War of the Worlds

[Spaceman Spiff]

Yep. Batman was the only movie so far this summer worth the money I paid.

[footballhenry]

yup, Batman was better:)

[jpillian]

Wow. Wow. Wow. I'm amazed at some of your opinions. That Independence Day and Armageddon -- would ever even be mentioned in the same sentence with War of the Worlds? :puke:

This movie was a FANTASTIC adaptation of HG Wells story (which he wrote in 1898).

Those that are complaining about the storyline -- well sour grapes, my friends. Basically, the only difference from the original, was HG Wells story was in the 19th century in England, and this was in the 21st century in the US. Spielberg had a masterful vision of what this should look like.

The special effects -- well, after seeing this movie (and recalling Saving Private Ryan) "special" should be saved for Spielberg movies alone.

-------SPOILER-VILLE -------------------

The ending was absolutely true to even the way HG Wells wrote War of the Worlds. I recently read it again; and I was reminded of how abrupt a transition it is. I think Spielberg could have spent about 5 more minutes transitioning to the ending sequence -- and made it different than the way Wells did it. In the end, he didn't. The result was a fairly abrupt, but believeable resolution to the story. There was only one of two real plausible ways to end the story: 1) Humanity is wiped out; or 2) something unexpected, to both the aliens and humanity, saves our a$$es.

The story went with the second route in both the original and this latest remake -- which to me is not a bad thing.

I think the abruptness is due to the fact that a more gradual transition would not have had the same effect of surprise. That's the only thing I can attribute it to.

Regardless, this was (in my opinion) extremely true to HG Well's vision.

Absolute 10 out of 10 in my book.

[jpillian]

BTW -- I loved; absolutely LOVED Batman Begins. My only regret is that I didn't see it at the Imax here in Dallas. It honestly goes to my top ten list all time.

But War of the Worlds breaks the top 5 without a sweat.

I'm still jittery from it... :notworthy

[SuperBash]

Wouldn't you think we would have detected those metal missinary underground? How did those aliens even know we were to evolve? Why didnt they just blow up the world then if they wanted to? Just some food for thought that confused thoughout the movie? How the heck did the son get back safely?

Okay movie though, 7/10

[autographcollector]

Originally posted by footballhenry

I loved A.I.!!!

at least someone loved it

[SkinsHokieFan]

I enjoyed this movie a lot.

The ending was not horrible at all. I heard all week that it the ending dissapoints. I liked the ending and it made a lot of sense.

And I am definitley with Orange on this one, the fact that it was so minimilist, that you didn't see the President speak and you had no idea what was going on (basically we only knew what the characters knew) made it such a thrill ride.

My heart was pounding the whole time, I loved it

And Independence Day in the same breath as this movie? Bah. That was one of the cheesiest movies I have ever seen.

[Gamebreaker]

I thought it was really good, not great, but really good. All the actors played their parts welll, I thought Cruise was good. I really doesn't matter if people are annoyed by him personally, critic his work as his work and leave your bias at home.

I liked the ending, because at the time I had no clue how it would end and it was an ending I'd never seen before.

[SamSneed36]

Originally posted by SkinsHokieFan

I enjoyed this movie a lot.

The ending was not horrible at all. I heard all week that it the ending dissapoints. I liked the ending and it made a lot of sense.

The issue I had with the ending was that the movie seemed to end so abruptly. The movie was really begging to move along when Tom Cruise came out and saw the red vines and then blew up the Tripod. Next thing you know they all die, his son is safe and the credits are rolling.

Other then that, I thought it was a great movie and a very realistic look at how much humans need to invent shields because thats what how the aliens ALWAYS get us.:mad:

[ntotoro]

Originally posted by SamSneed36

The issue I had with the ending was that the movie seemed to end so abruptly. The movie was really begging to move along when Tom Cruise came out and saw the red vines and then blew up the Tripod. Next thing you know they all die, his son is safe and the credits are rolling.

