|
I loved this movie, just loved it. It had everything I would have wanted: aliens vaporizing poo poo, explosions abound and a sense of suspense. Never revealing the aliens in trailers and whatnot (aside from small shots) was brilliant as you never really knew what to expect. The first tripod arriving in New Jersey blowing poo poo up immediately was a highlight. There were flaws, too much family drama for my tastes. I said it before, but it is a violin that Spielberg has played to death in his films. I also know it had a short production schedule (it was only greenlit in August of last year) so we couldn't get a good shot of the military fighting the tripods. But I still came out smiling and am now paranoid about the horizon, expecting tripods to come over it like they did in the ferry scene. Best Part: Tripods blowing up New Jersey Worst Part: Constant family bitching Rating: 4.0
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2005 06:42
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 28, 2024 17:26 |
|
|
I have to say, I thought this was one of the best god drat movies of all time. It's ranks up there next to blade runner as my favorite book -> movie conversion. The basement scene was great in my opinion, it may have dragged on but I never felt bored by it. The special effects are incredible, and I didn't even relize they were CG generated until it was pointed out in the wotw gbs thread. The entire movie was a nice balance of suspense, terror, action, and drama. A must see. Also, I have been disturbed by the alien disintegration beam since I first saw it in half-life 2. It's a terrifying concept. 5.5/5.5, one of the best movies I have ever seen.
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2005 09:31
|
|
|
I just saw War of the Worlds and to my surprise... I loved it. I went in expecting Tom Cruise effectively masturbating himself on screen for 2 hours with interspersed special effects. What I got was the best ride I've seen this year, and that includes Episode III, Sin City and even Batman. Like others have said, the special effects are amazing. I hesitate to indulge in hyperbole, but these were certainly some of the absolute best, if not THE best effects seen on the screen yet. The best thing about the effects was how realistic everything looked and felt. The integration was amazing. Tom Cruise may be a loving insane screwjob, but in this movie he did a great job (considering what he has to work with). He may not be an actor on the level of Johnny Depp, but he's got Star Power. I will also second what others have said and praise the little girl. She deserves some kind of award for this movie. Favourite scene: When the tripods attack at the ferry. By this time I was so completely involved in the movie that I actually felt real tension when those horrible horns sounded. Incidentally, one of the best movie sound effects ever. So ominous and eerie. The packed people waiting to be picked off helplessly, the mounting terror as people try to get into the ferry... gripping stuff. I'll finish off with pros and cons: PRO: - The visual effects. Unbelievable stuff. Not only technically, but also artistically. - The little girl's acting. Believable but didn't come off as a typical "child in a disaster movie" annoying. - ENDING SPOILER: Tom Cruise doesn't save the day. He spots that the shields are down, but ultimately he has nothing to do with humanity surviving. He's there for the ride just like we are. This was the area I feared the movie would fall on it's face, but thankfully it didn't. CON: - ENDING SPOILER: The actual ending felt rushed. I like what they did with the original ending, making it absolutely sure that it wasn't humans who intentionally infected the aliens, it was the planet itself. But it all felt ... rushed. One minute we're in complete panic, then in minutes it's all over. If Spielberg wanted to make the ending seem shocking, he succeeded. I may grow to like this, but I would've liked more closure, seeing the aliens vanquished. Then again, this was a movie about Tom Cruise and his family, so maybe the intimate ending ultimately works. Listed as a con for now. - Stupid movie moment: When the plane literally crashes on top of Tom Cruise's wife's house, their car is parked out front. There's plane debris everywhere and two engines have landed on both sides of the car ... which is miraculously unscathed, when the entire neighbourhood is levelled. What? - In general, though the movie was already two hours long, it could've been longer. Hopefully there will be a longer version on DVD! And that's it. I was prepared for a turkey for the ages, I ended up seeing my favourite movie of the year so far and what I think will be one of my favourite movies of all time. Will definitely pick up the DVD and I'm hoping they put out a special, extended edition. THIS is the kind of movie making I want from Senőr Spielbergo! RATING: 4.5/5
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2005 18:29
|
|
|
The best way to sum this movie up is: It's really good as a form of entertainment. It fails horribly as a movie. There are absolutely horrific flaws with this movie: The ending of the movie feels like it was written in about ten minutes, it's so unbelievable (even in a movie filled with aliens killing people) that I started laughing uncontrollably. Sorry, but people surviving what was the equivilent of a goddamned bomb exploding under your feet, and an entire town not being harmed AT ALL when the rest of the world has basically be destroyed is stupid. Summing up the way the aliens died part felt weird, even though it was in the book. The basement scene was horrible, the acting was absolutely juveniele and the death was completely unessary. Also, aliens should not be tricked by mirrors, ever. Acting in general was just horrible. It was definetly a fun movie to watch, but if you are looking for some sort of theatrical accomplishment, this is probably one of the last movies on my list. Excluding some of the good pacing (beyond the ending), and awesome special effects. Rating: 2/5 Also, the guy next to me was basically laughing REALLY hard at the basement scene with me, and there's no way in hell I blame him. Henaki fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Jul 8, 2005 |
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2005 01:33
|
|
|
loved it, but the ending kicked it down a notch.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2005 07:00
|
|
|
I went into this film expecting to be entertained, and that is, for the most part, what I got. This is saying quite a bit, considering the fact that I really dislike most sci-fi films/books/etc. However, you would probably have to staple my eyes open to make me watch this again without falling asleep or getting monumentally distracted by the "exit" sign. Pros: Good tension build up. I appreciated the fact that not all of the battle scenes were shown outright - I think the fear of the unknown was much more effective in this case. And on that note, there were some nice visual effects with the lightning and Tripods and whatnot. Dakota Fanning was also rather good. The writing was pretty good, as well as the direction. Lots of angled/ unique shots, plus a very impressive shot introducing Tom Cruise's character. Cons: The voiceover at the beginning and end. It didn't bring me in to the film and it didn't release me in the end - I felt as though it was just tacked on and not very well integrated into the tone and style of the film. On that note, the ending (as previously mentioned) was completely unbelieveable, abrupt, and unsatisfying. Tom Cruise, although not completely detestable, seemed to be trying too hard. Also, Tim Robbins' appearance made the entire audience giggle, which I don't think was such a good thing. The worst thing for me, however, was the resolution - or lack thereof. On the whole, I'm fine with the fact that I paid to watch this film. Just as long as I never have to see it again. 1.5/5
