Movie review: War of the Worlds

not2sharp

not2sharp

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Has anyone seen this yet? The reviews I am reading are calling it a tremendous flop. Good special effects; no drama, no intentional comedy, no charismatic characters, little action, dud ending, and many plot holes and goofs. One guy called it little more then a "boring game of hide & seek that will have you wishing for an alien victory half way through the film." It sounds like it is about as much fun as being locked up in a dark broom closet with two bratty whiny screeching kids.

Has anyone seen this thing (come on we will not hold it against you - promise :p ). I am thinking; what would I have done with a $183 million dollar production budget, could it possibly be this bad?

n2s
 
Aww c'mon N2S, I thought I was gonna GET a movie review of WOTW on your thread. I'm going to go see it at the drive in with my wife on Saturday night anyway. I like the WOTW story, if not Tom (scientology nut) Cruise, or the possible horrible screenplay. I'll still go check it out.
 
Comes as no suprise. In any of the clips i've seen Cruise was doing a good impression of a plank. The fact that they wouldn't allow any advance reviews to be printed pretty much confimed that it's a bit of a turkey.

Spielberg may be the most powerful director in Hollywood, but he's been hit and miss over the years.........
 
"No charismatic characters"

I'd have to disagree with that, after all, little Dakota Fanning is in the movie. She's a wonderful actress. Of course, I may be biased because she bears a striking resemblence to Sabrina, my niece. That can make it very upsetting when watching her in roles like "Man on Fire." :eek: :mad:

I'm waiting to see War of the Worlds on cable. Or maybe I won't see it then either. It all depends on whether Mr. Cruise still annoys the hell out of me or not. So far, I'm betting that I won't see it. Too bad because I really like little Dakota. She's a little cutey. :)
 
Appropriate technology: War of the Worlds has been done once, and for all time, by Orson Welles. Get the cassette. Put it on late at night, no distractions. Be very afraid! :eek: :p

Freaking movies. Big money, big egos, big joke.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Appropriate technology: War of the Worlds has been done once, and for all time, by Orson Welles. Get the cassette. Put it on late at night, no distractions. Be very afraid! :eek: :p

Freaking movies. Big money, big egos, big joke.
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Haven't gotten around to listening to it yet, but I understand some NPR affiliates rebroadcast it at Halloween. :D

And while Orson Welles is a genius, George Pal did an okay job, too.
 
Dang I gotta see it now. The local reviewer in our Newspaper - whose opinions on films have always coincided with mine - says it is one of the best films of the last 10 years. I big wrap for sure.
 
I ALWAYS use MRQE for reviews:

War of the Worlds

Lots of people say that they never read movie reviews because they don't have the same tastes as the reviewer. To them I say to look at MRQE. Of all the reviewers linked on there, you're bound to find SOMEONE who tends to have the same tastes. Then its just a matter of reading their reviews every time you go to see a movie. For me, its Ebert and Berardinelli. There are occasionlly some cheesy movies that I find entertaining that are horrible as a whole and reviewed by them as such. But I can usually recognize those based on the previews and reviews and accordingly make the decision to go see them...

Mark
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Appropriate technology: War of the Worlds has been done once, and for all time, by Orson Welles. Get the cassette. Put it on late at night, no distractions. Be very afraid! :eek: :p

Freaking movies. Big money, big egos, big joke.
Click to expand...

Esav-What's a "Cassette" ? :confused: ;)
 
OK, War of the Worlds is Intense! No matter what you think of Tom (Imanut!) Cruise, this movie is really intense. From the moment that the alien war-craft start to emerge the movie takes off and doesn't let up for a minute. It's horrific in vision and makes you feel that we are all doomed. The FX are unique, as is the perspective of the action in the film, but there is enough of a connection to the original story and George Pal movie that it is true to the H G Wells vision.

