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War of the Worlds

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Well, I saw it a few hours ago and I noticed nobody has started a topic, so I figured I would.

I honestly wasn't expecting to much out of this movie. I figured it would be just another Spielberg Sci-Fi film. Not horrible, but nothing to get excited about. But I was wrong. This movie was actually an amazing movie. It reminded me a lot of 28 Days Later, because both movies really can give you a whole new view of life and death. War of the Worlds was so realistic, some scenes really had me upset and feeling bad for the people.

The acting was superb. I actually think in most scenes, Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin upstaged Tom Cruise.

But of course, it wasn't a perfect movie. It definitly had it's draw backs. The Aliens, who have such great technology, don't have very good common sense.

--------------------SPOILERS:



They've been watching the earth for a million years, and yet some how they just overlooked all the germs and bacteria? They must have done several tests and scans of earth, I find it hard to believe that they never ran any tests or scans on the germs to at least see what they were and if they were harmful.

Also, the Alien didn't have enough common sense to look behind the mirror. He looks behind everything else, but with the mirror he just puts his head over it and doesn't decide to tilt it down. I know he went back after the girl made a noise, but I still don't understand why he would look behind everything else except the mirror...

The son being alive at the end was a bad idea... Spielberg did the same thing he did with AI. He builds up all this emotion and you get all worked up almost to the point of tears, just to realise that everything's happy. Not exactly the same as AI, but basically...

The most emotional scene in the movie is when he's basically picking which child he has to save, and you realise how horrible war and death and all this stuff really is. It's like the movie punches you in the stomach with the realism, but then picks you up, drives you to a hospital and buys you a "get well soon" card in the ending, when it turns out everyone is alive and the dad and son love each other and yay everything's happy.



--------------------No more spoilers no more.


All in all though, I'd say it was a very good movie. It actually almost seemed up to par with Darren Aronofsky's movies, with the exception of the ending. Easily the best movie I've seen in theaters so far this year, leaving Batman Begins and Episode 3 tied for 2nd.
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In a word - "Disappointing"

That's the key word which comes to mind when I walked out of this film. I don't think I've ever been more disappointed in any movie than this. I actually lightly booed it, something I NEVER do.

I'm pretty tired, so bear with me. In a nutshell, Jaster, I'm the opposite from you. I walked in expecting a great film, and walked out highly disappointed.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON AS I PRETTY MUCH RUN THOUGH THE ENTIRE FILM!!!!











The problems with this film are numerous. The biggest being that I just couldn't get into it. I'm an escapest, it's easy for me to fall into films and the worlds they create. As long as the suspension of disbelief is maintained, I'm usually happy. Which is way I hate plotholes. As such, I rarely ever hate a film. There was just something about this one. Everything was fine at the beginning. I did leave breifly to use the restroom and refill my refreshments right at the new broadcast, and came back at the lightning. Tom Cruise's silliness at the lightning(the under the table moment) was ok. I was still into the film.

Basically when it got to the appearence of the first tripod, my intrest started waining. Everything was fine until the earth started cracking. It excelerates into buildings starting to crumble. The though entered my head, "All this weird destruction happening for no reason, yet few run?" People literally don't run until the tripod appears. Even when the first leg emerges, few panic. I didn't find that too believable. Sure, some would be curious, but you'd think others would want to get to hell outta there. So the masses come off as extremely dense.

So the suspension of disbelief takes a light hit.

After the tripod starts killing people though, all hell breaks loose. We see TC outrunning the wholesale distruction of building. Cruise, running down a street, covered in human ash, while everyone and everything gets ravaged but him.

Suspension of disbelief takes a broadside.

He gets home, and his kids ask him what he's covered with. We have a relatively ok scene of death and destruction regardless of the silliness of human stupidity. So what do we follow it up with? An unintentionally light hearted line! Quite a few snikers in the theater. One just laughs at how he is asked to explain being covered in human remains.

Suspension of disbelief takes another broadside.

So already, my faith is a tad shaken, but I'm still into it.

They find a working car, and the mechanic gets irate that they're stealing it. Apparrently he doesn't notice the mass panic and sobbing people, nor hear the screaming and creaking of the tripods and thier victims. He deserved to die.