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2005 05:02
|
|
|
I usually hate Spielberg films, and find them overly sappy and full of cinematic, feel-good cliches; likewise with most of the stuff Tom Cruise has done in recent years. As such, I had every intention of avoiding this movie until about a week before it came out when i started hearing how excellent and dark/realistic this was, in that it wasn't a story of the president saving the world, but rather how any ordinary person would react in the face of impending, unavoidable eradication of the human race. The fact that I'd heard it was so dark and disturbing probably led me to expect something other than Spielberg's usual crap, and would explain why i'm so bitter about this movie. The first half of this movie, up to the bit where we meet Tim Robbins, was largely excellent. Some small things, such as video cameras working immediately after an emp wave when something as simple as a clock has stopped, really irritated me but, and just screamed of sloppy proofing/continuity checking, but I was prepared to ignore that. The characters, whilst being pretty one-dimensional, were nothing worse than what you'd expect in a big-budget summer movie; Ray's son however was terrible. Hugely cliched, every line he said sounded like a parody of typical hyperbolic Hollywood cinema, except it wasn't. This wasn't helped by the weak acting. The son was the single major negative element in the first part of the movie however, and was overshadowed by the rest of it. As expeceted, the set pieces were brilliant, and certain parts of the movie really were dark, and radically different from what you'd expect to see in a blockbuster summer movie, showing the darker side of humanity. Special effects and sound were top-notch, and stayed so throughout the movie. Unfortunately, about half-way through the movie not only runs out of steam, but really does let down the first half of the film which has attempted to do something new in mainstream film, and Spielberg comes through in all his cliche-laden glory. Multiple hiding from the monster scenes a la Jurassic Park, an unexplained crazy militant, the herofollowing his abducted daughter into a tripod where a conveniently present soldier gives him a grenade so that he can singlehandedly destroy it, then being the first to point out the aliens shields are down, and the public's reaction to a sick alien of instantly touching it, declaring it dead and cheering. and most sickeningly sweet of all is the obligatory "happy ending" scene where Ray finds his family and hooray his son is magically alive and all of a sudden loves him! are all present. The anti-hero becomes the hero, and all the darkness of the first half gives way to typical bullshit cliches. Yawn. And it all happens at a pace which, after the first half, is slow moving and rather unexciting. Spielberg showed his hand too early, which is probably a problem of the source material rather than any fault of his (but seeing as you're taking the liberty of changing the main character, the time and the place, why not restructure the story a bit?). A lot of people had problems with the ending, but whilst the final narrative seemed a bit abrupt, it really didn't bother me too much. Bottom line: a movie that seemed gripping and even somewhat daring and original towards the begining, which made its eventual move to cliche-ridden tripe sting even more. A previous review said that the movie was "betrayed" by its later parts, and I totally agree. If you're content seeing more formulaic drivel like most of the other stuff mainstream American cinema produces, see this movie. If you just want to see some pretty special effects, but make sure you walk out after the first half. 1/5, utter trash. plumpy hole lever fucked around with this message at 15:39 on Jul 10, 2005 |
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2005 15:27
|
|
|
A pretty forgetable movie all around. Nice special effects, but that is to be expectad from a big-budget movie today. 3
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2005 16:28
|
|
|
Great idea - telling the story from the average person's perspective instead of a Bruckheimer-esque rapid-scene cheesefest - but poor execution. Aside from some annoying little points (video cameras working after EMP, Dakota screaming over and over, angsty stupid son) the first half was pretty good... it all went right down the shitter though right after the bodies in the river scene. The Hollywood ending was a disaster. I've never rooted for the bad guys so much. 1/5
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2005 18:25
|
|
|
Complete poo poo. Right from the start this movie is full of loving holes. EMP disables everything electrical including wrist watches except some guys camcorder? How about all the other random poo poo that suddenly worked that would have been taken out by an EMP blast? Oh then the little girl, of course she is smart, sassy and 6 years old hurr hurr derp!! She says things like "I'm watching my shows." and orders health food huuuuuurrrrrrr!!!! Oh and "Is it the terrorists?" HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Every one laughed their asses off at the people jumping off the World Trade Center or the people that were inside it burning to death because a cute little girl says.. hurr hurr derp "is it the terrorists?" when the big alien robot starts torching everyone. Oh America.. I like dumb entertaining Hollywood movies that are just action and take up 90 minutes of my life. But this movie sucked loving balls. It called everyone in the theater stupid and half the people had an open mouth smile. Where are the movies like Robocop and The Running Man? How about Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Alien, Aliens? I may like dumb Hollywood action movies, but I’m not this loving dumb! Bad acting, bad script, bad jokes, raped storyline and CGI spunkfest. 0.5 FrankTheSpank fucked around with this message at 08:30 on Jul 11, 2005 |
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2005 08:17
|
|
|
