War of the Worlds

"No one would believe in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water....Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us...."Of course Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" begins with the words of the first paragraph of H.G. Wells's 1898 novel, solemnly intoned by Morgan Freeman. Howard Koch invoked those same words for Orson Welles to read at the beginning of the infamous Mercury Theater on the Air broadcast of October 30, 1938. This is the first significant alien invasion story and in many ways it remains the best because it defines the essence of the genre: alien invaders want what we have and have come to take it away from us. Spielberg goes back to the basics: the aliens arrive and start exterminating the locals. There is never an explicit notion that these aliens are from Mars, and while we can piece together what the aliens are up to there is never a point where a character fills in the gaps of the narrative exposition (there is a point where you would think the characters would turn on a television to try and find out what is going on, but they never even consider doing it). Rumors abound, but facts are in short supply. There is a war going on, but it is taking place on the other side of the next hill. There are millions of people being killed by the machines (a fact reinforced by the almost constant sound of them throughout the film), but the carnage is effectively suggested indirectly because Spielberg wants to show and not tell.Although this film is told on the periphery of the war, Spielberg places the characters on the edge of the invasion, where whatever is happening is almost always happening at Tom Cruise's heels, although sometimes it happens right in front of his nose. Unlike the 1953 film the hero of this film is not a scientist caught in the middle of the desperate attempt to stop the Martians from destroying California. Ray Ferrier (Cruise) works a crane on a loading dock, and if you are waiting for his occupation to come into play at some point in this film forget about it. After all, most of us know that this one has to end with a whimper rather than a bang, which is why the screenplay by Josh Friedman and David Koepp has to create a small but necessary moral victory. However, in that regard what matters is not the destruction of a single machine, but rather the idea that there are human beings who will not stop fighting and who will make an effort to help save others in the midst of panic.A lot of Spielberg's films are about fathers and sons, albeit usually absent fathers and their symbolic replacements. The family situation in "War of the Worlds" is that Ray has hi two kids, Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and Rachel (Dakota Fanning), for the weekend while his ex-wife and her current husband head up to Boston to visit her parents (which is how Gene Barry gets his cameo appearance). I guess protecting your children from alien invaders is one way of proving yourself to be a good parent, but such family problems do not seem to amount to a hill of beans in a crazy world where tripods are killing people with death rays. But we know such elements resonate with Spielberg (and with us when we see the fear on Rachel's face and hear her scream), just as we know that it is necessary for Ray to be able to drive through the magic lane available on the highway or over the wreckage of a downed airliner to be able to advance the stories. Besides, there is a telling payoff to the whole car idea, which is how the movie shifts from bad to worse.With regards to previous tellings of the tale what makes this one stand out is how much of it is the rural area of New England, which makes it much more like Grovers Mill than a great metropolis like New York City or London. This gives a much different spin to the words of Ogilvy (Tim Robbins), the incarnation of the man on Putney Hill from the novel, since surviving in the bowels of a city would be a lot easier than fighting back from the cellar of a farm house somewhere in Massachusetts. Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" is not about winning the war but just surviving. That is why choosing to remake this movie as taking place on the periphery of the invasion makes sense. We know how this war is going to end, but that does not making staying alive any easier for the characters.

I tend to like this version of WotW more for its VFX & creepy alien invasion atmospherics. I'm reviewing the 4k release of the 2005 Spielberg remake based on the H.G. Wells classic. Those unfamiliar with this remake might not be surprised that this is a 20th Century retelling of the late 19th novel of aliens invading Earth. It stars Tom Cruise & Dakota Fanning (among others) and follows the novel in places, but sets off in more conventional 'spielbergian' territory with its 'divorced dad trying to reconnect with his children' formalities. Even so, the performances are good and it's still quite a ride.Sound and picture hold up pretty well, and everything looks & sounds really good on this 4k HDR disc (with a nice Atmos remix). When the aliens tripods blast out the scary alien fog horn sound, it really rattles the dishes. This is about as close as I've come to my experience seeing the film at the theater back in 2005.

TC usually not my guy.He had to be cast for this lead.Visually stunning with heart-wrenching portions.

because Tom Cruise didn't say or do anything scientological.

