Yes, they should have been able to tell that these alien spacecraft were bad because of the ominous music. :rolleyes:
Just like that lady should have got out of the water when the "Da Dum"s started playing during the opening scene of Jaws.
That shot is actually a reflection from the inside of the house. There is no goof here, although the shot is confusing so the mistake is understandable.
You caught that too? A good friend of mine (who is also shallow 
), noticed the expensive watch immediately. That said, the car Cruise’s character was driving is a collectors item and pretty expensive too. I think it was a '68 or '69 Mustang GT350 KR or GT500 KR (maybe an H instead of a KR), which is a sweet and pricey ride.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Case Sensitive
The chances of anything coming from Mars are
Spoiler:
a million to one.
Stryfe
Spoiler:
but still they come
Your Jeff Wayne allusions weren’t lost on me guys “Ullaaa!!”
Mostly liked it. Got my butt kicked emotionally. Liked Cruise’s character being a non-super hero/regular guy just trying to cope with a ridiculous turn in reality.
So did anyone else roll their eyes over the peanut butter scene? Or is it a New England thing to completely empty out the fridge and cupboards when you go away for the weekend?
I was wondering about that as well - Why didn’t they just raid the 'fridge for food?
It was nice of Toms’ ex to leave half a loaf of bread sitting out for them.
I think Ray’s quest to reach Boston was quite realistic and understandable.
My first impulse in a major catastrophe would be to find and stick with my husband. After that, I’d want both of us to connect up with my parents, brothers, relatives, etc. When the world is falling around you, being surrounded by familiar faces (especially of those who love you) is a very powerful thing. I wouldn’t want to be the only survivor, wandering around with a handful of strangers in a devestated world.
Furthermore, the longer Ray had waited to try to find his ex and her family, the harder it would have become.
Of course, there are still plenty of other unrealistic reactions and plot devices to nit pick. 
Ray doesn’t do the food prep thing. He’s clueless. His kitchen is where he keeps a spare V8. His ability to feed his children stops at “order something,” and he probably intuited that nobody was going to answer at the local brick oven pizza place. He gets as far as bread + peanut butter = food, and that only served to illustrate that he has no idea his daughter has food allergies.
Nobody was going to starve – it was just about the light dawning on Ray that he’s been The World’s Most Craptacular Dad. Later, when Rachel needs comforting, he realizes he doesn’t know any traditional lullabies. His ex-wife was basically a single parent before they split up.
Ray’s character arc is all about him facing up to what being a father is about. Before the shit hits the fan, he takes it for granted that his kids should love and respect him, and really hasn’t looked at the ways that he’s failed to deliver on his part of the deal.
It’s a good thing that aliens nearly exterminated the entire human race, because it brought home how important his kids were to him, and how selfish he’d been, and gave him an opportunity to redeem himself. Crunch time, and he came through.
Maybe it’s a bit trite, but it’s alright by me.
Just saw it today. Well…I…well, that was a hell of a ride!
What is the “running time” of the story? It starts on the Fourth of July or thereabouts (Ray has to work on the Fourth?) and they arrive in Boston when autumn leaves litter the streets, after what seems like four or five endless days and nights. Did they end up walking through New England?
The ending seemed a bit flat: they never explain how Robbie got there, where the aliens came from, just bam! good to be home. But then you’d be too exhausted to talk much at first anyway, and the movie tells only what they experienced.
That Spielberg fella is just a master at telling “We’re in Big Trouble” and “Your Child Is in Danger” stories, isn’t he?
Well, I finally got dragged off to see this one last night. One thing that War of the Worlds gets right is the fact that otherwise sane people can do extremely stupid things when group mentality takes over. This principle often applies when friends try to decide on what weekend movie they want to see. “Gee, it doesn’t seem like we can all agree on a film, so why don’t we all just go see the summer blockbuster from the actor/director team responsible for Minority Report?” And before I knew what was happening, we were all running toward the tripods.
Perhaps I was just in a bad mood, but this struck me as a really, really not good movie. There were maybe two or three scenes that caught my interest, none of which had anything to do with the characters or the plot. The rest of the movie was just a two hour rehash of stuff that Spielberg and other directors have done better in other movies, and that Cruise has done equally well in every other movie he’s been in.