Pretty good. Many great shots but I never cared who lived or died because it was Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise, another unrealistic little kid with the intelligence of fourty year old, some uninteresting kid who is angry and comes and goes for no logical reasons. So I'm left with the special effects and mayhem to enjoy. Admittedly I'm jaded so much of the disturbing imagery fell flat for me. I was a bit surprised watching people disintegrate in Mars Attack years ago, now I just think it's a somewhat cool special effect but it has zero emotional resonance for me. With the main characters and most of the death scenes failing to connect with me what I enjoyed were the original touches here and there. The aliens exploring the basement, playing around with the wheel. A desperate man peeling through the glass, even as his hands bleed, in an attempt to get into the car. Clothes breezily making their way back to the ground after their owner's have meet some grizzly demise. All shots leaving me to connect the dots to reveal the picture of terror instead of specific, yet well done, spoon fed image of someone else's idea of terror. Like other alien invasion flicks, ID4 and Signs,WoW falls into the tired routine of a gimmick alien weakness near the end that suddenly turns the tide. Meh. 3/5
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2005 08:03
|
|
|
Kinda disappointed, but it had it's moments. I'm surprised that Spielberg was able put so many appauling scenes in the film, the tripods' beams, the burning train, guy getting skullfucked by tripod, crowd in major car-desperation etc. PROS: Most of the movie had me on the edge of the seat. The tripods really scared the hell out of me. Made me remember "Jurassic Park". CONS: It felt like Spielberg couldn't wait to finish the movie off. Dakota Fanning annoyed me, even though I love her in her other films. OH, and the gimmicky storyline in total. Please! 2/5 Frink fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Jul 13, 2005 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2005 01:40
|
|
|
Between this and Collateral, that's two Tom Cruise movies that started off so well and absolutely died at the end. 4/5, mostly because everything up to arriving in Boston was great. Everything after that just fell apart in record time, which is a goddamn shame.
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2005 02:09
|
|
|
There are very few movies that have me walking out of the theatre feeling cheating because almost every moviehas enough redeeming features to make up for its worst segments, if only a small amount. This movie is an example of such abysmal plot, scripting, and characters that it cannot be redeeming on any counts by anything I can think of unless the direction somehow blew my mind into orgasming throughout the movie. The only positive thing I can say about this movie is that the first 15 minutes had great special effects and weren't part of a plot yet. Beyond that point followed an hour of Cruise and Co. traveling from one place to another without really adding anything I could describe as interesting or plot-relevant, followed by the appearance of Tim Robbins which leads to around an hour of what is undoubtedly the dumbest content I have ever seen projected on a movie screen. I won't name specifics, as I'm assuming you're reading this as a person thinking about seeing it and not actually having seen it, but Jesus Christ, it was horrific. The ending then came and amazing made the ending to Signs seem good in comparison. Bottom line, tons of deus ex machina, enormous glaring holes, horrible acting, ridiculous dialogue, one-dimensional characters, cliches. If I had seen this alone I would have left. Total piece of poo poo. 0.5 - Those cool 15 minutes don't deserve half a point because this is probably the worst film I've ever seen without expecting it to be ironically hilarious
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2005 07:58
|
|
|
Lemme give you a quick rundown of the bad points:
PS: "The aliens were destroyed by the littlest things that God in his wisdom had put upon this Earth"  1/5 Hernando fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Jul 19, 2005 |
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2005 08:48
|
|
|
This was a wierd kind of movie if you think about it. "Aliens invade the Earth!" movies are, almost by definition, meant to be pure entertainment. Yeah, you can sneak some social commentary in there, or whatever, but ultimately we are talking about freakin' bug-eyed critters with laser beams here. But look at this movie: it is an atrocity movie, just with aliens instead of Nazis. He gave us a cross between Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, and just replaced the Nazis with aliens. Really, am I supposed to get a thrill from watching dead bodies float down the river? The grown-ups in the room know that poo poo happens in real life, and Spielberg throws it in as a cheap stunt to disturb the audience in a BUG EYED ALIEN POPCORN FLICK? What a shithead. I'm not really offended by that sort of thing per se; it just made me think he was a lazy rear end in a top hat. Also, making a movie where every character is annoying or an rear end in a top hat is just stupid. Why do that? With a billion victims to choose from, can't you just choose someone cool to follow? If I actually liked any of the caracters, I'd feel bad when aliens vaporized them. Here, I was almost cheering for the aliens to waste the main characters. Cruise played a total dick, the little girl was just a scream-o-matic prop, and the son was a stupid punk. Go ahead and eat them, goddamnit. The plot holes and continuity gently caress-ups have already been noted. The ending IS lame-o Everyone lives happily ever after, yay! Except that the entire family are stupid jerks, oops!. Alot of the dialogue is utterly idiotic, and sometimes outright insulting to the audience. IS IT THE TERRORISTS? On the upside: the movie looks great, though they use a cheap stunt where they make the whole picture look worse in certain scenes to make the CGI blend in better. I think the acting was actually pretty good, it was just that they were given lovely characters with lame-o dialogue IS IT THE TERRORISTS? to work with. And Spielberg has reached the point where his exciting/scary scenes are practically a form of hypnosis sometiems... they pull you in even when you don't know why you give a poo poo. A spectacular movie that is ultimately a failure. 2.5/5. sean10mm fucked around with this message at 15:00 on Jul 15, 2005 |
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2005 14:56
|
|
|
I didn't like the movie at all. Reading this thread I've found out that there was a book. Perhaps it was better/worse after having read the book, this I don't know. I found the plot fairly boring and mundane. 1.5/5
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2005 12:47
|
|
|
This movie has the most gratuitous effects ever. One of the opening scenes is a massive aerial swooping megapan, ending at the crane where Tom Cruise is operating a cargo loading thing. There was no reason whatsoever to present the scene like that. There is a scene where the main characters are arguing inside a moving van. It's done in one huge continuous shot with the camera whipping around outside the van from one perspective to another. Why? Did Spielburg want to make the most overwraught "discussion inside a car" scene of all time? If so, he succeeded. Then there's the CG, which is perfect and beautiful, and the set design. The sets were the most impressive part of the movie for me. Some of the sets may have actually been semi-CG, I don't know. All the houses and cities we see are completely believable, before and after being exploded. If you think this movie sucks because it's too 'Hollywood', you are way too sensitive to the slightest hint of generic moviemaking. Yeah, the ending was stupid, but it could have been a million times worse. Tom Cruise never saved humanity with his crane operating skills, for example. There were no dramatic decrees from the White House. Nobody logged onto cyberspace and hacked anything. I loved everything but the ending. 5.0