Apart from the bodacious special effects, perhaps the best thing in this film is Tom Cruise’s excellent performance as Ray: well-modulated and always believable, a likeable everyman. And the most annoying elements are Ray’s unbearably horrible children. The son is a snarky impertinent and callow spoiled egotist, whose anger is largely posturing (he spends half the movie with a curl in his lip or a grimace). And the daughter is even worse: a quintessential snowflake some years before the term became prevalent, who has panic attacks at the drop of a hat, during which she screeches and makes godawful scenes, having to be coddled at every step of the way, always having meltdowns at the most perilous moments, when any child of ordinary intelligence should know that this is NOT an ordinary state of things, and that making a ruckus might well result in death… again, a function of the narcissism and being so lily-livered one faints at the merest breeze. I short, I cringed through most of her scenes. I was reminded of the horribly bratty little girl in ROBOT MONSTER, and how relieved I was when Ro-Man finally did us all a favor by shutting her up permanently. There were some problems with the premise of the tripod machines being buried -- that many, buried all over the globe, and they were never detected? That strains an already quite strained credulity almost to the breaking point. I did like the homages, though. Setting the initial attack in New Jersey was a nod to the legendary Orson Welles broadcast. (Though in Jersey City, not Grover’s Mill—it has been pointed out that the fateful intersection where the tripod emerges has a street name, Van Buren, which is the surname of Ann Robinson’s character in the George Pal 1953 film. It is, however, also an actual street name in Jersey City.) They also quote the 1953 film, where General Mann says, “Once the tripods start moving, no more news comes out of that area.” There are a number of things harkening back to the original novel: the red weed, the scene where the train engulfed in flames passes, and the aliens harvesting people (to drink their blood). And a fine visual nod to INVADERS FROM MARS: when Ray’s daughter flees the farmhouse basement and Ray goes after her, he approaches a hillside down which a line of split-rail fencing snakes, and beyond which is a reddened swamp or fen, just like the swamp in the earlier film where the aliens were buried.The aliens seem to have only one, not two, rays; and it’s a bit beyond credulity how the heat ray works: any ray which would reduce the body to ash would almost certainly do the same to any clothing. But the explosion of ash and empty clothes IS an impressive effect. Unlike the 1953 movie, not a single landmark building is destroyed. I’m sure this was to avoid “the cliché” of such scenes, but then, in disaster porn, they’re part of the whole aesthetic. On the whole, a fun film, with some exciting and engrossing attack sequences, especially if you can wink at the illogical parts, and mute or fast-forward through the scenes with those flesh-crawlingly awful kids.

If a person ever gets a chance to see a behind the scenes about some of the effects, especially while they are driving in the van in the aftermath, I'm betting that knowing about the complicated effects shots will make the movie more enjoyable for them.

Instead of 'War of the Worlds' this film should have been titled: 'In which Tom Cruise spends what seems like a fortnight running around looking surprised while a little girl screams her head off.' Honestly, the first appearance of the 'monsters'? 'Martians'? Was superb. But really, that was it. And as this happens at the beginning of the film, that leaves a lot of time for hanging around pointlessly in basements, driving the only car in the country that can be started (for some reason) and having a little girl scream her head off the whole time while some brattish kid acts up. I was going to just give up halfway through, but stuck it out to the end. A pointless waste of time. Don't bother.

Modern thriller remake. The film is shot in muted colours that give it an interesting doom laden feel. The special effects are super especially with concrete cracking open, buildings collapsing and cars being tossed up into the air. The music by John Williams could be considered to be one of his greatest with a doom laden chill that invokes a feel of impending doom. The plot follows the story of a family that try to escape the attack from a series of alien spacecraft intent on human destruction.

Average film.Acting by Dakota Fanning was extraordinarily good.Directing was extraordinarily odd.More like trying to make the characters more creepy and sureal than the aliens.A few nods to the original film and narration taken from H G Well's book. Music by John Williams is atmospheric with references to the alien communications of Close Encounter - though sadly no big themes. In fact no melodic themes at all.Editing good, production and sets very good, but something missing with the interpretation and updated storyline.I still prefer the original movie.

War of the Worlds is not among Spielberg's very best work and it does suffer initially from a necessarily bland opening and Cruise's unbelievability as a working Joe, but it does go to far darker places than you'd expect from a Summer blockbuster: whereas in the novel the hero causes the death of the curate hiding with him by accident, Spielberg goes much further here in a scene that makes surprisingly chilling use of Hushabye Mountain. The scenes of destruction are genuinely apocalyptic, with the chaos unravelled in surprisingly long and ambitious takes that don't draw excessive attention to their technique. Spielberg offers some nice emotional touches, not least the look of pride on Cruise's face as his son helps people struggling onto the ferry (not overplayed or highlighted, just there) and even pulls off the ending, always a problem but here solved by visually referencing The Searchers (although I could have done without Gene Barry and Anne Robinson's clumsy cameo or Morgan Freeman's lacklustre narration).For all its many changes from the novel, this succeeds surprisingly well as an adapatation (Wells himself felt the novel out of date by the time the various proposed earlier film versions from silent cinema through to the 40s were proposed): it may not have quite the 50s Technicolor appeal of George Pal's classic version nor anywhere near as iconic alien hardware, but it's got more than enough going for it to stand on its own three tripods.

Just a fantastic film... grew up watching the 1953 black & white film for many years so was glad to see itcome alive in a new light and updated version fantastic out of this world.....One film you will want to see on a large screen with surround sound... it will blow you awaybest for me to say nothing about it so you can enjoy it better....Nothing worst than knowing what is going to happenHope you get to buy a copy and enjoy it as I doP.S I also have the two music albums to this film they to are a must have to playsee photo's with my review...My Thanks to AMAZON for such good items....