War of the Worlds

[roxpopuli]

Needless to say, Ruthless Reviews hated WotW with merciless glee. A few snippets:

I liked watching people die, but the three people most worthy of dissection and liquidation--Ray (Tom Cruise), Rachel (Dakota Fanning), and Robbie (Justin Chatwin)--remained healthy enough and defiantly alive, much to the consternation of anyone who values the idea that the most annoying characters must perish first.

The whole thing is so dull and pointless that I simply didn't care by the time I was asked to believe that Tom Cruise (5'7" standing on his wallet) entered a room and proceeded to kill Tim Robbins (6'5") with his bare hands.

They most thoroughly trash the stupid scientific premises and huge leaps of faith the script expects you to take. But be warned, if you haven't seen it and plan to, the review is definitely a spoiler.

[Deleted]

The whole <<killing Tim Robbings thing made mo sense to me. Mainly because it was obvious that Tim was crazy but he didn't seem dangerous crazy to me. Maybe just adding in a line like "OH, you two aren't leaving. You're never leaving." would have worked. But Tim seemed all busy digging his tunnel to China and I don't see why Tom couldn't have snuck out without killing him.

So many problems when you think about it.

[Deleted]

jensational said:

The whole <<killing Tim Robbings thing made mo sense to me. Mainly because it was obvious that Tim was crazy but he didn't seem dangerous crazy to me. Maybe just adding in a line like "OH, you two aren't leaving. You're never leaving." would have worked. But Tim seemed all busy digging his tunnel to China and I don't see why Tom couldn't have snuck out without killing him.

So many problems when you think about it.

Yeah, but wasn't Tim making a lot of noise or something, and that's why Tom was getting angry? He didn't want the aliens to hear Tim yelling "NOT MY BLOOD", because if they did, they would come back for him, Tim and Dakota. And plus, Tim hit Tom over the head with a shovel, so I think if he had to, Tim would have killed them all. But I really won't be surprised if I misunderstood that entire part.

I actually loved this movie. Well, I loved it until Robbie left. After that it just got boring, and slow and it went downhill.

Oh, and wtf was up with Tom asking everybody to look at the seaguls. I just...I didn't get that one bit.

But all in all, I really enjoyed it and wouldn't mind seeing it again. That, and I thought Robbie was smoking hot.

[Deleted]

This movie was hyped to be the next Titanic! I've even read that Spielberg himself said it would beat Titanic(not sure the source was trustworthy though).

I wonder if this isn't some sort of extension of George Lucas's Titanic references when talking about Episode III. Like maybe he and Spielberg just sit around all day trying to break the rather impressive hold Titanic has on the number one box office revenue spot (without adjusting for inflation, of course). I don't really think Spielberg said anything about WotW being the next Titanic - that would be too crass for the guy who always seems so desperate for critical love (Titanic won a lot of awards but, imo, is not viewed as a classic piece of cinema and no one wants to be compared with Jerk Cameron).

[Deleted]

Saw this movie two days ago, got scared out of my mind, and then I realised how silly the whole thing was. Much like White Noise.

I'll give them points for special effects, but dude, the family stuff sucked.

[roxpopuli]

National Lampoon takes on WotW:

While on set during the film of the summer blockbuster War of the Worlds, homosexual actor Tom Cruise and director Steven Spielberg bickered at such an intense level that by the time the film wrapped, they were only able to communicate through carrier pigeons.

[jynni]

I saw it on Friday with a group from work. I will say, Spielberg is a genious. The film itself was stunning - some of the best CGI and such I think I've ever seen.

Would have been 100X better without Cruise and all the family bullshit. Most of the people I went with are pretty "simple" as far as movie watching goes - meaning they like just about anything and usually don't notice plot inconsistencies. However, every single one of them thought you could have flown those 747's through the holes in the script. There were so many it was just ridiculous.

I wanted that Robbie character to die a slow horrible death. He has to go down as one of the most annoying and pointless characters ever.

[Inkyblott]

Saw it yesterday and have to say it was better than I thought it would be. I'm finding that to be my standard movie comment lately since I tend to go in with extremely low expectations.

I actually didn't hate Tom Cruise or Dakota Fanning. I was expecting to since most of the time TC bugs but I think the reason I liked him in this is because he wasn't playing some "sexy" romantic lead. TC is not sexy. He did pretty good playing a working class slob who apparently spends so little time with his kids that he doesn't know that one of them has a serious food allergy.

I liked the way the machines looked. In the original movie, they couldn't do the walkers because they didn't have the effects technology. I liked the biomechanical design. And there was an appropriate level of destruction right up until the end.

As for the movie science, well, it's a sci-fi movie most of which are chock full of pseudo-science crap. Not to mention the standard action movie cliches: >>finding the only working car, TC managing to outrun deathray blasts, TC managing to be the only person able to pick up granades, yank the pins, and throw them into one of the walkers, Surly Teenage Son being alive at the end, the in-laws house and neighborhood still standing and all of them standing their, alive and clean.<<<<

I liked the fact that this version had a regular person at it's heart. As much as I loved the original, the fact that one of the main character was a scientist led to a different tone to the movie. This time, you got to see the invasion from the average person point of view, someone who's so panicked and desperate that they aren't even trying to think about the how's and why's.

One of my favorite scenes, which I still can't shake >>all the refugees stopping as the railroad barriers come down. You can see the hope on some of their faces, like maybe it's going to be okay. And then the train comes by and it's on fire. Just the training screaming past, burning, and you could see the shock on the refugees faces<<<

One big nitpick. I didn't like the explaination of how the machines got here. It would have made more sense if they just suddenly landed since that would have explained the Martian ignorance about what breathing the air or drinking the water would do.

[Deleted]

I thought this movie was a HUGE dissapointment. I can't believe Spielberg directed it(at least the second half). It was painfully obvious that this project was rushed. It felt like lazy filmmaking to me.

I initially really liked the idea that Spielberg wasn't going to make this a traditional blockbuster, it was supposed to be more than that, a big summer movie which was also a well crafted film. Sadly it was neither.

The first half was great, but it just deteriorated after that. I definelty wouldn't reccommend this film if you like complex characters and interesting storylines. However, if you don't mind sacrificing good filmmaking for some astounding CGI, then I reccomment it.

[jynni]

I think this was probably one of the worst screenplays ever written. It seemed like Spielberg was so concerned with the tone and look of the movie that he just gave up on a script. However, since he can actually direct actors the inadequacies of the script weren't quite as bad as they probably would have been had say, George Lucas been directing.

Although as far as tone, look and feel goes, he hit the nail on the head. I actually talked to one kid (maybe 14) who actually admitted to being quite terrified during the movie. He couldn't explain why, he just said he was actually trembling through most of hit. Everyone I saw the movie with seemed to feel the terror and helplessness right along with what was happening on screen. Speilberg knew exactly what he wanted visually and emotionally from this movie and I think he probably knowingly sacrificed character development for it. Although, really - it's aliens blow up the world - there's not too much room for any character development.