War of the Worlds (2005)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers (WGA):

Josh Friedman (screenplay) and
David Koepp (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 June 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

They're already here.

Plot:

As Earth is invaded by alien tripod fighting machines, one family fights for survival.

Plot Keywords:

Tripod | Alien | New Jersey | Fight | Television Reporter

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

Tom Cruise	...	Ray Ferrier
Dakota Fanning	...	Rachel Ferrier
Miranda Otto	...	Mary Ann
Justin Chatwin	...	Robbie
Tim Robbins	...	Harlan Ogilvy
Rick Gonzalez	...	Vincent
Yul Vazquez	...	Julio (as Yul Vázquez)
Lenny Venito	...	Manny the Mechanic
Lisa Ann Walter	...	Bartender
Ann Robinson	...	Grandmother
Gene Barry	...	Grandfather
David Alan Basche	...	Tim
Roz Abrams	...	Herself
Michael Brownlee	...	TV Reporter, Osaka
Camillia Sanes	...	News Producer

Also Known As:

Out of the Night (USA) (working title)
Party in Fresno (USA) (fake working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and disturbing images.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Taiwan:PG-12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | France:U | Malaysia:U | Chile:Y7 | Spain:13 | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | South Korea:12 | New Zealand:M | Germany:12 (f) | Japan:U | Australia:M | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 | Ireland:12A | Finland:K-15 | Hong Kong:IIA | Singapore:PG | Czech Republic:12 | Netherlands:12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Iceland:14 | Argentina:13 | Philippines:PG-13 | Peru:14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Brazil:12 | Sweden:11 | Mexico:B

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The organism seen in the opening sequence is known as the Paramecium, being a unicellular pond water protozoan that is a eukaryote, shown complete with cilia, oral groove, macro nucleus and central vacuole.

Goofs:

Continuity: As Ogilvy calls to Ray and Rachel before the camera pans out, at the bottom of the screen you can see Ray and Rachel standing there, when they were running seconds ago. As if waiting for a cue they begin a sprint towards the basement door.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st 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, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water...

Movie Connections:

Features "SpongeBob SquarePants: The Secret Box/Band Geeks (#2.14)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Little Deuce Coupe

Enjoyable, but not "Earth shattering".

Keep in mind that I watch movies totally for enjoyment and rate them on that basis only. I'll leave the technical discussions to those with more knowledge in that area.

Things I liked about this movie: 1) Cool effects. The Martians were awesome. The destruction of humans, buildings & such was great and seamless. No hokey effects here! 2) Acting was believable---could have been better tho.

Things I did not like about this movie: 1) Annoying sub-plot with Cruise & his family. That stuff doesn't belong in a sci-fi movie. (They did that crap in Starwars II also and it sucked.) If Cruise wants to play the daddy role, then find another movie to do it in. 2) Could have used more visuals of the Martians and more intensity when the humans' weaponry is being destroyed---you know, like tanks flying up in the air and exploding, planes crashing into stuff when they're beamed, etc. 3) Somehow it needed a little more explanation. You don't know where the Martians came from unless you've either read the novel or seen the original movie. And you have to guess at the atrocities they were using the humans for (of course if it's just for drinking the blood, then you've got another vampire movie on your hands) Why did they turn the humans to dust at first instead of capture them? And another thing, they should have explained how the Martian tripods got underground. I know the crazy guy said they were there for millions of years, but he wasn't believable.

I really enjoyed watching this movie (mostly because of awesome effects), but later I thought about how much better it could have been. If you cut out some of the slow parts and add more effects (or intensify current ones) this movie would totally rock.

Even tho I've dissed this movie a tad, you still have gotta see it. Few remakes make the grade, but this one does.