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2005 21:28
|
|
|
Mediocre at best. I was very bored during certain parts of this movie, especially in the basement with Tim Robbins. The parts of the children were both played very poorly and I couldn't stand either of them. Tom Cruise was decent. Special effects were pretty nice. 2.5/5 Edit: oh yeah, and the ending... somehow the ex-wife is just standing outside her intact house. She's not the least bit distressed about what's going on outside the house (namely that everything in the city, except for her place, was destroyed). Cool. ermular fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Jul 19, 2005 |
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2005 00:38
|
|
|
I wanted to like this movie, I really did. Most people who I know that saw it said it was good (the one exception being my friend who has somewhat bad taste in movies). Where to start. Focusing on a single family was a nice idea, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about them. Cruise's character was essentially a jerk, and his kids sort of just seemed tacked on and there to flesh out the plot. Dakota Fanning also sort of freaks me out. I have lots of younger cousins around her age, and none of what she did seemed very realistic to me. The movie also seemed like it was trying too hard to be shocking or to invoke emotions. Like the downed plane at Ray's ex-wife's house, the whole drinking blood or whatever they did with it thing. The aliens themselvs looked pretty cool I guess, but aliens in these sorts of movies always seem feral and primative compared to the technology they utilize. How come they don't wear any clothes, and why do they all look exactly the same? And why are they so loving retarded. Tricked by a mirror? Give me a break. The basement sequence was also ended up being weird. While the whole searching part was fairly suspensful, it mostly felt like "hey, Tim Robbins is in this movie!". They even took time to pause with his face lit up for a second there, just to let you know. And his untimely death at the hands of Ray was another one of those moments that felt like it was there simply to make you think "wow, that's hosed up". Forced and needless, as has been said. Also the ending sucked. If I may make a comparison, ID4, which also wasn't a great movie, at the very least didn't take itself seriously at all. It was fun, and it had a "poo poo yeah we kicked their asses!" ending. This was sort of like "oh yeah, and then they all died, lol!" Still, the special effects were pretty good, and the scenes of utter panic and screaming and running were pretty good, so I'll give it some credit for that. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it very much either. Had it's moments, but nothing really great, so 2/5.
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2005 00:37
|
|
|
Well here it is, the 2005 rendition of one of the most seminal sci-fi stories ever. And that is the opinion I left the cinema with, it's a :05: version of a classic story. No more no less. By that I mean that the story has been reduced to a series of badly-linked special effects shots wrapped in an irrelevant "family" story. I'd recommend going to see the film because of the sheer scale and awe of the SFX, this is the big-screen movie of the year. Witnessing the tripods appearing over the horizon and dealing out Martian laser-death is going to be hard to beat. However, the underlying story is abysmally told. Do we learn why they are invading? NO! Do we learn why they spent a million years planning the invasion but forgot to take their vaccine shots? NO! Do we get to witness the futility of Earth's military might trying in vain to hold off the invasion? NO! Round about here I was going to write something about Tom Cruise's character and how he earns the respect of his estranged children. But in retrospect he doesn't. The only reason his scream-at-every-possible-moment daughter and nuclear-bomb-resistant son end up respecting him is because it wouldn't have nicely tied up the end of the movie otherwise. It's typical Spielberg fare to focus on personal drama in the face of catastophe and when he does it right it makes for a brilliant movie. In this case though it is a wasted effort. The focus should be on humanity's fight for survival and in the end our failure. On how, despite our technology and destructive power, the battle was won by the forces of evolution/God/luck of howver you interpret it. In this movie it feels too much like the aliens invaded for the sole purpose of trying to wipe out Tom Cruise and nothing else. [INSERT JOKE OF CHOICE ABOUT THAT NOT BEING SUCH A BAD THING] Overall Visuals: 5/5 Big-screen SFX done the way they should be Sound: 4/5 A nice score made 10xBetter by the stunning aural presence of the aliens Plot 1/5 Too much focus on the irrelevant and badly-handled family drama, not enough on the motives of the aliens and the fate of humanity. 3/5 An audio-visual treat that deserves to be seen on the big screen. Just don't expect an underlying story, engaging characters or any kind of plot continuity.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2005 01:23
|
|
|
I went in having both low and high expectations - I knew the story was incredible, but Hollywood had visited and revisited the alien theme so many times that I didn't see how Speilburg would offer anything more than a very pretty version of Independence Day. I think my prediction came out correct (no, not in terms of story). The special effects are easily the most jawdroppingly beautiful I've ever seen in any movie, ever. However, the story is so totally ridden with plotholes that it seems to fall apart almost instantly hay guys let's bury robots underneath places we think will be cities ok. make sure our recon tentacles don't have things considered technologically simple even to humans like infared. also let's have tom cruise kill robbins, who just totally overpowered him not two scenes prior and is now incredibly paranoid. I was also left wanting for the scene where the aliens are momentarily overpowered by the sheer firepower of human battleships. the theme is set where the aliens are more efficient but they cannot match sheer human firepower. but was almost sure it would happen when the army encircles the aliens in new jersey. there was also a gaping tactical hole in that same scene, where a massive artillery and air barrage would've preceded any light cavalry assault. Maybe I was thinking too hard, but I really just couldn't enjoy this movie. 2/5
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2005 10:39
|
|
|
I am blown away that SA has the movie snobs it does but that this movie has such a high star rating. Let me just go over the poo poo that bothers me the most.