Plotwise, it’s hard to go wrong with H.G. Wells’ classic; it’s the 500-pound silverback of Science Fiction as Social Metaphor, and it will continue to resonate for as long as powerful nations threaten the weak. I’m interested to learn from this thread that Spielberg had evidently planned a version of WOTW long in advance of the World Trade Center attacks, which may explain its somewhat schizophrenic take on current events. As others have pointed out, there’s a surfeit of images blatantly lifted from that tragedy–and I have to give Spielberg credit for having the decency and restraint to not include a scene where someone falls from a great height with a Wilhelm scream. On the other hand, I wonder when Spielberg first realized that he was actually going to wind up producing a timely allegory on the Iraqi resistance. “Tom, you’ll be playing a civilian whose nation is overrun by an overwhelming military force, and who realizes at the end of the movie that the only way to save your family is by a suicide action. You strap a bunch of grenades to your body in order to destroy an armored vehicle. This happens just before the invading troops are eliminated by germ warfare.”
Thoughts:
*I was amazed at how convincing Tom Cruise was as a blue-collar, fortyish divorced father of two. Ha, ha! I kid, of course; he’s horribly miscast and distracting here. I remember a stand up comic, on Evening at the Improv I think, who made a joke about Cruise: “I liked the movie where he played the cocky young guy.” And that was probably fifteen years ago!
*Is the invasion of Earth not a compelling enough plot by itself? Must we also endure Tom Cruise’s personal journey from self-centered prick to slightly less self-centered prick? Would this movie have suffered greatly if Tom’s family were semi-functional to begin with? Of course, this would have required Tom Cruise to act in a compassionate, non-pricklike manner from the get-go, so I’m guessing the answer is “No.”
*“Hi! I’m a V-8 engine block. I don’t have any lines in this film, but watch for the scene in the Extended DVD Release where Tom Cruise quickly examines me and thereby intuits how to repair a vehicle damaged by Martian EMP.” The part of the V-8 engine block was played by Christopher Lee.
*Word on the street is that TiVO is really cool to have!
*In a disaster, people often exhibit strange behavior. This does not mean that all strange behavior is equally plausible. Inside a burning building, it makes sense that people are going to stampede headlong toward the exits, and it’s implausible that they will stand around oohing as the walls around them burst into flame. If people are outside a burning building and don’t percieve themselves to be in direct danger, it makes sense that they will stand around and gawk. If a forty foot tall battle tripod erupts from the street directly in front of them, I have to think that the ‘headlong stampede’ reflex is probably going to trump the ‘gawk’ reflex for most people.
*Did anyone else notice that when the tripod came out of the ground, it was making a vacuum cleaner noise? I’d guess it was an old-style Electrolux canister sweeper. Warning: This movie may be too intense for some housecats.
*To all those in the theater with me last night: I apologize for busting out laughing when the tripod did its big moaning noise. I suddenly flashed on Finding Nemo, and imagined Tom Cruise saying to the other bystanders, "Oh…it’s okay, I speak Martian. “HeeEELLooo triiIIiipooodd, pleeEEaassse doooOOOnn’t kIIiiilll uuuussss…”
*Going back to the “implausible behavior” element, I was impressed by the complete and total unflappability of the neighborhood mechanic in the face of alien invasion. “Oh, thanks for the helpful hint about the solenoid, Tom! She started right up! Say, did you notice that giant war tripod erupting from the street and vaporizing people a few minutes ago? What was that all about, eh? Say, I can’t let you take that truck, you crazy knuckleknob! Stop your fooling.” One could excuse this bizarre behavior (and all the rest of the acting in the movie, I guess) by chalking it up to emotional overload, but it looked more to me like the symptoms of Green Screen Ennui.
*“Is it the terrorists?” Okay, this is where I officially began to invite this movie to bite me. Yes, Mr. Spielberg, I get it that you’re riffing on 9/11 tropes here, you’ve made that very clear already. However, I frankly doubt that even the most media-saturated ten-year old would look at a giant space tripod shooting death rays and assume terrorists were to blame. I can’t even imagine the most extreme right-wing pundits leaping to this conclusion. I recall somebody else in another thread pointing out that in most zombie movies, none of the characters has seemingly ever seen a zombie movie. This movie goes them one better, and proposes a parallel Earth without any science fiction at all, where “a terrorist attack” seems like the most intuitively plausible explanation for huge invading machines with laser beams.