Then there's the whole peanut butter scene. Another attempt to show his out of touchness with his family. THe throwing of the bread came off as fairky comical and not frustrating as intended. *Note that while I say comical, I don't mean that I'm laughing at it. I don't do that. Merely that the scene comes off in a way that was unintended*

This wasn't too bad I suppose. But you have the plane crash. While the basement scene was great, it didn't exactly give the impression of such a catastrophe. Everything was fine with the front of the house missing, but the downed jumbo jet was streaching it. Tom Cruise slept through that? The cars also not only still operable, but has not a scratch on it. No debris, not even dust, despite being mere feet from the crash. There's even a open area to allow it to pull out.

Suspension of disbelief has pretty much sunk.

By this time, I'm fidgeting in my seat while they're on the road. "Hey I know, every major city is under attack, lets go to Boston. No aliens there."

We have the scene with the corpses in the river. Had the SoD been still intact, it might have been chilling. It was just there. I'm usually affected by these things, I wasn't. Many started laughing here and through out the film. I wasn't the only one ripped out of it.

Then his son wants to join up with the army. Why? Maybe because he dad didn't mention the reporters comment on nothing being able to stop the tripods? His son seems to think otherwise. At least the line about wanting to offload the kids was good.

You then have them swamped by people entering a town. I guess that mechanic works wonders since that the worlds only working car. This scene is at least somewhat believable. There's a visual goof though. Someone throws something at the windshield which hits it high. The hole's in the center for some reason. The resulting gunplay scenes were pretty good.

As they walk to the fairry, we are treated to one of the more memorable shots in the film - The Flaming Train. I'm told it's reminascent of the Mars Attacks flaming Cows. It's been awhile, so I can't comment. Still, it's an awesome shot. One wonders why most people aren't particular spooked by it though. Wide eyes is all we get.

The Fairry scene. You're usual, "There's room for more" moment. Tom meets some women he supposedly knows. We're supposed to care when she and her daughter are, predictably, left behind. I'm still not sure how Tom got by. Tom's son displays some courage and humanity in being the ONLY person to climb the ramp to help others. We're then threated to an underwater tripod. I made a quick joke at this moment, "We're sorry, but you let Tom Cruise onboard". The boat gets capsized, and we see Tom and crew jump overboard, and have a car fly right at them. Somehow, despite the camera work suggets otherwise, it doesn't hit them full on, and merely drags them underwater breifly. One really gets the impression that no harm can befall Tom Cruise. He's merely in the wrong place, but at the right time.

They stumble to shore, and we are treated to memorable moment two(or three or four depending). Tripods, in the background, vaporizing survivors. One walks painfully close. Having no dialogue or plot to muck it up, it's a great mood piece. Like the train, it is keeping the tone together, so that the film is still bearable.

Eventually, they walk upon an army attack. One again, Rob acts like an idiot. "I need to go". Cruise stumbles after him, trying to convince him to stay. While this is happening, two people attempt to kidnap the daughter. Even though Cruise is within eyesight, they can't seem to get it that she's not abandoned. Still, it's a good scene, apart from the unextrodinary dialogue. Cruise is basically forced to choose. This though however, didn't really occur to me while watching. It was a comment someone else made on another forum. What I did like is the quiet moments where you saw choppers over head, tanks advancing, and an orange sky. It's another mood moment.

After leaving Rob for dead, they decide to take shelter with a guy weilding a shotgun. Seems logical.

Our first look at this "savior" is badly done. He looks like a crazy rapest. I'd probably take my chances with the aliens.

We see another, "I'm a bad dad" moments where Tom knows none of the lullibies his daughter wants to hear. It's one of the few touching moments. That is, until he starts sings "Little Duece Coup". Then the scene becomes a bit unintentionally funny.

What follows is a basemant seqeunce which does next to nothing. We get theories on why they're hear, that they've been planning for a million years. So Tim Robbins is insane. We don't know him, so we can feel sympathetic at the loss of his family. Kind of like the woman at the fairry.

So they're locked in a basement with a guy who wants to take on the invasion with a shotgun for god knows how long. In the meantime, the aliens begin terraforming.

