It's amazing what the ending of a film can do for your feelings about the rest of the piece. For example, let's take Steven Spielberg's adaptation of War of the Worlds. During this discussion I'm going to discuss the ending to not only the Spielberg film but the original text by H.G. Wells as well as any other version that I feel like dragging into the conversation. If you're a century or so behind in your reading you may want to hold off on the rest of this piece until you've finished getting caught up on your historical page turners.

In the latest re-telling of the story Tom Cruise plays Ray Ferrier, a divorced man-child who divides his time between working on the docks and neglecting his children. I must give credit to Spielberg for planting a great red herring in Ray's introduction scene. Action movies are usually so sparse on character depth that any sort of hobby, personal memento, or lost parent will inevitably be used at some point in the film. When Ray is shown operating a huge crane the first thought that came to mind was that later in the film Ray would have to pilot an alien craft using the skills he employed at work. Instead it's just Ray's job that he slugs away at in order to pay his bills. It's a small thing but when everything else in the movie is huge it makes for a nice change of pace.

After a long shift of moving boxes around Ray comes home to his ex-wife [Miranda Otto] dropping off their children at his place for the weekend while she goes to visit her parents in Boston. Why the children weren't invited along to a family get-together isn't explained but it's not like the film leaves you a lot of time to dwell on it. After a few scenes that establish that not only do the two children -Dakota Fanning as Rachel and Justin Chatwin as Robbie- not think too much of their father but are probably more mature than he is Bad Things begin to happen.

The Martians have come to Earth and decide to communicate through the universal language of violence. They are also remarkably hands-on in their approach to the eradication of the human race so instead of killing the population from the safety of orbit or from another planet entirely they stomp around in gigantic tripods that look like barbecue grills with tentacles and death ray accessory add-ons. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if I should call them "Martians" since it's never actually stated that they are from Mars. But since other versions of the story refer to the invaders as being from the planet Mars and this is one of the few opportunities I have to use the word Martian in casual conversation I'm branding the aliens out to kill Tom Cruise as Martians as well.

Not only are these Martians out to kill Tom Cruise, they are totally out to kill Tom Cruise. Spielberg made the decision to have the entire invasion from the perspective of Ray so once the trouble starts the movie is focused entirely on the family trying to stay alive and Ray's vague plans about getting to his ex-wife's family in Boston. At no point does the movie engage in disaster movie staples such as shots of politicians or just people in suits sitting around a table talking about the aliens, scientists gnawing on pipe stems while dispensing detailed conjectures about the Martians based on the flimsiest amounts of evidence, or B list celebrities who are only there to get cooked. I didn't miss any of these. Instead by staying with the family the entire time the film makes you empathize with their desperation as they try to stay alive in the face of an impossible situation. That, or the audience may decide that if Ray is the apex of human potential then maybe the Martians are just putting the Earth out of it's misery.

For most of the running time I was enthralled with the family's attempts to survive against maurading death machines, terrified mobs of refugees and a fat and crazy Tim Robbins. Then the ending came. It wasn't that the fate of the aliens in the Wells book was maintained. That is probably the most famous and least successful parts of the story so the film-makers hands were tied with that one. Instead it was the conclusion of Ray's quest to get to Beantown that annoyed. The concluding scenes were so sentimental, overblown, unlikely given the previous events in the film, and downright sappy it bothered me. Once I had time to reflect on the movie as a whole I felt it was full of great moments and well worth the time but the main thought on my mind upon leaving the theater was "what kind of ending was THAT?" This is not the sort of feeling most movie makers want to leave you with as your final feelings about a film.

Since the story of Earth getting invaded by Martians has been done many, many times since Wells first introduced it most creators who decide to put a new spin on the story usually make sure to include some sort of sub-text to set their story apart from the herd. Heck, even the story Wells was telling was more about the underpinnings than about bug eyed monsters zapping people. The theme Spielberg seemed to be pushing was the survival of a family unit caught up in insane times that are beyond their power to control. In a world plagued by international disputes as well as the extreme personal ideology of the few leading to the suffering of many it seemed like a fitting approach to take.

But do the different takes on War of the Worlds reflect the society in which they were created or the personal world view of the creators? Arguments could be made either way but I doubt that the atheist, pro-science totalitarianism stance that H.G Wells had would fly all that well today. I was also thankful that the Spielberg version didn't go with the overblown religious stance of the 1950's film version. This page's very own Cosmic Chris once noted how the 50's film played up religion at the end to such a degree that it almost came across as if divine providence had destroyed the Martians. Why it was also God's will that thousands of people had to get the shit fried out of them by lasers before this happened, however, was never fully addressed. The Orson Welles radio version was ultimately about Welles as were most projects that involved Welles. But was Spielberg's take on the story dictated by the world around him or his own opinions? Unless he specifically states his thoughts while making the movie at some point in the future it's hard to say but the finale was pure Spielberg, and not in a good way.

Ah, yes, back to the ending. Up until the last ten minutes or so I was really enjoying watching all those people die. The movie had been so relentless in it's pacing that you really didn't have time to reflect on how lousy the Martian invasion plan was. For instance, at one point someone in the movie theorized that the Martians has planted their death buggies millions of years ago. With shifting tectonic plates and continental drift it's amazing they remembered where they had parked. It's also a bit surprising that their earlier prepping didn't clue them in that they needed to get immunized. When traveling abroad it's just common sense to get caught up on your shots before you start drinking the water or exchanging bodily fluids with the locals.

It's too bad, for most of the running time Spielberg managed to make War of the Worlds quite tense and brutal so it was a shame that the ending felt more like a fumble than anything.

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