The one thing that was cool: the initial highway scene. Although Spielberg stole the camera poo poo from Irreversible, it was still VERY well done. God, though, I wasted two hours of my life. .5/5
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2005 07:51
|
|
|
I thought the film was pretty good. I am a little peeved at the way people aren't giving Tom Cruise a little credit. Sure, he has had some pretty terrible parts recently, but hell his acting was top notch in this one. He plays a dad who is scared for both himself and his kids drat well. I am a dad of a young daughter, and I could feel him very well. I am pretty sure the people who don't like his acting don't have kids, and don't appreciate what he has done with the role. Acting wise, the daughter was also very well played, while the son's part is a very easy to play part, anger, though done fine. The effects are of course great, and the story sticks very well to the book, which is good. 4.0/5.5
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2005 15:22
|
|
|
Awesome movie, scared the poo poo out of me. Despite Tom Cruise's real life strangeness he is still a drat fine actor. That combined with Spielberg's ability to take almost anything and turn it into solid gold made this great. The story, the sounds, the special effects, atmosphere, everything was friggin spectacular. I like the fact that it was a more moderned version of the book and I would definately see it again. My only gripe was some electronics managing to survive the EMP but whatever, it didn't ruin anything. 5.5/5
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2005 18:20
|
|
|
Having recently read through the original book (thanks Wikipedia!) I decided to check out this film to see what the fuss was about. I was quite excited as Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds has always been one of my favourite albums. I was absolutely blown away by the special effects, and a lot of the imagery in the film was quite disturbing. The guy peeling away at the car windows with his bare hands, the woman's face in the dust cloud as she is disintegrated, etc. are all very compelling images that stick in my mind. Where the film falls flat on it's face is with the general storyline and the ending. I really would love to know exactly what Spielberg was taking when he came up with this storyline. He didn't have to stick rigidly to the original plot, but some similarity would have been great. As of now, we have basically got three characters who aren't really developed very well beyond the initial introductions. They're all annoying or twattish, and I found myself not caring whatsoever. The only time I was concerned was during the car scene (OMG MAN RUSH) that Rachel wouldn't get out of the car and would be separated from the family. The ending is quite faithful to the original story, but does not translate very well to the big screen. We basically have two hours of special effects with very little character or story development and then suddenly the "war" is over. Don't get me started on how Robbie managed to survive the explosion on top of that hill either, that was just  In summary, it's a good "no brainer" film that you don't need to think about. Mindless entertainment, but not something that you can watch again and again. Here's hoping that the CGI version of Jeff Wayne's musical will be better. 2.5/5
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2005 15:44
|
|
|
quote:soag.242 came out of the closet to say: Tom Cruise brought those grenades with him. I liked this movie. The characters were meant to be those people you know, so exploring them was kind of pointless. If you don't know any of these characters, chances are you don't know many people. It was an exercise in relating to people. Tom Cruise was your typical late 30's early 40's divorced prick. He may not be an awesome guy, but he's realistic. I'm glad they went with an actual average-joe character. He didn't know what to do half the time. The kid may have seemed angsty, but I know people like that. Their dads have all but abandoned them and it seems like the dads don't care. It happens. The daughter wasn't smart nor deep or anything like that. I know little girls like her. She thinks her dad is a jerk at the beginning, and he is, so she's a smart-rear end right back. Overall, I'd say this movie set out to what it intended to do and I'm not sure where all this negative energy is coming from. 3.5/5
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2005 15:12
|
|
|
My friends loved the movie. I did not. I give it a 1/5, I just didn't enjoy. I know it is a bad review I am giving but I just didn't like the movie.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2005 17:30
|
|
|
I did not enjoy this movie. Not in the slightest. However, despite this, I recognize that the movie itself was incredibly well done from a technical perspective, and includes several noteworthy performances. It all boils down to this: It's a well-done, powerful, haunting movie. I HATE it, but that doesn't stop it from being a well-done, powerful, haunting movie. So if it's such a good movie, why do I hate it? Very simple: the script. Poorly written characters, unanswered questions that really need and deserve an answer, and over-the-top political commentary ("Occupations always fail; history has taught us that a thousand times"). Elements to which I would gladly take a big red pen had I the chance. The son's rebelliousness and desire to witness and take part in the counterattack effort seems like just another way to establish that he hates his Dad. We didn't need this point made any more clear after he calls his Dad an rear end in a top hat, breaks one of his windows, and steals his car (these are not spoilers as they all happen