Deep Space Rumble: WAR OF THE WORLDS and STEALTH

Recently I had a chance to compare these two movies back to back. Curiously, The War of the Worlds is a straight disaster film, and Stealth is Sci-Fi, sort of.

The War of the Worlds stars Tom Cruise and never rises above its star, or director, Stephen Speilberg. It is Speilberg's fixation on delivering a happy ending that reduces this film to a sad cliche of special effects disaster movies, and Cruise, phones in his screen time as if it were a photo op. The disaster effects are the only attraction here.

Watching Stealth, I realized that it was a twenty-first century amalgum of Top Gun and 2001. The fighter pilots mundane jockying for status is derailed by an A.I. fighter drone. This makes it Sci-Fi, but does not elevate it into the realm of good Science Fiction. Filled with preposterous, but admittedly fun, action sequences, Stealth, is the more entertaining of the two; but still not recommended.

If you choose to watch either of these movies you had best leave your thinking caps at home. The only way to be pleasantly surprised is to lower your expectations at the start.