Exactly what I thought, too. I admit, though, the book pretty much ended in a similar fashion. Doesn't make for a truly compelling ending, but that was kinda' what happened. Still... a movie is a movie and no one ever expects Hollywood to follow the storyline anymore... :laugh:

Nick

[Walking Deadman]

Saw WotW today.....

Very dissapointing for a SS movie.

Not alot of plot, lots of very good F/X. Cruise was ok (but he's been alot better in other movies).

Fanning was good but very annoying

Morgan Freeman with nice narration (but see him in Batman Begins)

Tim Robbins, plays a very good crazy guy, his last really great movie is still Shawshank Redemption.

The ending was lame.....

If it wasn't a SS movie it would be ok, but from the guy who did E.T., Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park and Jaws it was weak and rushed and the movie really didn't explain anything.

goskins grade: C/C-

Summer blockbusters so far:

Star Wars 3: B+

Batman Begins: A

WotW: C/C-

[Gamebreaker]

------ SPOILERS --------

When taking the ending into account, when you think about it realistic terms, would humans really get a chance to see the aliens in their machines hacking and coughing, essentially poisoned from getting out their machines and exploring our landscape. The movie was always from the perspective of Tom and his family, it never switched scenes to see what the aliens may be doing OR dying of. It just seemed natural that the human's salvation, the atmosphere, would seem so abrupt to the humans and in this case, the audience as well.

Yet I can see the other side of the argument as well, if anything, Spielberg should've gave some sign of this when the three aliens searched the basement where Cruise and Fanning were hiding.

[RedskinzOwnU]

I rather liked the movie. The ending is not the typical hollywood ending, but it is true to the original story, and I don't think it would have been better any other way. Humans clearly didn't have the capability to topple the aliens in a military effort. To do so would have come across as absurd. When we saw the aliens in the basement, they didn't look sick, but we did see them drinking water and eating food. Also, earlier in the movie, when the tripods were chasing people to the ferry, we saw birds flying TOWARDS the tripod, which I found very confusing at the time. I guess that could be considered a sign. Not everything was explained clearly in the movie, but it's not necessary to enjoy the movie, and these things are clearer in the book. The movie was basically one of survival, especially for the small family that we experience the journey through.

[@DCGoldPants]

I liked the movie, minus some the cheese they HAD to add for the "family" effect. But, It wasn't that awful.

The Tim Robbins part was weird and seemed to slow everything down.

But the special effects were Rad.....and I don't care how crazy Cruise it..... I watch him in movies, not in church.

[Destino]

*SPOILERS*

There are two main factors that went into my disliking the ending of this movie. The first one is my hatred for "everyone is ok" endings and you didn't win endings. This movie gives us both, oh joy.

Let's start with Tim, the step dad. This guy had all the money and the kids kept hyping him up.... so naturally you hate the **** a little. And in the end what did this great provider do to keep his new family safe? Jack s***. He waited it all out drinking whiskey and smoking cigars in a high-end neighborhood, which appeared to be all but untouched. Way to go Tim.

Then there’s the little girl, played by the ridiculously good Dakota Fanning. In my mind the kid earned a terrible fate when she appeared at a hilltop clearing and decided it proper to stand still and stare at the quickly approaching mechanical monstrosity. I was actually hoping she'd be stepped on cruelly and ground into the earth by a vengeful alien pissed that Tommy boy had chopped off his roving eye. Sadly she was simply scooped up stored away…. This brings me to a smaller annoyance, the cages, what’s the deal here? If you want to use blood as miracle grow wouldn’t you have a built in juicer? Why build cages forcing aliens already working long hours to stop their rampaging and engage in the drudgery of sucking the victim out of the cage, throwing them on the ground, and then impaling the thing from 10 stories up in the air? Come on, you’re aliens for crying out loud stream line the process to increase efficiency.

