RSS 2.0War of the Worlds (2005/II)
With a total of three War of the Worlds‘ coming to you this year (most of them directly to DVD) , this Steven Spielberg project re-unites the director with Tom Cruise, after another sci-fi project, Minority Report. Although scheduled for a 2007 release, Spielberg’s take on the classic 1898 H.G. Wells novel was speeded up, after Spielberg got stuck with the Indiana Jones IV script and Cruise had problems with Mission: Impossible III, when his director resigned. It was produced in a mere eight months (including post production) and shot in only three months. In a time of all of these really lousy remakes, this can hardly be called one.
Spielberg’s version very much focuses on the family aspect of an alien attack. Jay Ferrier (Cruise) has the kids for the weekend, after his pregnant ex-wife (Miranda Otto, who shows up in only two or three scenes) is away for the weekend with her new boyfriend; off to her parents in Boston. When the weather starts to change abruptly and power, cars and all electric devices fail to work, Ray starts to think something is seriously wrong. He’s damn right: alien tripods emerge from the ground, after having resided there for thousands or maybe even millions of years. The aliens have come to earth to take it over. All Ray can do is get the hell out of there and, in the only car that is working, bring his kids safely to their mother.
Except for two scenes, this 2005 version has little or nothing to do with the 1953 original. It does, however, like the 1953 flick, try to focus on the basic fear of an alien invasion. However, what makes this so different from the film brought to us over fifty years ago, is the Spielbergian focus on (disrupted) family life. And that is where it all goes wrong: the screenplay is really messy, which may be due to the inexperience of Josh Friedman, who penned it. With this type of movie the stress should either be on the action or on the story; not both. Although it is not predictability that brings the story down, Cruise and his kids just run here and there amongst a mass of people, reminiscent of Kate Winslet’s attempt to find Leo DiCaprio in Titanic. Rather unrealistic, to stay on the euphemistic side.
Whereas the story simply sucks as much as the aliens in this movie suck human blood, the action is quite good, especially when you come to think it was achieved in only eight months. Spielberg shot all the big action sequence at the beginning of principal photography, but it never looks as though it was made in haste. This is complemented with absolutely stunning sound. Maybe it was the movie theater I was sitting in, but even the smaller scenes (like the one in which Cruise and his kids are hiding in the basement of his ex-wife’s house) have amazing sound-effects. War of the Worlds also stands in hugh contrast with other recent sci-fi pictures Spielberg directed, like Minority Report and Artificial Intelligence. The look of it is rather realistic and raw, in fact reminded me a lot of 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
War of the Worlds is blessed with having Spielberg on the steering wheel, because without him, this would have become an utter mess. Despite the lousy screenplay and a squeaking Dakota Fanning and Tim Robbin’s one scene part, Spielberg’s directing turns this film, that runs just under two hours, into a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It was a wise decision not to show anything alien in the trailers, which built up suspense and anticipation immensely. This is not the type of film you want to see to get answers, because you shall be provided with none; even the word Mars isn’t mentioned once. Cruise and his offspring are in nearly every scene and the film ends as abruptly as it began. In fact: the ending is totally uninspired and – to say the least – plain nonsense. As amusement, however, this is state of the art.
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tom Cruise, Miranda Otto, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins
Runtime: 116′
Release Dates: June 29 (worldwide)
Official Website
Arjan Welles (213 posts)Arjan Welles - law graduate. I work at a bank, I work as a film critic for Dutch and English media. My favorite directors are David Lynch, David Fincher, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino. I love arthouse over blockbusters.
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This Movie realy SUCKS!
All things they said where totaly blown up!
You don’t need to go to see it
Comment by Ronald — Thu June 30, 2005 @ 20:30Not quite a satisfying experience this. I have to agree with you, Arjan, the special effects are fine, although I thought the most effective scene (and the one where the panic of the people involved was most transferred to me, the viewer) was the one with the burning train.
Comment by Mariken — Sun July 3, 2005 @ 19:11Thank god for Tim Robbins in this film, he gives it a little acting gravity, the others just do their mediocre thing. Dakota Fanning is quite effectively hysterical (yawn!), Cruise completely interchangable. I can name a ton of actors who could have played this part.