*So, the Cruise family (I know they all called each other by name repeatedly, but I still don’t register the characters as anything but Tom Cruise, Evil Clark, and Drew Barrymore circa 1982) arrives at the ex’s house to find them already gone. Even though the power is still running, don’t waste time turning on the television set or radio to find out what’s going on! In affluent neighborhoods such as this one, there is always a newsvan parked on the road in the morning to provide fresh newsclips and play-by-play commentary on current events.
*In the event of total worldwide catastrophe, it’s reassuring to know that it will still be possible to drive from New York City to within comfortable walking distance of Boston without encountering any traffic blockages, as all motorists instinctively guide their vehicles to the road shoulder when EMP shuts down the power steering and brakes.
*The train scene was one of the very few bits in the movie that I actually found compelling. It was eerie, haunting, and emotionally evocative. Unfortunately it was also depressingly similar to the ‘flaming stampede’ scene from Tim Burton’s crapfest Mars Attacks. Damn you for reminding me of that movie again, Spielberg.
*When herding evacuees onto a dangerously exposed ferryboat, always play the most nostalgically bittersweet music possible over the public address system. This creates a more relaxed, hope-free atmosphere for the refugees.
*So, the aliens have come to Earth to harvest rutabaga. I always knew there was something horribly wrong about that vegetable.
*Tim Robbins: Why are you on the screen for so long? Are you trying to prove that you can act even more annoying and unappealing than Tom Cruise? Please stop. What is the point of your character, other than to play the chicken to Tom Cruise’s Hawkeye Pierce?
*Note to aliens: when an Earth primate attacks your tripod with a handheld explosive powerful enough to activate your defensive shields, perhaps the best course of action is not to immediately mix him in with the captives that you’re bringing inside. Seeing as how you’ve also got those death rays and all. Just a thought. Boy, that was a lucky break for Tom, wasn’t it? All those nameless extras being disintegrated willy-nilly (while running away) throughout the entire film, yet Tom Cruise tosses a grenade at one of the tripods, all by his lonesome, and isn’t instantly obliterated. Obviously his fighting spirit impressed the aliens’ sense of Klingon honor.
*Note to Spielberg: So, you decided to crib the ‘alien death scene’ from the George Pal film, complete with drooping three-fingered hand. That’s fine, go for it. One little suggestion, though: this scene might have had just a tiny bit more dramatic impact if you hadn’t already given us a good, long look at the aliens about twenty minutes ago! If I recall the earlier movie correctly, the death scene was the first and only time we actually saw the invaders in the flesh, which is what made it such a powerful moment, which is probably what inspired you to repeat it in your film. Why, then, did you completely undercut it by having CGI aliens frolicking about in the basement earlier, especially when that scene immediately followed *another *basement chase with the tentacle, and was therefore completely pointless and redundant? Was this scene added in post-production after audiences at test screenings in Obviousville, MI expressed disappointment at not seeing a prolonged scene with actual big-eyed aliens?
*Oh, wow. After that gut-wrenching, emotionally gripping farewell on the hilltop,
Evil Clark survived after all! And made it to Boston on his own, just like the Incredible Journey. It’s almost unbelievable, what with the entire hilltop being vaporized into flames, and all the soldiers and vehicles melting and exploding and what not. He must have dodged to one side at the last second.
*“Hi, I’m Morgan Freeman. I don’t appear in this movie, but I do provide the omniscient framing narration awkwardly paraphrased from Wells. Meanwhile, please enjoy the performances of the many, many other talented black actors in this film.”
In summary… Ick. There were one or two good bits–I enjoyed the pleasingly Romeroesque ambiguity about the aliens’ motivations and origins–but mostly, ick. I’d like to be more positive by citing the admittedly impressive CGI effects, but in a Spielberg movie where the world is invaded, I was frankly expecting more than just ‘impressive.’ I was expecting superlative effects used in an original manner, and instead I got warmed-over ID4.
Between this movie and the Lucas prequels, never have I been less hopeful about the prospect of a fourth Indiana Jones film. I desperately want to be proven wrong, but honestly I suspect the series would be better left in peace at this point.
So. My two cents, a day late and a dollar short. Which I think means that I still owe all of you ninety-eight cents, somehow… Sorry about that.
She didn’t see the tripods. The kids stayed in the house away from where the tripod emerged. Then Tom rushes in in a panic, covered with dust, tells everyone to assemble, and then grabs the car, pushing her in the back seat and telling her to duck. When she said the line, all she had seen was the lightning and the panic in the streets (as well as hearing terrible noises).
They had a radio in the car. If they weren’t getting any info there, the odds the TV was working might be somewhat low.