Then there is Ray Farrier, played by Tommy boy. This guy goes from selfish “order something” dad to dad of the year in less time then it took the aliens to nail the mechanic with a “shut up already” death ray. I thought the early hostility he displayed towards his kids was misplaced; the loving but shunned father type would have worked better here IMO. Good ol Ray also shows his emotional side, his serial killer side, and his war hero side….. Ray is an amazing man.

Let's not forget Robbie. The little loud mouthed jerk that never got his well-deserved @ss kicking is seen near a gigantic fiery explosion that seemingly killed all the brave men enaged in amusing the alien invaders and later pops up safe at home. It seemed like the writer forgot about him and after turning in the script the editor was like “hey what happened to Robbie” and the writer was like “oh he’s….you know…at the house with the family at there end there”

The second thing I hated about the ending was the fact that we humans, didn’t win. The whole movie you see these aliens (who much like all advanced life forms run around nude) slaughtering people and destroying all we as a species have struggled to build….and do we get even at the end? No. The bacteria did it. Yay? Imagine if the T-rex in Jurassic Park had suddenly tripped and impaled itself on a tree while chasing screaming kids. Imagine if Jaws had choked on a tire it gnawed off the side of a tug boat and washed ashore. These are not ending you can cheer for and neither was the hey look they died wahoooo! The aliens beat us for 11 rounds and died in their corner before the 12th.

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the bulk of this film and loved the directing and special effects. It's just the ending that sucked.

[Art]

I don't think Independence Day or Armageddon were technically as good as War of the World's, but I understand someone thinking that way. There was NEVER really a moment in War of the World's where you felt good about things. In ID and Armageddon, there were moments you felt great.

Now, this is not a knock on WoW as it is pretty true to form, but, it IS a reason someone could see it and simply not like it that much. It leaves you feeling a bit drained.

I just saw WoW and Batman Begins at a drive-in theater on Saturday. Batman is a much better movie in my view. More entertaining, better acted, more amusing at times, etc. WoW was a fine movie. Interesting to watch.

Even if you are inclined toward liking oppressive, dark, intense movies like this, it's hard to say it was great. The story WAS lacking -- again, little you can do there. The ending was rushed -- again, little you can do there and stay true.

It was a GOOD version of a good book. It was not a great movie.

[Hooper]

Yeah, good not great. Not much left to look forward to big-summer movie wise. Fantastic Four looks terrible. The Island... well, maybe, but Michael Bay directed it.

[codeorama]

I saw War of the Worlds yesterday, while there were some really good special effects, I was let down. My wife hated the movie altogether.

The 2 kids were so annoying it was nearly unbearable. The end was really weak.

I really liked the beginning of the alien attack, that was well done and very realistic looking. Cruise did really good I thought.

[Kilmer]

I never thought the book was all that great once you knew the ending.

The good thing about this movie are how they presented the tri-pods. Excellent special effects and pretty ominous stuff. Great job with the villian. The movie does leave you a little empty though because you never end up really liking Cruise's character even though you can feel his desparation.

I still can't believe people bring up ID and Armageddon when they talk about good Sci Fi. Both are just summer pop corn movies and should never be mistaken for good sci fi.

[The Gibber]

This movie was chugging along until the ending and then it was extremely abrupt and too happy-go-lucky. I guess that is how the book is, but at least extend it out a little bit. I just dont like it when a movie is so dark for 1:50 minutes and then the last five everything gets worked out and its A-OK. I was about to give Speilberg some recognition for killing off the son, but then he pops up at the end. I guess I am that type of guy that needs a major player to die, to make it seem more believeable.

But even though the ending was awful, there were some really good "holy crap" scenes. Like watching them spray blood all over the place and when the flaming train came by and no one even blinked an eye, because they had already gone through so much by then. Overall, it was still entertaining and worth seeing in the theater.

WOTW - B

Batman - B+

Star Wars 3 - C