And because the acting is so low-calorie, I found myself going numb and bored at yet another action sequence of people running from the alien tripods.
The first time that happens Spielberg shows his genius, the image of Cruise covered in the ashes was brilliant and moving, but it soon goes stale, in my opinion.
And the ending made me puke! It was rushed, disgustingly optimistic, and more importantly stretches suspension of disbelief into an impossibly long curve. It ruined the entire movie for me, in fact. Whatever I liked about it was tainted by that grossly exagerated ‘feel good moment” I felt I got forced down my throat and which left a nasty taste in my mouth.
Point of interest: is it just me or are all of Steven Spielbergs movies, in some way or form, about the holocaust ? In my opinion that would be worth writing a thesis on (although I am sure somebody somewhere allready has).
Definately thesis material. There’s holocaust, there’s aliens, there’s a lot of typical Spielberg stuff). Definately worth revisiting when I’m in less of a popcorn mood.
I didn’t like the ending either, although I did like the fact that Cruise’s character didn’t defeat the aliens by uploading a computer virus into their ships or anything similarly stupid.
This way it’s about humans being hunted like insects, and what it does to them. The most memorable scene for me was the one where they loose the car.
Comment by weefselkweekje — Mon July 4, 2005 @ 11:37There are as many reasons to dislike this movie as there are to actually like it.
I was quite blown away by the SFX and the awesome sound. I really loved the way Spielberg played with perspective in making the aliens look so big and the destruction so massive. It reminded me of The Day After Tomorrow in terms of vastness, only better.
In defense of Cruise I’d have to say that he did quite well with the limited role he had. It’s of course nothing more than a “run, Forrest, run” movie, but he played more laidback than he usually does. For once he wasn’t the beguiling wonderboy with the toothpaste smile (well, most of the time he wasn’t).
Spielberg wasn’t always that subtle, but I found myself suprised with the fierceness of the violence and extermination (according to Spielberg’s usual standards). The imagery -however gratuitous sometimes- was quite powerful. The clothes falling from the sky, the ashes and the burning train were direct references to the holocaust. The “missing persons” wall was of course a nod to 9/11.
I think that when Spielberg would have managed to iron out the poor logic and the sentimental ending, that this could’ve been a very good movie. Oh, and shoot Dakota Fanning.
Comment by Paco — Mon July 4, 2005 @ 15:57Why don’t we give it five more years before we shoot Dakota Fanning. She might just turn out to be the next Jodie Foster or Christina Ricci.
Comment by Mariken — Tue July 5, 2005 @ 19:51But lets stop her from doing interviews (and I mean like, EVER) and shoot her on her 17th birthday if she turns out to be Lindsay Lohan instead.
From someone who saw the original movie several times, I gotta say I totally loved this movie as a piece of escapist cinema. Only one scene really got under my nit-picking side, and that was the scene with the aircraft that crashed outside of the house. No plane crashes with that much stuff in tact and within such a small area. Top it off with the fact that the old Dodge Caravan didn’t get a scratch on it, and you have my only “WHATEVER” scene of the movie.
I enjoyed it like I expected to enjoy it. I didn’t go to analyse it, only to have fun with my son!
Comment by Craig — Thu July 7, 2005 @ 1:06Can you say “suckfest 101″? I needed a Xanax and a Martini after the film. But great sound I will admit.
Comment by Lisa — Thu July 7, 2005 @ 2:02Yeah – this movie certainly isn’t on my list of ‘must recommends”. The effects were kind of cool and I guess the sound was too – but then again – has there been a movie in the past 20 years when the sound sucked? The story line was rediculous – and the ending? PPFFTTT spare me. It was a waste of 2 hours of my life that I won’t get back. I wanna know how the hell Robbie made it back to Boston after he walked over the hill that suddenly exploded like Hiroshima.
