PhantomKnight Goes Spielbergian

Steven Spielberg’s ‘Post-9/11 Trilogy” continues with his adaptation of War of the Worlds, a movie that generally hasn’t started getting the credit that it deserves until maybe the latter half of the past decade. Which, I want to say sounds kind of insane to me, but even I myself admit that it took a while for this movie’s brilliance to really shine on me. Not that I ever hated it or anything – far from it. Like many others, however, I did get pretty caught up in the details about this movie that one could single out and nitpick on to death, but in the grand scheme of things, harping on too much about said nitpicks is to miss the forest for the trees. Because War of the Worlds is a pretty damn great movie. The last truly effective example of Spielberg at the height of his blockbuster spectacle-making powers? I think the argument could be made for that, sure.

Steven Spielberg didn't just direct a damn good science fiction movie here; he also directed a damn good horror movie. This may be a science fiction film by all outward appearances, but the execution of scenes and ideas pretty clearly draw comparisons to something you would see in the horror genre. And what makes it so effective is how Spielberg is able to ground everything in a certain sense of realism, or rather, parallels. And those parallels are the 9/11 attacks. Obviously, the way in which the aliens first attack are eerily reminiscent of that day in certain ways, from the imagery and the on-the-ground perspective of people scrambling away from plumes of smoke caused by destruction and whatnot. But then there's also touches like Dakota Fanning stumbling across dead bodies floating down a river and the aliens sucking human bodies dry of their blood and then the blood spreading as vapor in the air that carry really unsettling feelings with them and evoke more of a traditional horror feel that really makes the movie even more impactful as a whole. Whatever feelings you may have about the authorship of Poltergeist, Spielberg has never done a straight-up horror film in his career, but War of the Worlds may be the closest he’s gotten. He does a great job here of emphasizing just how terrifying this whole scenario could be in real life, and it lends the film a really effective tone throughout most of its running time. And that tone has helped strengthen the movie for me overall as time has gone by.

The set-pieces themselves are thrilling and expertly-staged, while simultaneously having a palpable menace and terror to them that lends the film a certain legitimacy. Legitimacy in the sense that Spielberg effortlessly manages to deliver on the spectacle and suspense of a big studio blockbuster, but still communicate the full weight and bleakness of the whole situation. As this movie goes on, things just get more and more bleak for the characters, with not a whole lot – if any – glimmers of hope for them, which feeds back into how this film taps into a post-9/11 landscape. In fact, it reflects an overall cynical outlook that seemed pretty dominant in Spielberg’s work at the time, whether you look back on Minority Report or ahead to his next film after this, Munich. His sense of craft here is incredible, measured skillfully in the way it lays on the bleakness through events and imagery (at times, this feels close to an R rating), and confident and powerful enough to overcome some narrative/script shortcomings.

Those shortcomings have been well-documented by this point, but ultimately, they don’t do a whole lot to detract from the film to a big degree. Yes, the very end and resolution to the film is stupid. Yes, the kids aren't written well. Yes, there are certain bits of logic that don't make sense. But, you know...while these things are there…in the long run, the rest of the film is so strong, I can forgive most of them to a certain extent. Because they’re still able to feed into the story and themes in effective ways. That and, again, the filmmaking itself is strong enough to smooth over a lot of those rough edges.

War of the Worlds may not be one of Steven Spielberg’s seminal works, but I definitely think it’s one that can sit comfortably in the upper echelons of his filmography. As a science fiction film, it taps into a reality that makes those elements all the more uncomfortably grounded. And as a horror film, it’s even better, and shows a side of the filmmaker that we don’t often see, but one I wish could’ve been let out to play more often.

"I'm allergic to peanut butter."

"Since when?"

"...Birth."