War of the Worlds
Jul. 17th, 2005 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ljpliceaseIf one were to choose a single word, "intense" would suffice.
Tom Cruise plays a real asshole in this movie, and watching it I didn't have any motivation for wanting him to survive. Since Joe and Cicely have engaged on a boycott of Tom Cruise and what's-her-face, I think they would actually enjoy the film.
There are essentially two stories in this movie.
Firstly, there is the global conflict between the humans and the aliens [1] (the term "extermination" is used in the film). The plot is overused to the point that the world cliché really isn't strong enough to describe it. Also, the ending to me at least was a foregone conclusion, since I had long ago read the book and seen the original movie [2]. However, the movie succeeds in that it is a very well made rendition of the classic alien invaders genre. I liked the way they used (I believe) the same or similar narration at the beginning and end of the movie as was used in the original. This helps the impression that the movie is a homage rather than a rip-off [3].
Secondly, there is the personal story that involves the regular day-to-day people who happen to be living in extraordinary times. This is a necessary component; otherwise the audience would become detached watching the marines fight the aliens [4]. Even though Tom plays a jerk and I really don't need to see him survive, this part of the movie actually succeeds as well. My only complaint is that the ending of this story in the movie was completely lame.
Obviously the conflict in the "people" part of the movie is between the father, who is a coward "run to live another day" [5] kind of person, versus the son who stands up to fight in the face of overwhelming odds. In the end they meet up again, proving the validity of both strategies. The father is a Yankee fan (well known for being fair weather fans) where as the stand up son is a Red Sox fan.
The idea that Tom is able to find the only working car in all of New Jersey is silly. On the other hand, the snow-like ash that falls from the sky throughout the early parts of the movie is a very nice touch. It is creepy to watch the clothes from people who have been vaporize waft slowly to the ground, but probably the most frightening part of the movie is when Tom's stolen car is taken from him at gunpoint, and someone else in the mob then shoots the carjacker. You don't see this directly on film, but you hear the gunshot and see the slowly moving car stop and start again, and you know exactly what has happened. It doesn't paint a pretty picture of humanity, but it is quite believable.
The scene where Tom sets the grenades off inside the tripod was a little too like a similar last ditch struggle for survival moment in the the White Mountains by John Christopher. It didn't bother me.
[1] The aliens aren't explicitly called Martians, which is probably because that would probably seem rather quaint now that NASA has started exploring the red planet.
[2] I was briefly concerned that they might change the ending to this part of the story, but happily they did not.
[3] e.g. ID4
[4] This is just one of the many ways ID4 failed rather miserably.
[5] Note that I say this to describe his strategy, rater that judge him as a person. In the end he proves himself when his daughter is in peril.
Tom Cruise plays a real asshole in this movie, and watching it I didn't have any motivation for wanting him to survive. Since Joe and Cicely have engaged on a boycott of Tom Cruise and what's-her-face, I think they would actually enjoy the film.
There are essentially two stories in this movie.
Firstly, there is the global conflict between the humans and the aliens [1] (the term "extermination" is used in the film). The plot is overused to the point that the world cliché really isn't strong enough to describe it. Also, the ending to me at least was a foregone conclusion, since I had long ago read the book and seen the original movie [2]. However, the movie succeeds in that it is a very well made rendition of the classic alien invaders genre. I liked the way they used (I believe) the same or similar narration at the beginning and end of the movie as was used in the original. This helps the impression that the movie is a homage rather than a rip-off [3].
Secondly, there is the personal story that involves the regular day-to-day people who happen to be living in extraordinary times. This is a necessary component; otherwise the audience would become detached watching the marines fight the aliens [4]. Even though Tom plays a jerk and I really don't need to see him survive, this part of the movie actually succeeds as well. My only complaint is that the ending of this story in the movie was completely lame.
Obviously the conflict in the "people" part of the movie is between the father, who is a coward "run to live another day" [5] kind of person, versus the son who stands up to fight in the face of overwhelming odds. In the end they meet up again, proving the validity of both strategies. The father is a Yankee fan (well known for being fair weather fans) where as the stand up son is a Red Sox fan.
The idea that Tom is able to find the only working car in all of New Jersey is silly. On the other hand, the snow-like ash that falls from the sky throughout the early parts of the movie is a very nice touch. It is creepy to watch the clothes from people who have been vaporize waft slowly to the ground, but probably the most frightening part of the movie is when Tom's stolen car is taken from him at gunpoint, and someone else in the mob then shoots the carjacker. You don't see this directly on film, but you hear the gunshot and see the slowly moving car stop and start again, and you know exactly what has happened. It doesn't paint a pretty picture of humanity, but it is quite believable.
The scene where Tom sets the grenades off inside the tripod was a little too like a similar last ditch struggle for survival moment in the the White Mountains by John Christopher. It didn't bother me.
[1] The aliens aren't explicitly called Martians, which is probably because that would probably seem rather quaint now that NASA has started exploring the red planet.
[2] I was briefly concerned that they might change the ending to this part of the story, but happily they did not.
[3] e.g. ID4
[4] This is just one of the many ways ID4 failed rather miserably.
[5] Note that I say this to describe his strategy, rater that judge him as a person. In the end he proves himself when his daughter is in peril.