Spielberg "rips off" the alien suits from 'Independence Day,' but that takes nothing away from the movie, as the real threat is from the alien technology, which is just overwhelming. I was mezmerized throughout and didn't feel at any moment that the story lagged or that I should feel disappointed by any part or aspect of the movie. The acting was good all around IMO, even by "Nutboy."

This movie gets a B to B+ rating from movie fans on the site I checked and I think that rating fits and is well deserved.
 
Don't agree with the BS that Cruise gets into but overall a cool movie.
Little girl screams too much.
Ending was lame.
Special effects Rock.
Randy
 
just saw the movie a couple of hours ago.

the little girl was alright. i'm a big dakota fan. so whatever she does is fine.

tom cruise was okay. quite funny in some parts.

a few things bugged me though. how come after 1 day those people had time to create those missing persons board? this is with weird things happening in your country and aliens attacking. i just don't see myself having time to lovingly create a missing persons poster with different colours and artwork.

i didn't like the ending. it was too abrupt and there wasn't enough explanation. for someone who can't remember seeing the first one and not reading the book i have no idea what those red root-like thing was.

to me the scariest part of the whole movie was not the aliens but it was the mob that was attacking the car.
 
steellover said:
Cruise sucks, and look out for paid trolls who will praise the film to get you to see it.
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I surely hope you're not referring to me...:grumpy: Just gave my honest opinion. You decide what you want to spend your time and money on. ;)

Wait a minute! You mean I coulda gotten a check for saying nice things about that movie? Booger!!! :(
 
Just came home from seeing it. Thumbs up from me. I like being pleasantly surprised and this exceeded my exectations. It just goes to show that our owm imaginations are more powerfull than any special effects. Even though their was some huge special effects much of the tension - which had this jaded, seen it all, film goer squirming in his seat - was driven by what we imagined was coming, rather than having it digitally rammed down our throats. You can see that Speilberg has borrowed from M Night Shyamalan (Signs) with the creepy atmospherics.

Although not a character drama, the characters were still well drawn and effective in telling the story. I haven't been a Tom Cruise fan but he does well here. Maybe because the flaws in his character match the real Tom's (ie; maybe he isn't stretchng his acting too far).

I liked the ending as well - the resolution of the story was well thought out and seemed the most scientifically valid. Of all the EOTWAWKI scenario films I have seen, like deep imact, independence day etc, this was the best by a long shot.

Thinking about his (Spielbergs)technique. I like how apart from one or two key scenes, we are always just seeing the Aliens in passing, from behind a hill or a building, always making them a potential threat - just as you would if you were running away from them yourself.

The film also has the heavy, slightly depressive weight of Saving Private Ryan and Schindlers list - but there is also some surprisingly good humour in the dialouge.
 
Ming65 said:
Just came home from seeing it. Thumbs up from me. It just goes to show that our owm imaginations are more powerfull than any special effects...much of the tension...was driven by what we imagined was coming...

Although not a character drama, the characters were still well drawn and effective in telling the story....

I liked the ending as well - the resolution of the story was well thought out and seemed the most scientifically valid....

Thinking about his (Spielbergs)technique. I like how apart from one or two key scenes, we are always just seeing the Aliens in passing, from behind a hill or a building, always making them a potential threat - just as you would if you were running away from them yourself.

The film also has the heavy, slightly depressive weight of Saving Private Ryan and Schindlers list - but there is also some surprisingly good humour in the dialouge.
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Excellent review, Ming. You touched on a lot of the various aspects of this movie that made it well worth watching. Especially the heavy, foreboding sense of impending doom that pervaded the entire story. That atmospheric aspect was very well done. This movie made me think that if we would ever be invaded the force of the invasion would be so overwhelming as to be unstoppable. Much of the terror would be the complete realization that we were doomed.
 
Haven't seen the movie yet but I read the H.G. Wells book a few years ago. I liked it quite a bit and it didn't really seem too dated. I think the terror of the invasion had a greater impact because these advanced aliens were attacking the world when our technology was still in its infancy. Anyway, I can't wait to see it even if Tom Cruise is in it.
 
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