War of the Worlds*SPOILERS!!*

[20to20K]

Checked it out last weekend with my dad. I liked it a lot...he LOVED it.

I thought the logic holes were far too glaring...even for Sci fi, for it to be a classic. How on earth did that pathetic, loser of a son survive on his own?
Also, I thought his surviving deminished the impact of Cruise bringing back his ex-wifes daughter alive. She's probably like: "If this schmuck can make it back here on his own you better had brought my daugher back!".

Also, if the aliens either incinerated of sucked all the juices out of humans...what was with all those
intact corpses flowing down the river bed that Fanning sees? There's more but I can't think of em' all now.

On the positive...I thought the acting was first rate...always a surprise in a summer blockbuster (especially after suffering through Star Wars), the effects were good enough...yeah the tripods were a little hokey...but I
thought that added a nice 50's campyness to the whole thing. The pace and intensity was its biggest strength. I was on the edge of my seat for pretty much the entire movie.

I didn't take my 12 year old son (who I usually take to PG-13 films) because
he was on a sleepover. I'm glad he was. I have no idea who Spielbucks paid off to get this to pass with a PG-13 but it was money well spent. People incenerated, split in half, quarters, eighths...you name it. All their blood and guts sucked out, then spewed across the country side. Cruise walking around with powdered human remains all over his face and body. And the intesity of that car jacking scene by itself should have garnered an R rating. I was shocked.

Overall I'll give it an 8.0/10. My dad gives it a 9.5/10.

 

[korgoth]

this movie had some cool explosions and scenes, but the story was horrible.

the ending was just ridiculous. it doesnt explain why the aliens wanted to attack, or why they buried the tripods there millions of years ago.

firstly wouldnt their technology advance after a million or so years? they could invent a new robot with no weaknesses.

another few things that bugged me, was how the house and neighborhood got completely destroyed when the airplane crashed into it, but somehow the car out front was perfectly fine. and there was a clear road with no rubble for them to get out of, as well as the highways that somehow had cars all off to the side instead of blocking traffic.

a robot with that much technology would most likely have heat sensors to tell if humans are around or not, not a long eye. Why would 4 tripods waste 2-3 days trying to eat 4 humans when there are millions more in groups elsewhere.

granted i didnt watch it in the theater, but the movie was terrible.

 

[j_garcia]

firstly wouldnt their technology advance after a million or so years? they could invent a new robot with no weaknesses.

Well, since the "robots" were on earth BEFORE humans, or before reaching any level of current-styel society, I guess they weren't designed for all possibilities related to the date they were "awakened".

another few things that bugged me, was how the house and neighborhood got completely destroyed when the airplane crashed into it, but somehow the car out front was perfectly fine. and there was a clear road with no rubble for them to get out of, as well as the highways that somehow had cars all off to the side instead of blocking traffic.

I was asking those very same questions myself. It also took a long time before anyone tried to kill them for their running car... Did nobody else have enough brains to find out how their car was running and start fixing some other cars? Duh.

the ending was just ridiculous. it doesnt explain why the aliens wanted to attack, or why they buried the tripods there millions of years ago...

a robot with that much technology would most likely have heat sensors to tell if humans are around or not, not a long eye.

If you didn't see the original, which it sounds like you didn't, then I'd say these are very valid points. The explaination of why, was the opening scene....you must have skipped that. The ending in particular though, was not as clean or thorough in it's explaination of how the aliens died. Though it is still too convenient in the original as well, at least it sort of made sense in that movie, not so much in this one - at least more of an explaination as to why they died would have been better. Having seen the original made this one worth seeing, but knowing the end made it so that I didn't have some "ID4" ending in mind. All the people I went to see it with had not seen the original, and they all liked it.

Why would 4 tripods waste 2-3 days trying to eat 4 humans when there are millions more in groups elsewhere.

What movie did you watch? Did you watch the whole thin in FF? They WERE attacking all over the earth; there weren't just 4 of them, and they weren't after 4 people...

It's a good popcorn flic. IMO, don't have high expectations for a great story, but it is entertaining.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

...yeah the tripods were a little hokey...but I
thought that added a nice 50's campyness to the whole thing.

They were being true to the book, for once.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

20to20K: ...the intesity of that car jacking scene by itself should have garnered an R rating. I was shocked.

Took the wife to see the flick at an IMAX theater. All sci-fi thrillers should be seen at an IMAX. The bass was unbelievable. Surround sound - wow. My better half was at wits end, scared to death with her hands as blinders (like on a horse). Yes, the movie was a bit corny, but Spielberg did what he does best - he keeps you on the edge of your seat. Just like Jaws, 80% of the movie was fantastic. I'm sure he toyed with rewriting the close, but to stay true to the classic, chose not to. His editors could have done a better job with some of the logic, but you have to wonder the politics involved in telling someone like Spielberg he's wrong. 41,000 reviews say it's a "B". That's pretty good in the movie world for sci -fi.
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808412033

 

[MAX661]

I really didn't like how the wifes whole neighbourhood was still standing and untouched at thge end. Also the fact that the son lived was extremely corny. I also thought the end was horrible. The first 85% of the movie was great, but with that ending, i think it just killed it.