within the first 15 minutes of the film). Even after the initial attack, while the remnants of humanity scatter in panic, the kids decide to be needlessly spiteful to their father despite the fact that they know he's under a lot of stress. Inconsistencies also abound in this movie. The EMP blast takes out every electronically powered device within radius. Many have already pointed out the camcorders still working, but the one that really got me was as they approach the ferry in the minivan. Everyone else is on foot, because all the cars were supposedly taken out with the EMP blast. However, this scene occurs after a scene in which a news van, with full power, drives off, after a scene in which an entire mechanized unit (i.e. lots of Jeeps) passes by the family, and during a scene where streetlights, P.A. systems, and indoor lighting are all operational. It doesn't make sense that everything ELSE seems to be working, but the cars, whose problem seemed to be easily solved, still don't work. Then, later, on the ferry are several cars with people in them. It doesn't add up. I appreciate that the script was designed in a way so that the audience doesn't know more than Tom Cruise's character does at any given moment, but there were a few things that defied logic, and really needed a better explanation other than "The aliens work in mysterious ways". Why, for example, did they need to take a guy out of a tripod, and pin him to the ground in order to extract his blood? Especially when it's established shortly thereafter that captured humans are pulled into the tripods, where presumably all their blood extraction needs can be met. This and several other scenes give away too much information to remain mysterious, but not enough to make sense. It seems as if they exist but to add to the suspense, regardless of how much sense they make in the context of the rest of the film. The scene in which Dakota Fanning's character witnesses bodies floating down a river is another such scene. Where are these bodies coming from? The death ray turns the humans to dust on contact, leaving no corpse. Victims of blood-extraction? Perhaps, but the noticable lack of red weed at this point indicates that the aliens haven't reached that point yet. Besides, you're telling me that this supposedly advanced race of "intellects vast, cool, and unsympathetic" have no better way of disposing of the bodies than just dumping them in some river? Nevertheless, stellar performances from the entire cast, stunning special effects, and masterful cinematography manage to overcome these problems and make them presentable to the casual viewer. It's still a good movie, it's still Spielberg at the top of his game, but it can't be enjoyed by some one who takes writing as seriously as I do. 4/5, but allow me to repeat that I did NOT enjoy this movie. Plom Bar fucked around with this message at 07:47 on Aug 20, 2005 |
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2005 10:34
|
|
|
I just wanted to comment on the DVD transfer: Am I the only one that thinks this is one of the worst transfers ever? My DVD looks grainy at times, the efects look look like they suck,a nd I can tell when they are green screen now, and a couple of times the audio is all hosed up (specificaly when teh military passes Ray and his son on the side of the road). Is the SE any better? BTW: I actualy liek the movie alot, but the quality of my WS DVD sucks.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2005 20:02
|
|
|
As several have noted, this film shows Spielberg throwing some extremely horrific imagery at the audience for a PG-13 rating... it has more to do with Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, as mentioned, than it does with his "blockbuster" movies. As disappointingly pat as the ending is, I thought the film was almost entirely worth watching for the sequence where the crowd stops their minivan and the resulting gunplay. Riveting and horrifying, a dark picture of humanity. If the movie had stayed with those themes and imagery more, I think it would have been better. Overall though, despite being wrapped in a warm and toasty happy ending blanket, there are a lot of lingering ghosts from the beginning/middle. when watching the ending in the theatre, my cousin leaned over and said "the aliens are allergic to patriotism! 3/5
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2005 22:13
|
|
|
Poorly paced and completely lacking in substance. Ok, Tom Cruise is a deadbeat dad who is able to re-bond with his children to the backdrop of an alien invasion. There are many shades of grey and brown and they all make an appearance in this movie. The End. 1.5/5
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2005 06:59
|
|
|
War Of The Worlds: A well known book turned into a film with a 20 million dollar actor playing the lead roll. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG. Positives: Tom Cruise plays his roll very well. The special effects team plays their roll very well. Then there is the rest of the movie. His two kids are so obnoxious that the movie is unbearable. "Oh no daddy I'm not going to the bathroom where you could see me im going to wander off into the woods" The kids are supposed to be sassy and appeal to the highschool/middleschool crowd, but they're just loving morons. Imagine watching Top Gun except Goose whines about being air sick every 5 minutes. It's the same movie except Goose won't shut the gently caress up. Then turn goose into a hip teenager who posts E/N's on GBS every day. gently caress you Hollywood. 1.5/5 Pros: Tom Cruise is a good actor, Special effects are great. Cons: This story scared people in the 20's? Two of the most annoying kids they could possibly cast. An ending that is equivilent to saying "The End".
