War of the Worlds : Earth vs Sky

Yes, yes I know people will say the ending was bad, the script was erratic etc, etc. The only thing I learned from this experience was that playing peek-a-boo with wanton rain-devils, when they are trying to drown your city with an incessant deluge, is as futile as trying to fight one of the omnipresent tripods (in the flick) with your willpower.

After being confined to our rooms by yesterday's hydro-invasion, I thought that today might provide at least momentary respite. Momentary and how! It was enough to lure me and other unfortunate adventurers/swimmers/scuba divers to wade our way to the nearest multiplex (if required). To lure the bait further, there was a solitary auto-rickshaw begging our occupation. So in we went, to glorious City Pulse with the substandard sound system, and a n00b in the projection room, to witness Spielberg's earth-shaking retort to the Lucas Leviathan of the previous month. Summer blockbuster here we come.

Except for the fact, that the movie had Tom Cruise and a script very loosely based on the 1898 classic. And yes, a very loose script it was. Spielberg did his customary shenanigans for the under 8 age group, who weren't allowed in anyway (ref Peek-a-boo scene). Where was the terror of the hunting raptor in Jurassic Park That was not hide and seek. That was an edge-of-the-seat fight for survival from a natural predator. Here, the technologically advanced predator, unless inclined to playing human games, was really being shown to be excessively naive in his choice of hunting equipment (a tentacle with an eye for a mouth! jeez Jackson's Sauron must be laughing his ring off...uhh...that's another story). But the most depressing thing about the movie was not all this. Yes, I can hear people screaming at me for trying to cut up a Spielberg summer box-office flick with the knife of logic and common sense. But hey, it ain't my fault! He allowed me too. Independence Day, a fantasy in the same league, (probably and deservedly a bigger grosser), was so fast-paced, action-packed and filled with dollops of style (read Will Smith) that you hardly ever got a chance to notice some very glaring flaws. If you did, you could choose to ignore them and keep pace with the action. Here, we're forced to witness a hollow story of reconciliation between Cruise & Fanning. Some people call it the human part of the story, the Spielberg touch (in the Midas mold). Well, I guess he was wearing gloves or something, because it didn't click with me.

Anyhow, I went to see the movie for its SFX, not really for much else. And this is the where the disappoint comes, folks. They were spectacular (nothing less to be expected with the whopping $135M budget), but they all caused serious deja vu after the award winning trailers! The movie had its moments, but unfortunately, most of them were available for download for free from Apple's cart of trailers. Suffice to say, that there wasn't much else besides crashed, mutilated, or burning specimens of housing and transportation. There was a cameo from Tim Robbins, whose character seemed to have been thrust upon our already manhandled protagonists, forever blissful in the company of their solitude (what?). Then there was the son. Oh boy! Not talking more: no spoilers here.

So there I was, having skipped decent "Sarkar" for the monstrous dud of a summer blockbuster, thinking I had atleast beaten the rain. The trap was set. Rain began pouring and the auto-rickshaws had vanished. Fearing the worst, we decided to return ASAP lest we were stranded till the arrival of choppers. It was a choice between walking on a wet street, or waiting and swimming later. Having no formal training in the latter, I decided to walk, getting soaked in the relentless downpour. To my excessive consternation, the moment I reached near college, a caravan of three eompty autos went past us. And to make a mockery of it all: the final straw, the rain stopped (not weakened...STOPPED as in red fuckin light...as in Monsoon my foot!) when we reached the shade. I shook off my dejection to play Counter-Strike. I got owned to the last frag. Good bye, Friday. This movie's having no sequels.