The whole EYE scene was way too long to be really suspenseful, and since we know Tim is insane, we're not surprised in the least that he'd want to take a hatchet to it.

The aliens


Made for IE Forum's Episode III theme month - May 2005.

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Wow, that's a long post.

What's ID4? Also, I didn't like the 1953 version at all. That's one of the reasons I was expecting it to be dumb. Also, I've never read the book...

Anyway, you brought up several good points that I probably shouldn't have read because now whenever I watch the movie, I'll think about the things you said.

I had a few explanations for 2 or 3 of the things you talked about, but I'm to tired and it's unnecessary, so I wont type 'em up.

But basically, I think the reason you didn't like it that much, and the reason I loved it, is because I was never a WotW fan, and you were... Maybe. I dunno. I'm gonna go to bed now.
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ID4 = Independance Day, a WotW ripoff

I know it's a long post, my hands cramping up.

My liking the 53 has to do with the disappointment yes, but I do believe that it was the fact that I couldn't stay into it that all but killed it.


Made for IE Forum's Episode III theme month - May 2005.

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Oh! I thought it might be Independence Day, but why tag on the extra 4? Why not just ID?

Anyway, Independence Day was nothing compared to WotW. Will Smith is a cool guy though.

Also, is it just me, or does Bill Pullman always play the same kind of character? Some kind of government associated guy. Like the President, or a military officer or something like that.

-edit-
I'm really going to bed now... I need sleep...
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Originally posted by: Jaster Mareel
Oh! I thought it might be Independence Day, but why tag on the extra 4? Why not just ID?


Got me, but that's what people call it. Maybe it's because ID is a common acronym. "Can I see some ID?"


Made for IE Forum's Episode III theme month - May 2005.

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Originally Independence Day was released on July 4th, and all the teaser posters shortened the name to ID4.



The studios like people to be able to refer to their films in a 'hip' and 'catchy' manner- started with Terminator 2 (aka T2), resulting in X-Men 2 being called 'X2', and amusingly the studio trying it with 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' by thinking people would call it 'LXG' (obviously they couldn't spell or thought calling it 'LEG' would just be silly... lol)

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hahaha.

well i thought war of the worlds was fantastic. again i wasnt expecting much when i walked into the theater and i as blown away. i actually got genine fear in that movie. and it was the lack of one thing that gave me that feeling. there were very few pan shots. and because of that you could only imagin what was out there, and when they had pan shots they were fantastic.
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I actually have that poster. Grabbed a couple free at Baycon one year.


Made for IE Forum's Episode III theme month - May 2005.

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I really liked WOTW. I'll admit it's far from perfect, but still rather enjoyable. It's close to being the most visually stunning movie I've ever seen, if not tops. The introduction of the first tripod and the horn it blasts was really f'ing cool. Also, I was somewhat surprised at the amount of restraint Spielberg used. It didn't seem overly Spielberg-ized like his recent outings, which I hated. I didn't like the story holes, the ending was very anti-climactic, and the movie sort of takes a dive when Tim Robbins shows up, but still, it didn't ruin the experience for me. Yeah, the film misfires on a few levels, but it also does some things I've never seen before. And it's far better than a lot of other stuff I've seen recently.
40,000 million notches away
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I must take issue with somthing Klingon_Jedi. FYI I have not yet seen the movie. Klingon_Jedi listed as one of his complaints the fact that the Aliens didn't know of our diseases. Don't blame that on this version of the movie. The bit about diseases killing the aliens(not having seen this version yet, I could be wrong) , came from the book and was repeated in every version since. Blame H.G. Wells for that, not this movie.

btw: I highly recomend the Radio version by Orson Wells
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Originally posted by: Warbler
I must take issue with somthing Klingon_Jedi. FYI I have not yet seen the movie. Klingon_Jedi listed as one of his complaints the fact that the Aliens didn't know of our diseases. Don't blame that on this version of the movie. The bit about diseases killing the aliens(not having seen this version yet, I could be wrong) , came from the book and was repeated in every version since. Blame H.G. Wells for that, not this movie.

btw: I highly recomend the Radio version by Orson Wells


you are correct.
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Originally posted by: Warbler
I must take issue with somthing Klingon_Jedi. FYI I have not yet seen the movie. Klingon_Jedi listed as one of his complaints the fact that the Aliens didn't know of our diseases. Don't blame that on this version of the movie. The bit about diseases killing the aliens(not having seen this version yet, I could be wrong) , came from the book and was repeated in every version since. Blame H.G. Wells for that, not this movie.

btw: I highly recomend the Radio version by Orson Wells


Orson Welles was the coolest. He was in the Transformers movie.
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Originally posted by: Warbler
That a low point in his career.


