War of the Worlds (12A, 116mins)
Stars: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto, David Alan Basche
Directed by Steven Spielberg
IT'S fitting that Steven Spielberg, the visionary who directed ET The Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind - two films imagining a harmonious relationship between humans and intergalactic visitors - should now direct War of the Worlds. "This is not one of my sweet, cuddly, benign alien stories," says Spielberg of his new picture. That's something of an understatement. In a little under two hours, Spielberg draws upon his mastery of intimate human drama and jaw-dropping big budget spectacle to deliver the summer's most exhilarating and moving blockbuster so far. Despite the publicity frenzy that has accompanied premieres of the movie - enhanced by Tom Cruise's public courting and engagement to the young Katie Holmes, little has actually been known about the movie - which was cloaked in secrecy until this week. Some had speculated, given that this is a tactic usually reserved for big budget turkeys, we should prepare for dispppointment. That could not be further from the truth. From the moment the first tripod rises majestically out of the earth and unfurls its deadly mechanical tentacles, the film holds you in a vice-like grip. War of the Worlds is a seminal story of conflict inspired by HG Wells, told here on an epic scale, as seen through the eyes of one family battling to survive the alien apocalypse. Following on from his against-type hitman character in Collateral, dockworker Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a terrible father to his headstrong teenage son Robbie (Chatwin) and young daughter Rachel (Fanning). He is also a terrible husband, which explains why his wife Mary Ann (Otto) divorced him and has now found herself a reliable, wealthy boyfriend called Tim (Basche). When Mary Ann and Tim are called away to Boston for the weekend, they reluctantly leave the children in Ray's care, shortly before a powerful lightning storm strikes the city, knocking out all of the power and telecommunications. As curious citizens race to an intersection where lightning bolts struck an incredible 26 times, all hell quite literally breaks loose. | 