You recall incorrectly. We don’t get as good a look at the aliens in the Pal film as we do in Spielberg’s, but we (and the couple in hiding) do catch a glimpse before the final scene.
Admittedly I had a hard time figuring out where things were in relationship to each other in the neighborhood scenes, but it seemed to me that the point where the tripod emerged was within a direct line of sight to Tom’s back porch–where they watched the multiple lightning strikes earlier, in other words. So if Drew and Clark somehow managed to miss the giant tripod come out of the ground, it would mean that they never bothered to look back at the spot where all the lightning hit, which I think would qualify as ‘implausible behavior.’
I must admit, if this movie did anything for me, it’s made me hungry to watch the George Pal version again. I did enjoy the way the tripod design in this movie referenced the hovering death machines in the earlier film.
You do not recall correctly. Pal’s film also showed us an alien during the basement scene. At first, we only glimpse something thin and oddly shaped scuttling quickly through shadows. However, we do get a shot of an alien that lasts for just a few heartbeats. It’s long enough for the viewer to react with ‘What am I looking at? Oh, it’s a Martian. Oh, that’s creepy.’ Pal has said that he knew he had to show the Martians so that the audience wouldn’t feel cheated. But that he was careful not to show them long enough for people to analyze the puppet and decide it looked cheezy.
So, I’m getting the sense that I don’t recall correctly, then. As I tried to imply earlier, it’s been a dog’s age since I’ve seen Pal’s film. Even so, I still think Spielberg gave us way too long and close a look at his CGI Martians, particularly since: (A) they really weren’t outstandingly convincing or scary-looking as CGI critters go, and (B) the scene immediately followed another chase-through-the-basement scene with the tentaclescope gadget, so it seemed intensely redundant to me. I’d say Pal made the right decision by keeping the aliens hidden for the most part. Spielberg’s movie is big and loud enough in other respects that he could have been a bit more subtle with the aliens proper. Whether puppets or CGI, these sorts of monsters are much less scary when you have the luxury to examine them at leisure.
I note also that you quoted my sarcastic swipe at the engine block prop without comment. Now I’m worried that my memory was faulty on that point as well. Did the engine actually have a line?
Huh. I wonder where my comment went.
I’d pay to see Christopher Lee as an engine block “I hunger boy. Feed me super premium or you shall feel my wrath- my terrible wrath.”
I agree, it would have been a much different movie–Tom Cruise and his demonic engine block, on the road, like Hope and Crosby. They fight tripods!
Thanks for reposting. I certainly emphasize; with my crap dial-up connection, I’ve had entire posts vanish off into the ether. Lately I try to make sure that I have a backup copy saved before I try to post, but weirdness still manages to creep in. In my reply to ArchiveGuy above, somehow my responses to points one and three went through, while point two was eaten right out of the middle. Or perhaps it was merely rejected by the thread, like a splinter. I suppose if nothing else, I have Spielberg’s movie to thank for the knowledge that, if I ever have a jagged shard of wood painfully embedded in my flesh, I don’t have to worry about removing or treating it in any fashion.
Ya’ know, the alien machines in the 1953 George Pal movie still look ‘futuristic’ today. While the machines in the 2005 Speilberg movie look like they came from the sci-fi pulp magazines of the Forties.
Cool, huh?
It doesn’t start on the 4th. You may have been confused by a couple of things:
His foreman says, “I need a fourth at 12.” Which means he needs a fourth crane operator at noon.
And during the lightning Cruise says, “It’s just like the 4th of July.” to Dakota in a weak attempt to allay her fears about the lightning.
If you recall, during the storm Cruise comments on how weird it is and says, “The wind is blowing towards the storm”. At which point autumn leaves are shown blowing in abundance towards the storm. Also, the son had a school report due, which would not have happened if it were summer time.
Oh, okay. Good points. But when Ray runs outside after the lightning to look at the crater, why does every house on the block have a flag on display? I think that and Ray’s “Fourth of July” comment were what put it in my mind. That and, come to think of it, that so many people were available to go with him. Somehow I thought that they’d all be at work somewhere else if it weren’t a holiday. But you’re right about the bare trees.
I assumed no one was working because it was a weekend. Robby had a school report due on Monday and his mom said she wanted Ray to make sure it was done when he got home on Sunday.
Maybe it was Veteran’s Day.
A mid-November setting would match both the fallen leaves and the temperatures.