Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

I finally got around to renting War of the Worlds this past weekend. My primary comment is that there must be some incredible power behind the Hollywood marketing machine. Of the top ten grossing movies this year, three of them have been a big disappointment (Sith, Fantastic Four and War of the Worlds). Two of them exceeded my expectations (Batman Begins ((best movie this year)) and Harry Potter), three of them were good enough (Hitch, Madagascar and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and there are two I haven't yet seen.

You already have my opinion of Revenge of the Sith. Fantastic Four was disappointing, but honestly I didn't have much of an expectation for it anyway.

War of the Worlds just didn't deliver. The acting (especially Dakota Fanning) was good. The story was intriguing, but the screenplay and direction were disappointing. I've never seen the old version and I've never read anything related to War of the Worlds, so I'm not sure how true the new movie is to the intent of the original story, but this movie seemed to branch into several interesting directions (or at least allude to them), but then never complete the thought. The happily-ever-after ending destroyed any tension in the drama of the movie, so at the end I was left feeling that I had wasted a few joules of emotional energy for nothing.

This week I'll be getting Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Hopefully I'll have a more positive review next Monday.