This page was created on December 13, 2004
This page was last updated on November 21, 2005

—Review
—Photos
—About this Film (pdf)

Review by Kevin Miller
Review by Tom Price
Review by Maurice Broaddus
Review by YO
Commentary by David Bruce

Dial up modems will take a few moments

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Novel by H.G. Wells
Screenplay by David Koepp and Josh Friedman

Cast
Tom Cruise
David Alan Basche
James DuMont
Justin Chatwin
Dakota Fanning
Daniel Franzese
Stephen Gevedon
Rick Gonzalez
Sharrieff Pugh
Tim Robbins
Ann Robinson

Produced by
Tom Cruise .... producer
Kathleen Kennedy .... producer
Paula Wagner .... producer

Original Music by John Williams
Cinematography by Janusz Kaminski
Film Editing by Michael Kahn

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and disturbing images.
Runtime: 116 min
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM, and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG

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Teaser B:
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QuickTime, Lo-Res

Trailer:
QuickTime/Windows Media Player, Various

Super Bowl TV Spot:
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QuickTime, Med-Res
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Japanese Teaser:
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Japanese Trailer:
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Windows Media Player, Various

Things then progress from a series of seemingly mundane reports about odd atmospheric disturbances taking place on Mars to the arrival of Martians just outside of London. At first the Martians seem laughable, hardly able to move in Earth's comparatively heavy gravity even enough to raise themselves out of the pit created when their spaceship landed. But soon the Martians reveal their true nature as death machines 100-feet tall rise up from the pit and begin laying waste to the surrounding land. Wells quickly moves the story from the countryside to the evacuation of London itself and the loss of all hope as England's military suffers defeat after defeat. With horror his narrator describes how the Martians suck the blood from living humans for sustenance, and how it's clear that man is not being conquered so much a corralled. --Craig E. Engler

How do we respond to evil? How should we respond to evil? Those are the main questions raised by War of the Worlds, Steven Spielberg’s take on H. G. Wells’ classic tale of invaders from outer space. And nothing could be more evil than the creatures represented in this film: alien life forms who have plotted the annihilation of the human race for centuries, even going so far as to bury their machines of extermination deep under the earth long before humans ever arrived on the scene. Pre-meditated killing at its finest.

And yet, for all their technology, these aliens seem surprisingly inefficient, choosing to mow down human beings, buildings, and neighborhoods one at a time rather than taking them out in one, big “schebang.” If humans really are bugs in the aliens’ eyes—as the opening narrative of this film suggests—obviously no one on their planet has ever heard of “Raid.” Mere humans have come up with vastly superior means to wipe out bugs, never mind their fellow human beings. Perhaps these extra-terrestrial killers are as sporting as they are vicious. Eventually, however, it is revealed that the aliens have something more in mind than a simple holocaust—even though holocaust imagery is used throughout the film. Don’t worry: I won’t tell you what that ulterior motive is; because, frankly, I don’t think I really understand it myself!

Continued on the blog

A generation ago, two of Director Stephen Spielberg’s biggest films – Close Encounters of the Third Kind and ET: The Extra-Terrestrial – captured the imagination of filmgoers, presenting a hopeful view of aliens from other worlds. The films perhaps provided the cultural motif for what was soon described as “morning in America ,” a time of optimism about what the United States had to offer the world.

Another incarnation of three-finger alien is back in Spielberg’s latest foray into the science-fiction genre – a 21st-century computer-generated retelling of H.G. Wells’ classic novel, first published in 1898. Although Spielberg’s War of the Worlds won’t create outbreaks of hysteria as Orson Welles’ famous 1938 radio dramatization, one of the film’s strengths is the way it portrays the pandemonium of a military invasion by an alien force.

Continued on the blog

WAR OF THE WORLDS
and the POPULAR MIND
By David Bruce

Todd McCarthy’s review in Variety is right on: “A generation later, Steven Spielberg has made the anti-‘Close Encounters’ in ‘War of the Worlds,’ a gritty, intense and supremely accomplished sci-fier about some distinctly unbenign alien invaders. Latest adaptation of H.G. Wells' endlessly malleable and resonant 1898 novel preys upon the insecurities of a modern audience that's more fearful and skittish than was the case when the director made his optimistic early-career smashes about outer space visitors.”

