were I her and concluded there were no other options, I would probably have tried to figure out a way to accomplish the same thing.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Pretty Creepy

[19 October 2003]

I never saw this show in the theaters, never paid attention to all the hype about it at the time. But I like horror movies, so I bought the video and I've watched it about three times. I'd have to say that I fall on the side of the camp who believe that your imagination is what can scare you most of all. If you are like me and are willling to put yourself in with these people, you find yourself spending the first half of the movie wanting to smack all of them for their stupidity in not gearing up properly for a several- day hike in the deep woods. The early night shots, when they are hearing weird sounds in the dark, made me think, 'well, there's lots of animals that move around in the night; roll over and get some sleep.' I think the horror really set in, for me, after Josh disappears and we hear his screams in the distance . . . I couldn't help wondering what was happening to him to make him scream. I wanted to know, but I didn't want to know. The next morning, we discover his bloody tooth. Now we know we're in 'indian territory,' and these people aren't anywhere close to being equipped to deal with it, mentally or physically. (If I were that lost in the woods and being hunted, I'd set a forest fire. At least that would get someone's attention!) The rest is all downhill until the abrupt termination in the basement. Pretty damn creepy if you're willing to put yourself there. I'll never go hiking in deep woods unarmed; you never know what kind of a nut job you might encounter.

Heavy Metal (1981)

Taarna

[10/10 · 26 June 2001]

I saw Heavy Metal when I was a teenager in the summer of 1981, and it remains one of my all-time favorite movies. My most esteemed sequence is the final one, and seeing it is the only reason I now watch the film. After being subjected to all of the gratuitous nudity and sex in the earlier parts of the film, and having watched all of the earlier characters succumb to evil, there was something very striking, even haunting, about Taarna, who spoke not a word and went about her duty with a single-minded, no-nonsense purpose which was quite out of contrast to what had transpired in the earlier stories. I realize that this is an animated film which, in the main, is entertainment for entertainment's sake, and that I am deriving more from the movie than was intended. Nevertheless, Taarna struck a deep chord in me at an elemental level by the conjunction of the concepts of good triumphing over evil, selflessness and self-sacrifice, and the beauty and power of woman which has remained to the present day. The sequence in which she dons her gear in the hideaway, which was rotoscoped, is particularly striking and beautiful.