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2005 04:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 28, 2024 17:26 |
|
|
Christ. What a tremendously flawed film. I have a lot to say about War of the Worlds, and the last half of this review is going to stray pretty far from this movie in general and is more a critique of Hollywood alien movies than anything else. So, you've been warned. Let me get the pros out of the way quickly, since they are by far the least relevant aspects of the film: - Despite the naysayers, Tom Cruise delivers another solid, believable performance. His ridiculous off-screen persona clearly detracts from his talent in a lot of people's minds, which is unfortunate, but you can't tell me this guy isn't at least a B+ actor, if not A-. Furthermore, it was great seeing him get to play a flawed character that doesn't immediately earn the audience's sympathy with charm and style. He really has to earn our involvement as a divorced burnout dad, which is a definite departure from his usual rah-rah American Joe superhero roles. - The visual effects, as mentioned so often, are abso-loving-lutely spec-loving-tacular. Among the VFX shots from start to finish, unrealistic CG was an exceedingly rare exception, rather than the norm, as is the case with most VFX-heavy films, and even the most complex shots were for the most part totally convincing. I have to admit, however, the little bacteria/raindrop/leaf animations at the beginning and end looked downright lovely. This must have been intentional on some level, but why? When you've got some of the best movie CG of all time, why not be consistent and keep things seamless? - The first half of the film contains some genuinely disturbing scenes, for which Spielberg deserves major credit. The entire minivan mob scene, for instance, was unflinching right up until the brutal conclusion seen from inside the diner. If this kind of attitude had dictated the entire film, a major step would have been taken towards making this an incredible film. The plane crash wreckage was also astounding in its execution. The scene was sprawling and never once did I feel like I was looking at a movie set with composited background layers. - The sound of the alien tripod horns was genuinely chilling. The fact that it was a 2000 dB death knell was bad enough, but the wonderfully alien tone and texture of it, combined almost cruelly with a musical quality made me feel like these were truly non-human creatures and we were completely out of our depth as human begins. Sadly, that's about it. Now on to the reasons why this film ultimately managed to plunge lower than even my most cynical expectations: - The entire basement scene was boring as all hell. It was a complete rehash of Jurassic Park, and to some degree, Minority Report, adding absolutely nothing new to the overall experience. Then, to make things literally twice as bad, the entire sequence is repeated, verbatim. The camera tentacle snooping around was tediously predictable enough, and it only gets worse when the aliens themselves come down to do the exact same thing. Why? Seriously, why? We've seen this in movies a million times. It happens in every thriller involving a serial killer or fugitive, it happened in both of the previous Spielberg films I mentioned, and it's happened a million other places as well. I've seen the rag-tag group of people scurrying silently through a confined space to avoid a deadly predator so many times that I honestly never want to see it again. Okay? Never. It's done. - The general design of the aliens ran out of gas less than halfway through the film. At first, between the truly creepy horn sound and the overall look of the tripods, they really did feel unique and realistically non-human. Once the basement scene arrived, however, everything fell apart for me. The camera tentacle looked like semi-advanced human technology with a slightly exotic spin. That's all. For such a direct, tightly cramped scene, I expected us to finally see something really bizarre up close to secure the sense of dread. Instead, we get Flight of the Navigator meets the Matrix. And what was with the flickery-effect of the lights as they first came on? These aliens are millions of years more advanced but they use fluorescent lights off a desk lamp? PLEASE, MOVIE ART DIRECTORS, STOP USING HUMAN TRADEMARKS FOR ALIEN DESIGNS. I don't want to recognize anything in the alien designs. I'm already recognizing everything else in the scene because it takes place in a human basement. That's the filmmakers' opportunity to make the single representation of the alien race really out there, thereby maximizing its contrast with the human elements and in turn, giving us a true sense of disorientation and fear. It's a camera? Fine. DON'T BASE IT ON A HUMAN CAMERA. DON'T BASE IT ON A HUMAN EYE. DON'T EVEN BASE IT ON WHAT YOU THINK AN ALIEN EYE LOOKS LIKE. Just make it look completely loving bizarre and counter-intuitive. That's the key-- counter-intuitive. The moment something makes intuitive sense, all the funky symbols and smooth curves in the world won't make it look alien. It just makes it look Hollywood. Furthermore, the sound design really took a nose dive during that scene. Before that point, the only alien sounds we'd really heard were the blaring horns, which did their job well. Once the characters were listening to the clean-up from the basement, however, all we're hearing are generic "gear and servo" sounds. At best, it sounded like a bunch of Star Wars robots were walking around on the surface, and at worst it sounded like an assembly line in a Honda factory. Again, that's not alien, it's Hollywood. How am I supposed to associate these creatures with completely non-human technology when their machinery sounds exactly like every man-made industrial machinery I've ever heard? Lastly on this front, the aliens themselves were by far the most phoned-in part of the film's visuals. After all this build-up, we get a nearly verbatim ripoff of Independence Day, which was fine for a 1996 gung-ho action flick, but doesn't quite do the job for a tense, mood-driven thriller ten years later. Once again, the aliens plop around like rabid monsters, completely belying the intelligence that supposedly built these incredible devices. Why is Hollywood so driven to merge the idea of aliens and monsters? Go ahead and make them look menacing, fine-- but please, I'm going to be far more unnerved by a subtle, sleek alien that clearly possesses and ice-cold, razor-sharp intelligence than I am by some Swamp Thing reject. Here we find the Hollywood factor pushed so far into the extreme that it's breaking its own rules; every other Hollywood film tells us that creatures that walk on all fours and grunt at each other are primitive beasts, but suddenly we're supposed to associate that same imagery with super intelligent designers of interstellar travel and plasma weapons. How can a director as obviously talented as Spielberg work against the natural expectations and assumptions of the audience, rather than with them? - This brings me to what I feel is the single biggest flaw in the film, which is the absurd way in which the alien's so-called technological advantage is handled. Tim Robbin's character may be crazy, but he was right in the sense that clearly the invasion plan dated back much further than 50-100 years ago based simply