War of the Worlds (Widescreen Edition)
by Steven Spielberg
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Miranda Otto, Tim Robbins, Tom CruiseDirector: Steven Spielberg
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 117 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-11-22
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Dreamworks Video
Movie Reviews of War of the Worlds (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: Too little "War", Too much Real "World".
Summary: 4 Stars
I can't say that I love this movie, although parts of this movie are pretty awesome.
The whole story is told from Cruise's viewpoint. But imagine if they had done more besides that, and had given us awesome shots of overall distruction, with tripods laying waste to all areas of the planet. Now that would have been a sci-fi fanboy's wet dream. But No! Instead, Steven S. throws in all the corny schmaltz that he is famous for, thereby diluting the whole thing. So what we get is, while the war is going on in the background, we have the father and son arguing in the foreground. Corny!
The whole basement scene just doesn't hold up to repeat viewings, and I definitely skip to the next chapter on that one. The basement scene, however, does give us the chance to see the alien tentacle and the aliens themselves, but the film seems to hit a speedbump in the basement and the film just slows to a crawl.
And of course, we have the happy ending tacked on at the end, which seems completely out of place with the rest of the movie. Spoiler question: If the son ran into the battle and the whole place erupted into flames distroying the Army, just how the heck did he show up at the end? Pretty dumb, and lame too. Besides, that darn kid is so annoying - I wish one of the tripods had picked him up and made blood fertilizer out of him.
And speaking of annoying, that darn Dakota Fanning just screams throughout the whole darn movie, and just gives you a headache. There is nothing more annoying than a screaming child. Man, I wish a tripod had gotten ahold of her as well, just so she would finally shut the heck up.
People generally agree that the ending is anti-climactic, but I do have to point out that we get not one, but two climaxes before that ending: when Ray single-handedly brings down a tripod, and again when the Army does the same. Still, if the movie had guts, the teenage boy would have been toast at the end.
Everyone has already pointed out the working camcorder in the beginning. But here's another one: Why did the tripod put a guy on the ground to stick their alien needle into him, when they could have done the same in their basket directly under the tripod? I guess the tripod just wanted to give Steven S. a Kodak moment. And of course, we can see the blood travelling up the tentacle. Can anyone say Gratuitous Shocking moment?
But though it all, I still like this film. And what a juxtaposition to 9/11. If you watch this movie, then go to YouTube and watch videos of the real 9/11, you will see where S.S. completely lifted moments from that national tragedy.
I'm no Cruise fan, but I like him here. He's better playing a jerk, maybe because it's not such a stretch for him.
And nice to see the stars of the original WOTW in a quick shot as the in-laws at the end.
I don't love it, but man, I sure do seem to enjoy sticking it in my dvd player every now and then and watching parts of it with the volume at full.
Summary of War of the Worlds (Widescreen Edition)
Despite super effects, a huge budget, and the cinematic pedigree of alien-happy Steven Spielberg, this take on H.G. Wells's novel is basically a horror film packaged as a sci-fi thrill ride. Instead of a mad slasher, however, Spielberg (along with writers Josh Friedman & David Koepp) utilizes aliens hell-bent on quickly destroying humanity, and the terrifying results that prey upon adult fears, especially in the post-9/11 world. The realistic results could be a new genre, the grim popcorn thriller; often you feel like you're watching Schindler's List more than Spielberg's other thrill-machine movies (Jaws, Jurassic Park). The film centers on Ray Ferrier, a divorced father (Tom Cruise, oh so comfortable) who witnesses one giant craft destroy his New Jersey town and soon is on the road with his teen son (Justin Chatwin) and preteen daughter (Dakota Fanning) in tow, trying to keep ahead of the invasion. The film is, of course, impeccably designed and produced by Spielberg's usual crew of A-class talent. The aliens are genuinely scary, even when the film--like the novel--spends a good chunk of time in a basement. Readers of the book (or viewers of the deft 1953 adaptation) will note the variation of whom and how the aliens come to Earth, which poses some logistical problems. The film opens and closes with narration from the novel read by Morgan Freeman, but Spielberg could have adapted Orson Welles's words from the famous Halloween Eve 1938 radio broadcast: "We couldn't soap all your windows and steal all your garden gates by tomorrow night, so we did the best next thing: we annihilated the world." --Doug ThomasWar of the Worlds at Amazon.com
 The Soundtrack |  The War of the Worlds (1953) |  War of the Worlds - The Complete First Season (TV series) |
 Classic Sci-Fi Movies and Their Remakes |  Aliens Invade on DVD |  The Prog-rock Opera (no kidding) |
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