I mean wouldn't the aliens have known that they couldn't survive on our planet for more than a week, while they were barrying their machines a million years ago.

for a predator to create a machine that advanced a million years ago to not start to wonder why there boy is dieing beside them while they plant their machines is just stupid to me. That's like a human thinking they could survive on mars in plain clothes on a sunny day. We know we cant and we haven't even been there "yet"... They could have wrote something better.

Good for sound, bad for quality viewing.
MAX,

 

[j_garcia]

I mean wouldn't the aliens have known that they couldn't survive on our planet for more than a week, while they were barrying their machines a million years ago.

Obviously, they weren't dying at the time they were burying the machines, or they would have done something about it. The virus that killed them likely wasn't around at the time, and it was something that had mutated over the time period that they were dormant, something they hadn't considered. Could YOU think of every possiblity while you were burying a machine for a million years?

You also have to look at the fact that the story was originally published in 1898...

 

[Takeereasy]

There is a perfect reason for why the Wife's neighborhood was still standing. Even Alien invaders hate everyone from Boston.

(also could have gone with :even the aliens can't stand a Boston Accent, or the only thing more deadly than the common cold to the invaders was the nasal twang of the population of Boston.)

I liked it alot. Thought it was a fantastic popcorn flick. Just put the brain on cruise control and enjoy it IMO.

 

[j_garcia]

I could have done with about 50% less of Tim Robbins. I think Tim's great, but the majority of the part where he's completely lost it really didn't seem to add anything. I get what it was trying to show, but it sort of brought the story to a halt more than anything.

For me it's right up there with ID4. A little cheezy, but entertaining for a little mindless fun. That's the point of movies, right?

 

[8118]

I could have done with about 50% less of Tim Robbins. I think Tim's great, but the majority of the part where he's completely lost it really didn't seem to add anything. I get what it was trying to show, but it sort of brought the story to a halt more than anything.

For me it's right up there with ID4. A little cheezy, but entertaining for a little mindless fun. That's the point of movies, right?

Yeap...just take it as a movie. lot of things just doesnt make sense if u really think about. After few millions year, the alien should have much much better weapon which can destroy the whole earth easily, imagine our human civilization, from fighting with spear to tactical weapon only take few hundreds year.....

but i think Steven tried to send a message that : there is no superhero can save the world when there is any attack or natural , just run as fast as u can.......

btw, why alien always look ugly? at least from our human perception, they are ugly. if they are much higher level creation than human being, i think they deserve better look, or just becoz we are technologically backward, so we try to lower them by making them ugly???? if they do exist, i think they can "watch" that movie, and probably they are laughing.....

 

[MAX661]

Obviously, they weren't dying at the time they were burying the machines, or they would have done something about it. The virus that killed them likely wasn't around at the time, and it was something that had mutated over the time period that they were dormant, something they hadn't considered. Could YOU think of every possiblity while you were burying a machine for a million years?

You also have to look at the fact that the story was originally published in 1898...

But the story says the aliens died from bacteria, which would have been there while they were planting the machines. Morgan freeman explains that even we died from it but over a billion deaths we became immune and the aliens did not. Which is why I thought it was kind of dumb they didn't die the first time they came to our planet.

But hey it's a movie and there are worse one's out there so if it your kind of flick enjoy. I just saw to many loop holes to enjoy it.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

That's a problem inherent in this movie. The book didn't have them land millions of years ago and bury their vehicles. Not sure why Speilberg and company chose that. In the book it was an immediate invasion. Thus succumbing to the bacteria made sense.

 

[Takeereasy]

I think Tim's great,

I take grave exception to this statement.

Man do I hate Tim Robins and his mother Susan Seranden. I used to really like him. (Hudsucker Proxy, Shawshank Redemtion, Arlington Road) Then I heard him tell people how to vote, think, and feel about things. I despise celebrities that think because they are famous it is their moral obligation to tell me how to live. I despise celebrities that do the peace sign and actually want it to be meaningful just like the 70's peace sign. Guess what? Now you just look like a tool. Go shill another product that uses child labor and shut your damn smug trap. Oh and take your mommy with you. By the way if I didn't spell Susan's last name right I don't care.

 

[j_garcia]

I like Tim in some movies. Hudsucker Proxy was fun, as was Jacob's Ladder and Shawshank is a classic for me. I could live without Arlington Road and quite a few others... I agree though, I'm not interested in a star's politics, whether I agree with them or not, their "star power" doesn't give them the right to try to influence people.

But the story says the aliens died from bacteria, which would have been there while they were planting the machines.

These things mutate over the years. The machines were here, not the aliens. So when the aliens showed up again, they died.

I do agree with Shadow too. I didn't like how they buried the machines then came back to fire them up either, that just didn't make any sense. If there was nothing here for them, then why did they bother burying machines? I don't understand why they didn't just have them descend as meteors like the original movie.