on the fact that tripods were already buried safely underneath our cities' infrastructures. Right off the bat, let me make this perfectly clear-- aliens that are even 500 years more advanced than us would be SO loving ADVANCECD, that not only would we never stand a single chance against even the weakest of their technology, but we wouldn't even recognize the majority, if not all, of their presence. Just imagine if the US military alone circa 2006 had to face off against the entire planet's collected armies from 1506. How could even the luckiest soldiers hope to survive the onslaught of machine guns, battleships, stealth bombers, nuclear weapons, and the like? And that's just the last 500 years. I don't need to go off on a Ray Kurzweil tangent to prove that the next 500 years will be even more spectacular, since now we have all of 2006's vast computerized technology to develop the subsequent generations. In short, aliens with even a 500 year head start on us would have torn us to shreds before the first news report hit the airwaves and made 99% of the events depicted in this film flat-out impossible. But the mistake here is even worse. The audience is more or less allowed to believe that these guys are potentially millions of years ahead. Jesus loving Christ. You might as well tell the audience that God himself is waging war against human kind, and then follow up with the truly nonsensical idea that we're somehow fighting his omnipotence with fighter jets or something. So right off the bat, virtually every aspect of the alien presence is a misfire on all levels, because an alien race with any more than 50-100 years on us-- and that's being generous-- would necessarily be godlike by comparison. Since that pretty much kills the discussion here, I'll ignore this detail and just pretend that the aliens are merely supposed to be slightly more advanced than us, as this is the only way I can possibly make sense of the film. I can honestly say the film was ruined for me in the basement scene alone. How a franticly concerned dad, his little girl on the verge of hysterics, and a clearly deranged militant can somehow evade alien loving surveillance technology by fumbling around through piles of junk and debris is completely beyond my understanding. One minute these aliens are teleporting through lightning into their indestructible, force-field enhanced war machines, and the next their camera tentacles are somehow missing the endless racket and visual cues being kicked up by three reckless people as they bounce from one ridiculous hiding place to the next. I can say without hesitation that even obsolete human technology from the real world would have had absolutely no trouble picking up the cacophony they were unleashing ten times over, so it should make sense why I had to throw my hands up and give up on the chance that these aliens would make any sense whatsoever once I saw this. And for the final audience insult, this unfathomable technological marvel gets loving hoodwinked by the old discared-boot-behind-the-corner trick. What is this, Looney Toons? What I'm getting at is that the only way my brain can reconcile the events unfolding is to just assume that the aliens are letting them win. I know they aren't, of course, but there's simply no other way to explain it. They might as well have shown us a scene afterwards in which Dakota Fanning knocks out Mike Tyson or something. The only way for something like that work would be to make the clearly superior antagonist drop all of its defenses and let the protagonist walk all over it. So if Mike Tyson just stood there and intentionally let her roll a bowling ball off a shelf onto his head, then I could understand the outcome. But it would be no less absurd than what happened in that basement. For god's sake, that camera thing should have been able to see through the walls, should have had been performing FFTs on the reverberations of their breathing alone from 20 feet away, and god knows what else. Hell, we can practically do that kind of thing with modern-day technology. Instead, however, a character can bump their head 5 inches from away from its sensors and it just doesn't quite catch. Getting back to the creatures themselves, I can say this movie is responsible for finally pushing me over the edge when it comes to Hollywood alien design. For the last time, why the gently caress are aliens always naked? Listen-- I don't expect them to wear NASA-style jumpsuits with collars and pockets, but don't loving tell me that these guys come all the way to earth only to exit their ship without even minimal tools or protection. Go ahead and make the suits look "grown" or something weird like that. Make them blend in somewhat with the body itself. Make the tools looks organic or shapeshifting or whatever. But please, just don't make them loving naked! Of course, there are a couple ways to explain why the aliens appear naked, but neither of them help this film. First, you could argue that what we think is the alien's body is actually the space suit itself. That's a good idea in theory, but in this particular film, there are just too many "body cues", such as blinking eyes and fingernails, for me to buy that. Again, don't work against the natural assumptions of the audience. You know what we're going to think about your visuals, so design them with this understanding in mind. The second explanation is that perhaps the aliens themselves are now nano-engineered and don't rely on primitive concepts like external clothing and tools for protection and functionality. This is an even better idea, especially if they're really a million loving years ahead of us, but if that's the case, then why did they "design" bodies that lurch and jerk around like wounded animals and grunt like loving apes? Where's the elegance and precision? If something looks and acts like a loving gorilla, don't try to convince me that it's somehow more advanced than the human characters who are skillfully evading it in the very same scene. In fact, as a final detail, the horns I said I loved so much were actually yet another major technological blunder. Can someone explain why these aliens can't communicate with one another using some kind of wireless networking or something? We clearly see the aliens in the basement "react" to the blaring horn sound as if that's their primary means of communication in the field. Jesus Christ, even NASA doesn't need to rely on something that inane to call astronauts back to the ship. These guys look more like something out of Lord of the Rings than something from deep space. I'm surprised they aren't waving flags and riding giant elephants. To sum up the movie review itself, let me say that I won't even dignify the ending with a direct acknowledgement. So that's basically it. As you can imagine, 90% of the reason I wrote this was just to trash the absurd inconsistencies behind Hollywood's depiction of advanced technology. They gently caress it up every time, and this film just pushed me past the threshold. This isn't even so much a War of the Worlds review as it is a review of alien invasion movies in general, so hopefully that will explain it's ridiculous length. In any case, it really felt good to finally get this all off my chest. Zanzibar fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Jul 26, 2006 |
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2006 22:38
|
|