Issue Date: January 1, 2006
Fightin' words
A defense analyst blasts the alien-invasion blockbuster "War of the Worlds."
THE PLOT: Dockworker/negligent dad Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) discovers his New Jersey neighborhood is a prime target for aliens bent on eradicating humanity. Fleeing, Ray fights to survive and to make it to his ex-wife in Boston so he can return their two kids.
Insider's credentials: Dean Cheng is a defense analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, a Washington-area think tank. He formerly worked on defense issues in the Pentagon and for Congress. He is also a big sci-fi fan.
The double-disc limited-edition DVD is out now.
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OVERVIEW: "What a disappointment! Steven Spielberg is a visionary director and has made great films. But this one left me peeved."
Scene 5: The Machine Emerges -- Aliens rise from out of the ground in large metal tripods with vaporizing heat rays.
"Powerful lightning bolts have struck, huge fissures are opening in the earth, and -- get this -- nobody panics! People are just standing around."
Scene 14: The Fighting Begins -- The Ferriers find themselves on the front line as Army troops face the invaders.
"The Army would never fight the aliens that way. Basic tactics for fighting along a ridge line is for tanks to go 'hull down' and show as little of themselves as possible. They would never charge like that. They'd be destroyed, as they were."
Scene 22: In Boston -- Ray and his daughter (Dakota Fanning) walk past a Minuteman statue covered in alien red weed.
"The film's anti-Iraq war message was clear. The son's doing a paper on the Algerian uprising against France in the '50s, the daughter gets a splinter that she says her body will just push out, and Tim Robbins' character says, 'Occupations always fail.' "
-- Jamie Malanowski
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