War of the Worlds (Spielberg version)

[devilchicken]

I quite liked this - Spielberg's best effort for quite some time (compared with the pretentious wank that was AI and Minority Report)...

Really good job keeping the focus on the family dynamic, rather than letting effects and spectacle take over.

Reminscent of the old 50's B movies, when aliens really did evoke a sense of horror.

[manmiles]

He did A.I, but since it was going to be directed by Kubrick, I think he was trying for a Kubrick-esque style.

[Major Lockup]

That movie sucked.. I mean really.. Like trying to copy from the day after tomorrow but with no success. The bastard son that wants to join the army no matter what, maybe to feel like a tough brute in the uniform, and he comes out of it alive after all the raping of the earth at that point. Half the population has been destroyed but his family is still there.. wow how lucky. maybe he is a hero after all. a psychic hero! What really pisses me off is thinking of how much money has been spent on it. Worst movie after Alexander.

[Yisselda]

It looks prentenious drivel. I saw a programmme on its launch, Even its makers couldnt put it across well.

The latest pile of puke! The trailer with filler fight scenes, that said 'the greatest action adventure film ever' Its only been out for a fortnight here! And the american critics hate it!

Not gonna watch it.

[muckyshoe]

That's a shame ylolanda and major lockup. It really is worth going to see. I think you're not looking at it from the point of view of helplessness. Too many heroes today are bulletproof, I don't think Ray (cruise's character) comes thru unscathed at all. He's still got to face the fact he's out in the cold as his love rival also made it thru and seemingly whilst just sitting at home on his fat arse. Films today don't ever seem to have the great endings that they deserve. Think Planet of the Apes with Heston where it is not all roses. Likewise if Crimson Tide had ended with them having to fire the nuclear missiles wouldn't that have been a better ending?

[devilchicken]

I thought that too - it doesn't make sense that you'd take the time to bury your alien fighting machines underground for a million years, bugger off for a million years until such time as man has evolved and then choose that time to attack. In some ways I wish they'd kept the martians from the book - launching thier cylinders from martian craters. I mean they kept the red weed (from the book) but not the black vapour that the machines used to exterminate whole cities.

I mean, call me naive - but how do we 'know' there is no life on (or under) Mars?

[Hawksun]

My friend who is a big fan of War of the Worlds in general (esp. Jeff Wayne) reckons the aliens simply buried the Fighting Machines for a time when their planet starts dying (as in the novel) and then invaded Earth, and possably any other planets that could support them. Exactly where the aliens themselves come from is a pretty major plot hole nonetheless.

On the movie in general, I was more impressed than I expected to be. It was a cut above the average action movie (not that that's saying much). I have to say Spielberg's Fighting Machines are the best depiction of the tripods that I've seen anywhere. The family values message was, on the other hand, disappoitingly cheesy, especially the bit with Cruise and his "son" during the battle sequence. A pretty big contrast with the anti-imperialist message of Wells' novel, which I'm reading at the moment.