War of the Worlds | ||
 | Composer: John Williams Label: Buy this soundtrack: | |
Track Listing | |||||||||||||||||||
| 01 Prologue (2:52) 02 The Ferry Scene (5:49) 03 Reaching the Country (3:24) 04 The Intersection Scene (4:13) 05 Ray and Rachel (2:41) 06 Escape from the City (3:49) 07 Probing the Basement (4:12) 08 Refugee Status (3:50) 09 The Attack on the Car (2:44) 10 The Seperation of the Family (2:36) 11 The Confrontation with Ogilvy (4:34) 12 The Return to Boston (4:29) 13 Escape from the Basket (9:21) 14 The Reunion (3:16) 15 Epilogue (3:11) Total Length: 1:01:09 | |||||||||||||||||||
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Reviewed by - Grade: The first half of the film War of the Worlds is incredible. Once again, Spielberg has taken us on a cool visual effects roller coaster and provided some spectacular imagery that will undoubtedly show up in highlight reels for years to come. The problem is, the second half of the movie absolutely sucks. I say this with affection for Spielberg as he has done some cool stuff over the years, all of which pales compared to his original Jaws. Naturally your first movie is always your best...take the Matrix for example. Die Hard. OK, Maybe Empire Strikes Back was better, but that wasn't directed by Lucas...why am I rambling about all of this???
The point is that Spielberg had a great thing going with the movie. I'm not sure why he continues to want to package things up into happy endings but I am still baffled why he ended the film the way he did. It was horrific. I mean one of the worst endings I have ever seen in a film. The challenge of course was for John Williams to compose a score and wrap it around a movie that is so great in the beginning, then just falls apart. I've found myself listening to the score over and over. I truly do like it. It is one of those soundtracks you can listen to over and over and really never get tired of it. You can never really get excited about it either because the film itself did not have any truly heightening moments of excitement, joy, or sorrow. It was really emotionless. There were some great scenes intended to scare the audience, but mostly you had Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) running away as fast as he can to protect his family. I actually really love the opening track Prologue...even the narration by Morgan Freeman isn't that bad. It's kind of like a ship's beacon on a foggy night...it just kind of appears out of nothing and really sets the stage for the rest of the score. The tracks are not in sequential film order, for continuity purposes of course (I hate when they do that) so really for the remainder of the score, you get a whole lot of big action chase sequences, sprinkled with some eery string sections for added tension. I had my bass cranked up pretty high, and this disc put my subwoofer to the limit. I really like what Williams did with the bass...no doubt intended to add a subtle texture to the aliens themselves when they are crunching through city streets and buildings like Godzilla hopped up after Mothra kicked him in the nuts. The track Escape from the Basket is pretty good also. It's one of those long suites that really goes back to his roots for Close Encounters. If you listen to this track and The Confrontation with Ogilvy, you'll hear Close Encounters. Although, I really do believe that Close Encounters is scarier. He did more string effects that Penderecki preaches in every classical horror piece he has ever composed. Encounters just has that scary alien edge that War of the Worlds seems to lack. As I stated earlier, it is pretty good overall, and very pleasant to listen to, but in the end, it is like the film...nothing to get excited about. For die hard Williams fans of course, you will get this score and probably come to the same conclusions as I. Give Close Encounters a listen, and then War of the Worlds...you'll find that although it is a simpler score, it is quite complex in the story it tells, and of course the aliens are friendly...heh-heh. Overall I rate this score a 7/10 because I actually really do like to listen to it. Moreso than Attack of the Clones anyway. I do recommend it for the avid collector. [SPOILERS - DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM] I normally do not write about the endings of films, but this ending is so bad, I wanted to get three things off my chest that are obvious failures for this film to work effectively: 1. Why in the hell does Robbie come back at the end? And why the hell is he still wearing the same tattered clothing he had on through the entire film? I mean, it was stupid enough to have Ray drop off his daughter with his ex-wife (and her new husband I might add) but to have his son appear (from INSIDE the freakin house) wearing the same damn clothes. I mean...COME'ON! Are we that stupid? The entire hillside was lit up....no army soldiers survived, but we are to believe that Robbie did? 2. If the aliens had been hiding underground for millions of years (as they explained in the film) then WHY didn't they die millions of years ago? IF they were already here on earth, they would not have survived because of the micro-organisms. And if they had been watching our planet with envious eyes, don't you think they would have been smart enough to know that there might be some shit on this planet that would threaten them? It just doesn't add up and was really a stupid ending when there was really no climax whatsoever in the film. 3. The fact that you have to mention god at the end of your film is disturbing enough, but to say that god was smart enough to design micro-organisms that one day would combat the aliens that came to kill the human race...it has the be the stupidest thing I have ever heard!!! OK, I feel much better now. Go see the movie for the incredible effects in the first hour, but then if you have to wash your hair or something...just take off. You won't miss anything. Oh, and pick up the score by clicking the Amazon link above! More Movie Soundtracks
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