The Transformers the Movie was one of the coolest movies ever.
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Originally posted by: Jaster Mareel
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Originally posted by: Warbler
That a low point in his career.


The Transformers the Movie was one of the coolest movies ever.


he has a point
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Originally posted by: Warbler
I must take issue with somthing Klingon_Jedi. FYI I have not yet seen the movie. Klingon_Jedi listed as one of his complaints the fact that the Aliens didn't know of our diseases. Don't blame that on this version of the movie. The bit about diseases killing the aliens(not having seen this version yet, I could be wrong) , came from the book and was repeated in every version since. Blame H.G. Wells for that, not this movie.

btw: I highly recomend the Radio version by Orson Wells


I'm well aware of that. The reason it bothers me in this one is that it's been suggested that they were here before. In the book and others, this is their first time to earth. In this, the machines are planted underground millennia ago. I blame Spielberg on that, since that was his idea. Evolution advancing the disease or no, (the weakest reason someone trying to explain it suggested.)wouldn't they have noticed SOMETHING.


Made for IE Forum's Episode III theme month - May 2005.

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Originally posted by: Jaster Mareel
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Originally posted by: Warbler
That a low point in his career.


The Transformers the Movie was one of the coolest movies ever.


I'm sorry, you might thing it was a cool Movie, but for such a powerful actor that did "Citizen Kane", "The Third Man", "Touch of Evil", the Radio version of War Of the Worlds and other great works both on Radio and Movies, a kids cartoon movie like Transformers is a low point. No offense to Transformers, but its just for kids. And just so you know, I used to watch Transformers when I was a kid.
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"Citizen Kand"?

LOL
"A Jedi can feel the force flow through him".
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Orson Welles was asked to do the voice for Darth Vader. But he turned it down...
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The script for War of the Worlds is very flawed with plot holes to drive a truck through and a serious problem with character motivation. If anyone else had directed this movie, it would have sucked big time. However, beginning with Minority Report, Speilberg has regained his place amoung the great movie directors that he started with his great movie of the seventies/Raiders of the Lost Ark and he hit War of the Worlds out of the park. His direction and the acting by Cruise and Fanning made me believe in and care for these people and these situations.
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I don't know if its the whole TomKat thing, the decline in quality of Spielberg's work in recent years (I'm sorry, but The Terminal was painful), or what, but I have absolutely NO desire to see this. One thing that irks me even more is that Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski opted to shoot the movie flat. Huge mistake if you're going to shoot an epic and spend over $120 million on it.

Princess Leia: I happen to like nice men.
Han Solo: I'm a nice man.

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I saw it today and it's a great movie, up there with ROTS and Batman Begins as my favorite movies of the year so far.

4

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Originally posted by: GundarkHunter
I don't know if its the whole TomKat thing, the decline in quality of Spielberg's work in recent years (I'm sorry, but The Terminal was painful), or what, but I have absolutely NO desire to see this. One thing that irks me even more is that Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski opted to shoot the movie flat. Huge mistake if you're going to shoot an epic and spend over $120 million on it.


waht you mean flat? If what you mean is what i am thinking, they i can safely say that it is one of the stronger points of the film. the movie is NOT and epic, and thats what makes it so great, it is riddled with scenes where in an epic you would see some spectacular wide shot of whats the gone on, scenes like this where few and far between in the movie. One of the greatest things about the movie is its all about survival, the entire movie, Cruise who is susposed to be the hero of the movie, is not your typical shit when wrong cause i am too nice hero. his character has serious flaws and the way it is depicted in the movie is fantastic. gun i really dont think you should deny yourself the pleasure of seeing this one.