Comment by Jeff — Thu July 7, 2005 @ 2:15And why would you lead your family to a ferry that is bound to be sunk. Yeah – don’t bother. Go see Bewitched a second time.
oh my god?!!! does it really suck that bad?!!! oh well i’ll just have to watch fantastic 4 then… thanks for the tips guys… a lot of people just told me that the ending really sucks but hey!!! pls. dont mention the ending to me or i’ll be goin’ crazy man!!! hehehe…
Comment by pozzy — Fri July 8, 2005 @ 17:07One word, shite
Comment by ian lafferty — Wed August 3, 2005 @ 19:54yah yeah yup!!! it does sucks but i did like the effects though but the story?!! it was really weird and uhhh what the hell and how the fuck did the…???!!!! i bet the movie was created by an alien too… lolz…=p
Comment by pozzy — Fri August 5, 2005 @ 10:46Where do I start… there’s so much wrong with it. Ah, how about let’s start with Dakota Fanning…. talented, yes, but how hard is it for her to cry and scream… I would have left her in the apartment in NYC…. anyway, that’s all she ever does in any movie she’s in. I would hope she’d be good at it by now… oh, she also knows how to act like an adult in a child’s body. But on to the movie… most of it was trite and predictable, down to the last scene. The absolute most fantastic thing about this movie was the sound that the tripods made…. like a foghorn… I’d love to get the sound byte of that… very chilling and ominous. Also, Tim Robbins’ character insert into the movie added a level of tension that I can only compare to the tension I felt in The Blair Witch Project or in the night-goggle scene in Silence of the Lambs. I really felt the frustration when the character was flipping out and making all the noise… I felt like I wanted to ssshhhh him myself. The cinematography was phenominal, in regards to realizing the size of the tripods. Ok, now the cheeseball stuff. I’d like to see ANYONE try to drive down the NJ Turnpike at even 50 miles an hour at 3:00 a.m., let alone having the ONLY vehicle that works (how much did Dodge pay to get their minivan to be the one?) and speeding, non-stop, through a sea of parked cars and people freaking out in the middle of the day. Also, if all power went out, even in wind-up watches, then why did the video camera laying on the ground continue to work? And the airplane scene… let’s not even go there…. no, let’s… first, why was the car still able to run… didn’t the tripods come over night to the neighborhood? And how do you drive your way out of a plane wreck in a crappy minivan without getting a flat or running over anything? Plus, kudo’s for the effect of having the turbine still spinning, BUT NOT HOURS LATER! Also, why did the tripods spend so much time rummaging through every last house to see if anyone was left behind. If they needed to eat them so badly, they shouldn’t have been so gun-happy to shoot so many people down in the fields and on the streets…. or if they had to make sure all were dead, just shoot the house apart and lets move on through. I thought the ending was pretty good, although I don’t think that, even though they explained it, people walked away getting it. All-in-all though, it’s worth seeing, just to see it, but don’t expect to be wow-ed.
Comment by DaveyPgh — Wed September 14, 2005 @ 7:12Oh, and oops… in respect to Katrina (and in repect for the unfortunate ones), talk about life imitating art… I bet they wish they didn’t have the scene where the bodies are floating down the river.
Comment by DaveyPgh — Wed September 14, 2005 @ 7:19I thought Speilberg’s War of the Worlds was phenominal.
The acting by Dakota was very well done as was Cruise (who I don’t usually care for in anything – (he’s a pompous little know it all prick).
But this movie was not a “hit the deadline at any cost” movie. This movie took a lot of time and hard work on many talented people’s parts.
I also saw Asylum’s WOW and there was no comparison.
I also personally think that there was a message in there for people that no one seems to have yet caught…………the feeling of hopelessness, the feeling of no where to run and hide and that the vast cool “intellect” of the aliens with their total disregard for the santity for life itself is strangely and exactly the way we humans are treating the fellow creatures that have the misfortune of sharing this ball of dirt in the cosmos with us.
Every human that still eats meat is supporting the inhumane “factory farming” and senseless slaughtering of tens of billions of defenseless beings not things, beings. Yes maybe those being don’t have high our IQ’s but they are feeling beings that also deserve to live. Go to PETA’s website and look into the faces of the cows, sheep, pigs and chickens waiting in line to be killed – strangely their expressions are the same as the human actors portrayed in Speilberg’s War of the Worlds……no where to run, no where to hide.
fyi: H.G. Wells was a vegetarian -
Comment by cmh — Sun November 27, 2005 @ 17:00