War of The Worlds - Steven Spielberg

[Drewbacca]

Regus: Emps don't work on technology that is turned off.

I am going to read your reviews tomorrow night (i'm seeing it tomorrow) but so far everything sounds favorable. I enjoyed Minority Report and The Terminal.

[EvilMog]

I liked everything pretty much...but the ending. WTF! There seemed to be no real payoff. Like someone said before, somebody should have died. If the son didn't come back or mommy was roasted I would have felt less cheesed at the bacteria death shit. I actually thought to myself that something gay like bacteria or sickness would kill the aliens when they showed the amoeba at the start of the movie. I recommend the movie though. I even liked all the effects.

I wonder if Steven is a fan of Half Life 2?

[Rumpy]

I wonder if Steven is a fan of Half Life 2?

I thought the same exact thing! One of the greatest parts of the game too.

My quick take on the movie:
Awesome until Tim Robbins shows up. His character didn't bother me much, but that is just about the point where the movie takes its turn for the worse. There's just too much bullshit. Too many lucky breaks for the characters and an ending that just ruined everything. And Dakota should get an award for playing the most annoying bitch in cinema history. There are times when you just want to slap her and tell her to shut the fuck up. Just...I can't describe how irritating she was.

Complaints and swearing follow below!

Look, there is no fucking way the son should have lived. Anything at the top, or over the side of that hill was fucking DONE. And there is no way that the mother and the rest of them were ok. Did you see that neighborhood? It was right in the city but was untouched aside from some crumpled up newspapers in the street! And the fucking ending! These bastards buried those tripods a long time ago, can blast the pilots into them with fucking light but they don't account for our bacteria? WTF were they doing that whole time? Just leave that shit on the planet and come by some time later to fuck shit up? What the fuck was the point of spraying our blood? Would that change the atmosphere or some bullshit? The pilots of the tripods were breathing our air? There was no second wave for back up? There must have been more to send the pilots down. For being so advanced, these were some dumb fucking aliens. I could deal with Signs "ACK WATER!" aliens, but this was just too much. It would have been a much more satisfying movie with a downer ending, which is exactly how things were headed.

On the plus side, ILM was on the top of their game. Insane effects throught the whole thing. Beautiful looking movie with some (of course) fantastic direction.

[YellerDog]

Good flick. Hell of a lot of tension!

I felt it followed the spirit of the book very well; the ending was the same there, too. The film and the novel both hit the same beats, so I can't complain. (I sort of ignored the kids; they're the protagonist split into different parts, as far as I'm concerned.)

[Regus]

Awesome until Tim Robbins shows up.

Seriously, when he went off on his little speech I lost it. Me and you are pretty much on the same page about this movie.

[1CCOSA]

Oh wow, the ending doesn't explain everything! Neither did the novel. "How come the super smart aliens didn't know this-and-that?" Maybe cuz that's how all combat works in real life, there is a surprise around the corner and mistakes and mis-calculations are made on both sides. If you wanna get really broad, look at how Hitler lost WWII with his last minute bad planning and how it should have been obvious that he shouldn't have fought a two front war and gone after Russia. In Well's book the aliens also "weren't smart enough/omniscient" to know this-and-that either. I'm mainly worried about the ending contradicting a main plot thread. The heck with 'net nit picking. And if you want to find out "why" the aliens were after earth, David Koepp (the screenwriter) simply said "Like anyone else, I think they are after land, our water and resources."

And you say Dakota Fanning doesn't die? Well she IS in a spielberg film which has a central thread about a deadbeat dad trying to keep his kids alive, so yeah, whatta shocker his kid lives. Never mind the fact it's still being called the most "visually brutal" fantasy/sci fi film Spielberg has ever made.

While avoiding spoilers, I predict I will like it. Cuz if the ending is that bad, and in the eyes of fellow 'net fans the whole movie is ruined, based on my little net expectation gauge thingy I'm sure I will be seeing it 2-3 times.

And as long as it at least partly mimics the ending of Well's excellent book itself (which doesn't exactly have an *wow zing* revelation at the end other than *spoiler* germs killed them)

But yeah, the more footage I see for him, i worry that casting Robbins was dumb. James Cromwell would fit the mysterious, wacko farmer bit so much better and he has such a cool voice.

Anyways most reviews are saying as long as you don't mind detailed character development it is very enjoyable and dark.

Here is a snippet from darkhorizons.com (watch out for some spoilers if you read the whole review):

http://www.darkhorizons.com/reviews/war-n.php

Make no mistake though, this is not a happy blockbuster - "War of the Worlds" is a bleak and desolate movie in a hardcore unrelenting way. In fact "Saving Private Ryan" (with the exception of its opening 20 minutes) is in many ways a 'nicer' Spielberg film than this. Its not an R-rated film but pushes damn close to that boundary and is more shocking than some with the stricter rating such as the last few minutes set within Robbins' basement which involves both a brutal act and a hideous revelation about the somewhat mishandled 'red weed' element. Even quieter scenes ranging from Dakota's shocking discovery whilst taking a piss to little moments of people caught in collateral damage cause chills.

Performances are strong all across the board too. For the first time in ages Tom Cruise seemed to be playing someone other than Tom Cruise. Despite all the hype and somewhat ingratiating public appearances lately which haven't exactly been beneficial to his public profile, seeing him in action on screen again you realise the guy is a solid actor. In a role that's almost purely reactionary in tone and could be seen as somewhat hokey in other hands, Cruise brings a necessary gravitas. Kudos should go out to all the supporting cast too - Fanning finally seemed to be playing someone her age (albeit still too smart), Chatwin makes a rebelious teen character actually sympathetic, even Otto's tiny screentime brings some of the film's few smiles.

Like I said the only bum note is Robbins. Not because of the actor mind you, but more the character. Whilst Spielberg's film liberally borrows elements from plenty of other sci-fi great films, one wonders why he had to import the stereotypical gun nut style character with his incessant whinging - maybe to act as counterpoint to Cruise (if so he could've done a lot better).

[YellerDog]

Robbins does fine. Fuck the haters. If you've read the book, you know the score.

[1CCOSA]

^^^

I like Robbins, he is a very good actor. I am just thinking the main reason he got cast though is because he and Spielberg knew his prescence in the movie would annoy the NRA.

Seriously, when he went off on his little speech I lost it. Me and you are pretty much on the same page about this movie.

Hey, I can stand one speech as long as this is true:

darkhorizons: The lack of character development won't be seen as a good thing by some, even if the film uses that to its advantage by never having these characters break out into unrealistic monologues spilling out background information. Its a simple no frills cautionary tale that's smartly told, no more or less.

[Regus]

Hey, I can stand one speech as long as this is true:

lol, you're going to love this scene.

[1CCOSA]

Yet more reason to not take Ebert seriously as a movie reviewer:

"War of the Worlds" is a big, clunky movie containing some sensational sights but lacking the zest and joyous energy we expect from Steven Spielberg.

Yes, because we all know that making a movie with "joyous" vibes was Spielberg's aim when he decided to make an alien flick where you see hundreds of people/bodies floating down the jersey river. He then goes on to review Land of the Dead which he gives a higher rating (probably has some babes in it he really digs, just put a bosomy woman in a film and Ebert's chances of giving it thumbs up skyrockets). The mind boggles.

lol, you're going to love this scene.

D'oh. Now u have me nervous.

Anyways, I hate to sound biased but the book is one of my fave novels ever. I was worried when Spielberg took it over but when i heard he gave it such a surprisingly gritty tone i got a lot more interested.