Science Fiction always reflects its time. When we needed to end the Cold War and establish peace, movies like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), which presented the alien (“enemy”) as peaceful and kid-friendly, did well at the box office. The culture wanted to be at peace with the emerging global village. This was the first major film in the post Viet Nam War era to present aliens (those different than us) as civil. Steven Spielberg’s E.T. followed in the tradition of the brilliant 1951 post WW2 era The Day the Earth Stood Still. – Incidentally, both post-war films used Jesus Christ as a model for the alien (the aliens name in the later was (J)ohn (C)arpenter!).

In this era of 9/11, the culture tends to view aliens with fear and apprehension. Is it any wonder that a film about hostile aliens should resurface? Spielberg’s current version of WOTW follows in the foot steps of the first screen version of 1953, during the fear-filled McCarthy era, when there was in an all out war against the presumed “invading” communist/aliens. And now the current incarnation takes place within the fear-filled war-on-terrorism era. There are very similar circumstances at work here.

The original H.G. Wells novel was published in 1898 and it was set in England , not America . One of his motives for writing the novel was to help the UK citizens understand the horror of being invaded by a foreign power. In other words, he wanted his country to understand how other countries felt being under alien control (European colonialism). It was a statement against expansionism. More over it was a warning against the militarization and expansion policies of Germany at that time. He was, in fact, predicting war in Europe (WWI) and the tragic ending of Britain ’s own empire.

Again on the verge of another World War on Halloween night, October 30, 1938 , CBS radio broadcasted Orson Wells’ dramatization of War of the Worlds and the reaction was incredible. Many listeners took it to be real and became frantic. Thousands of families fled their homes resulting in jammed highways. Many folks phoned loved ones with farewells. There were cases of heart attacks, miscarriages, and suicidal attempts. The New Jersey National Guard was called out. The phones at CBS radio were jammed. Americans had an absolute fear of invading aliens.

Here is the question: How do you think the popular mind will resonate with Spielberg’s current 2005 version of WOTW?

1. Do you think it will be viewed as a statement against so-called American expansionism (War in Iraq --i.e. Americans as the ugly aliens).

2. Or, do you think that the current version will resonate with popular fears of terrorists?

There is a third possibility –and the one that I favor:

3. The film defies simple interpretation because the popular mind is not clear how it feels about President Bush, the military invasion of Iraq, or even what to do about ugly and destructive terrorism. Issues are not as “clear” in the popular mind as they were in 1939, or in 1953. Perhaps this is why Spielberg presents a story about what it would be like when all we have is each other.

Ahh, perhaps we can return still return to the mind set of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and John Carpenter! What we need is an intervention of J.C. himself to remind us of the value each person on earth has –“enemy” or not –Peace!

Comment on David’s blog

“No one would have believed in the early years of the twenty-first century that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own. That as men busied themselves about their various concerns, they observed - and studied. With infinite complacency, men went to and fro about the globe, confident of their empire over this world. Yet, across the gulf of space, intellects vast, and cool, and unsympathetic regarded our planet with envious eyes... and slowly, and surely, drew their plans against us.”

Okay, anything said by Morgan Freeman just has a way of seeming that much more believable. I have a simple code that I live by: blockbusters have to live up to their hype. The fake hype machine surrounding the release of this movie, the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes (be prepared to be sick of seeing the phrase “TomKat”) manufactured drama is more of a distraction than anything else. This is usually an early sign that there needs to be something besides the strength of the movie to draw (read: distract) an audience.

Continued on the blog

REVIEW BY
JOHANN "YO" SNYDER

—Continued on the blog

The human race is a lot like cockroaches: hard to kill. I don't how many times planet Earth has been invaded by extraterrestrial beings and yet somehow humanity always finds a way to survive. Most extraordinary of all, it's usually because of our ingenuity and technology, which I always found a bit odd as it's usually assumed that the invading aliens are a) technologically more advance and b) have a superior intelligence because they were able to develop such advanced technologies. That's why I found H.G. Wells' story The War of the Worlds so fascinating. Here was a story where humanity's hope for survival could best be described somewhere between bleak and non-existent. The invading Martians were so overwhelmingly powerful, their machines so unstoppable, their methods so efficient and effective that you never once believed that humanity had any chance at surviving the onslaught. What stood out most in Wells' story was that it really didn't focus on the invasion, but on how people reacted to the invasion. Steven Spielberg's new film version of War of the Worlds attempts to do the same thing, and in some instances it succeeds. For the most part, however, it's your typical summertime film: all flash and very little substance.

—Continued on the blog

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