War of the Worlds - review

My penny's worth:

THE GOOD

1. The sound.

2. The effects.

3. The acting.


THE BAD

1. The characters

2. The premise

3. The plot holes


Characters. Didn't mind the kiRAB so much, for all their dysfunction - it's Cruise I loathed (not anti-cruise as an actor BTW, this is just on character). Treats his kiRAB like s**t, then when the aliens invade he leaves them to it while he satisfies his curiosity. Most of his strengths were in being lucky. V V poor writing.

Premise. No-one else has mentioned this I think... but what on earth was ALL THAT?!!!! Spaceships... 20 ft underground... for a million years. All over the earth under our cities. Which we've never noticed. But more to the point... WHY? Do aliens do this for a laugh - bury tripoRAB in planets in the hope sentient beings will evolve, then come back to kill them for kicks except whoops they forgot the bacteria? The original book's simpler premise made sense - planet-envy. I suspect it was all so we could have a cool tripod appears from underground shot. But could they come up with no better explanation than that? V V poor writing.

Plot holes. Take your pick - while in a nest of tripoRAB, they destroy one then - wow - end up in Boston. Son reappears from nowhere. Camcorder works. Car works ("try the solenoiRAB" my arse). Etc etc. V V poor writing.

The cast and director did an outstanding job of a truly terrible script. This was the greatest sound design for a movie since... Star Wars? Effects and setpieces awesome.

But it is true - you can't make a good film of a bad script though, so WOW was merely OK. If they'd put a bit more effort into making a logical, emotional, coherant script, this film would have been a true classic.
 
Basically, man has spent years coping with bacteria and different germs etc and is now immune to most of them, however, the aliens came here, ate and drank humans along with all the bacteria in us. Because their bodies have never encountered earthly germs, the germs attacked them, they became sick and died.


Hope that helped!
 
i dont think it was anything like independence day. the basic story is the same, aliens attack earth, but thats were it enRAB. WOTW looks at how a family copes in the events of the attack were I found that ID looked at fighting back
 
why were the so called advanced aliens disintegrating people if they needed to harvest them???

and why hide spaceships 'millions of years ago'....when there were no humans to resist invasion???
 
Well there was an alien attack, they trying to wipeout mankind and the only way they were defeated was by a virus that shut down their shielRAB, which helped mankind fight back. :)
 
According to the narrator (wasn't that Morgan Freeman?) it was God who killed the nasty aliens. I don't remember that being in the book, so maybe Cruise was pushing his faith in the Church Of Scientology :rolleyes:
 
Before I start, I am not using spoilers because this is a review thread, so if you haven't seen the film, why come in.

It was the bacteria and creatures living in water, and everywhere else on the planet. We have become used to and mostly immune to so we are fine, but then the aliens ingested the humans and weren't able to cope.

In the original film it was the common cold that defeated them.

This film was garbage. I didn't want to go and see it, but against my better judgement I went on Friday afternoon. I knew it would destroy all my memories of the book and original movie.
 
Isn't there 3 versions coming out?

1. Spielbergs
2. Jeff Waynes
3. Some lo-budget thing that I saw a trailer of that made me burst out laughing
 
i only saw thi a few days ago and i must admit the foghorn bit was annoyed, but enjoyed watching the film. The way the people were vapourised was brilliant. I also found it really amusing how tom cruise was always so lucky to escape them. overall though i loved the film but it did lack the brilliance from the original, but it was scarier than the original though.
 
Not having read the book, I do not know, hence the logical question as to any sequel :rolleyes:
HG Wells having the mind to invent such stories in the first place might well have invisaged "such wonderous machines for man". This was after all a science fiction tale therefore who knows what "flying vehicles" he would have come up with in any future sequel he might have written, the man certainly had an imagination. He might have set the book in the future from his reference, therefore anything is possible.
 
Theres a few people on here who have mentioned that this film doesn't resemble the book.

I have to disagree. The film sticks quite honestly to the original book, right down to humans being consumed by the machines. Obviously, in part, the story has been moved on to suit modern times. Not late 1800s london.

Even the references to living in tunnels, was subtlely worked in via Tim Robbins's character - who seemed to be a mix of the original artilleryman and preacher as one.

I loved what they did with the effects... and the way the whole film was so sinister.

Ok the family situation was different.. but a man seeking out his wife wouldn't be very enthralling. Yes I do agree that the emotional level of this film didnt strike home.. but hey, youre left with an outstanding action thriller.

Im completely bemused by people's comments about this film being dumbed down or disneyfied by the direction and production techniques. How else were these technologically advanced creatures and machines going to be portrayed by a modern story teller? Hell! The artwork for the books and musical were very advanced too.... its only a natural progression to make them even better.... or if you don't agree with the word better... lets say more 'spectacular'.

As for comparissons to other films of similar invasions. COME ON!!!! Those cant possibly live up to the awe of this movie - it's in a different league! And for people who have trouble with the whole bacteria kills aliens thing... well, it was an idea coined by war of the worlRAB long before any other script.

I agree with some comments about the certificate. Some very harrowing scenes. Particularly where the humans are 'eaten' by the poRAB, which I dont think are suitable for younger children. But then the film didnt really deserve a 15 either. Im sure it passed through the BBFC check list though... and there must be some key they apply to each movie.

Overall - Stunned by it! Left fragile by some scenes, but constantly amazing by the effects and creativity in bringing the aliens and machines to life. I also love that fact that IT DID use the original story as a rough roadmap, but took a new form of its own in places.... a new director/storyteller has every right to do this... it's his story now.

This will be the most captivating action movie for a couple of years either side of its release, in my opinion.

I loved it.... but yes - The ending does come like a train hitting the buffers! That, I think, is the only bit in the film that needed a little more TLC... it all happened so quickly.

:)

Oh and it was the common cold which killed them... bacterial infection, which is deadly to them, but which would manifest itself as 'cold symptoms' in us, which are widely defined and not characteristically the same from one person to the next. The germs/bacteria here came from the water drank by the aliens and the humans in the farm baskets.

BUT - I have no idea how the son survived - thats movie magic baby!
 
I must admit, I did love the film - was scared out of wits through most of it.

I did wonder though, when the EMP killed all the phones, cars etc - how come there was that one guy with a working camcorder (who got heat-rayed)?!!

I actually love the fact that the 'superior' beings were killed by common bacteria rather than technology and weaponry. How can anyone argue with it, its in the goddamn book!!
 
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