Mart Retro

Steven Spielberg’s next film Disclosure Day releases in 20 days, so in preparation, I revisited the last Spielberg film set in modern-times: War of the Worlds (🌟🌟🌟🌟). There are undoubtedly patches of this film that I consider to be the best work of Spielberg’s career. In revisiting this film, it also blew me away that Spielberg released War of the Worlds & Munich within a 7 month stretch in 2005, a fact I totally forgot. How on Earth did he release two masterpieces in the same year? I say all of that to say this- it’s possible we, en masse, still underrated Steven Spielberg’s creative gifts.  I’m not the first nor will I be the last person to draw parallels between the alien invasion that is the central premise of this film to that of the post 9/11 tumult the United States found itself in back in 2005. Spielberg’s telling of this version of War of the Worlds is effectively an allegory for the trauma and paranoia everyone faced after 9/11, all told through the eyes of Tom Cruise’s family fighting for survival. What’s interesting to me is that Spielberg is able to tap into how that paranoia/vulnerability impacted middle-class or low-income people more than anyone else despite the fact Spielberg himself is worth millions. I think an essential component to the story is the fact that Cruise’s family is poor & that exacerbates the entirety of their fight for survival, something which is extremely applicable to countless families impacted by 9/11: the less money you have, the harder it is to obtain proper medical care, to relocate, or to find family and friends.  The stretch in the film’s first 1/3rd where Cruise steps out from his kitchen, down his stoop, and onto the street- surrounded by countless confused neighbors- is some of Spielberg’s best work ever. The way Spielberg brings the aliens to life from the ground, the metaphor of the cathedral smashing in half as the aliens rise, is all of so enthralling. Part of which is attributable to Spielberg’s use of sound in this stretch, which further brings the audience closer to the stakes of this invasion & makes the aliens feel alive. It’s also so deliberate of Spielberg to include the ash/rubble & countless police officers running with Cruise- again, another parallel to 9/11. But by the time a man in the street drops his hand-held camera and we see the aliens for the first time, it’s hard not to be stunned by Spielberg’s direction.  I also think Cruise’s performance in this film is a lot more interesting than I remember because he plays a parent. In all honesty, I truly can’t think of another role where Cruise plays a father- maybe Jerry Maguire, does that even count? It brings out a different survival version of Cruise & I think watching him interact with child actors brings out a different side of him. All of which is without mentioning that Cruise & Spielberg haven’t worked together since this film, largely because this film released at perhaps the lowest point of Cruise’s career- the “Oprah couch” moment, etc. None of that should ultimately overshadow the fact that Cruise delivers an outstanding performance in this film.  My ultimate takeaway? Cruise & Spielberg must reunite.