Tom Cruise playing underdog, besieged dad trying to prove himself might be best Tom Cruise.

“Is it the terrorists?”
“That machine came from somewhere else”
“What, like Europe?”
“Not like Europe, Robbie!”

There’s a lot that’s crazy about this movie but the decision to make the tripods’ weapons just make people vanish in a puff of smoke, their empty trousers flying in the air like some vaguely Dr Seuss vibe, is quite the craziest.

The tripods going WOMMMM 5 years…

Heaps of fun! Glad to see it at a festival, assuming it won’t get a full run.

The NZness reminded me of another contemporary budget comedy, Mega Time Squad, but the overall vibe reminded me most of Quentin Dupieux. That sorta B movie magic realism junction, and a sense that it’s all about coming up with an idea and taking it out and out and seeing where it goes. But, you know, also very Kiwi and not in too cartoony…