War of the Worlds (2005) (1 Viewer)

[Chuck Mayer]

Tino,
I agree it isn't certain, but all the filmic language seems to indicate that is what Ray Ferrier did. Kill a man to save his daughter. What a terrible choice, the second of terrible choices for Ferrier in a short period of time.

I think the Robbins bit went on too long. We got that he was a dangerous nut (dangerous in terms of creating a bad situation for Ray and his daughter) much earlier than Ray did. As for them not explaining the red weed...the audience is only allowed to know what Ray knows

As for the ending, I agree with Seth. I don't think it's awful, but it's jarring seeing everything look fine, and Robbie coming out.

Take care,
Chuck

EDIT: Also for Tino Well, Spielberg is tied for number #1. I know one other director equally as talented with intensity, action direction, and VFX direction, who can also spin some human drama into unexpected places - but he ain't made a film in 8 years! So SS gets the nod.

 

[JonZ]

"They have this retro look and sound about them, not the dizzyingly high tech feel you would expect to get from an "contemporary" alien vehicle."

I had no problem with the look of the ships. Especially if theyve been buried for (enter # of years here).

I actually liked them alot, the way they moved, the noises,everything.

The theater I saw this film in was freakin loud,and that certainly added to the effect.

"Its pretty certain Ray killed Tim Robbins. Why would he have wrapped his daughter eyes"

I agree.And have her sing to block out the noises. Also his reaction afterwards. But he did it for his daughter. He didnt want to get caught, and with Ogilvy,unstable and acting up, he had to make sure he wouldnt have to worry about him anymore.

 

[Chuck C]

The critics are critical because they are asking the questions that you just don't ask with a movie like this! (e.g. how did the machines go undetected for millions of years?)

 

[Chuck Mayer]

CHUD has a decent set of interviews going on regarding WotW, and one stuck out as germaine to our usual FX conversations at HTF. Figured I would link it. Those that think that WotW might have just yoinked the VFX Oscar from ROTS can thank this man. ILM does their best work under him, and has for quite some time.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Lou Sytsma]

I am withholding my prediction for the VFX Oscar until Christmas. If I had to bet right now, my wager would still belong to Kong.

 

[dpippel]

The aliens were using the red vegetation to terraform Earth and were using liquified human beings as fertilizer.

 

[Cory S.]

Chuck,

You don't know how bad I want Episode III to win the Academy Award for Visual Effects because, frankly, the Prequel Trilogy deserves some recognition for the work that's been done with the Prequels, especially Episode III. But....Muren returns with a visual force of destruction. There will be no other film better this year in that area....Period. And it hurts me to say that because Episode III was near flawless. War of the Worlds just happens to be flawless.

As for the film itself...too many, this isn't Spielberg's best. I've seen all of his film and I'll admit to a certain extent that this isn't his best film...but, it's my favorite Spielberg film by miles.

This film is immaculate. Simply stunning, horrific, terrifying, and awe-inspiring(in a good and bad way).

Tbis film hits the grand slam for me this summer. I had Kingdom of Heaven on 3rd, Episode III on 2nd, and Batman Begins on 1st. Spielberg and Cruise step up to the plate and just knocked the hell out of this film and my opinion of the summer. This is easily the best summer for me, in terms of sheer quality in those four productions.

But this film, War of the Worlds, the best of it's genre by far, eventhough it's a hybrid of all types of genres.

I love this film more than I've ever loved any of Spielberg's films...only after one viewing. I don't even need another viewing until it hits on DVD. It's that damn great.

 

[Jason Walstrom]

man what happened to spoiler tags.:frowning:

 

[dpippel]

As per forum etiquette, spoiler tags aren't required in "official" movie discussion threads. Read 'em at your own risk.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Jason,
Spoiler tags are NOT required in the discussion thread. This is for people to talk about the movie with other people who've seen it. Spoilers are expected in every post. Sorry.

Cory/Lou,
I am not saying ROTS or WotW will win it. I think they are apples and oranges, frankly. I was just showing my admiration for Dennis Muren. Companies aside (DD, ILM, WETA, ESC), Muren is the bleeding edge, and has been for two decades. I think KING KONG should be a rather amazing film as well. It's tough to beat a master director and master effects wizard, though.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Cory S.]

Chuck,

Yeah, I get what you're saying...especially about Muren. You're right. He's definitely the edge when it comes to this area.

 

[Jason Walstrom]

I understand, Thanks.

 

[Chris Atkins]

I think ROTS has a better chance this year, simply because the film itself was more critcially acclaimed than the other two. The effects award isn't always about the effects. It's also about how good the underlying story is. With so many seeing ROTS as a true return to form for Lucas, ROTS gets a leg up on the effects award, I think.

KONG will still be tough to beat, in any case, however.

 

[brentl]

"I'll stick with he knocked him out, presumably. " I don't think that is possible, you see a fluid being fed up the tentacle after Robbie is stuck.

I gave it a 67%,

I had real problems with the van running, WHY did all of the car that were running stop if it was a simple solonoid?

Ray's watch had stopped, I'd assume cameras/ video cams wouldn't work either. Now if they used a camera that did require a camera I could undeerstand it, but(as stated) every IC would be gone.

Dakota cries like a kid in everymovie she's in, it's getting old, but I do think she's going to be a great actor.

The tripods make more sense as a vehicle when you notice that the creatures were three legged.

The tentacle thing was very reminisent of The Abyss, and the fact that they didn't have any sort of "sensing" equipment REALLY bothered me.

How much do you think Tivo paid to get the line "Dad you really need to get a Tivo" in the film??

As stated, except for a few broken down cars and some tumble weed, the In-laws home was fine, uh huh RIGHT!

Don't get me wrong, the movie was so good in a lot of ways, but it was the small things that overshadowed the big.

Brent

 

[Colton]

Do the martians "ulla" or "alloo" in this movie?

- Colton

 

[Alex Spindler]

There is one part that may be worthy of discussion. It's made quite clear that the major cities have been taken apart by the tripods, and later they've moved to the outskirts. Why were so many people headed to Boston? I mean, that seems like just the wrong direction to go for any kind of survival.

Of course, it appears that Boston as a whole was left almost untouched...but why?


Edit: One other item, although a great image, why were there bodies floating in the water? The aliens have only shown three ways of killing - the death rays, which reduce people to dust, fire, and liquification. But the bodies in the river happened much earlier than they began terraforming. Were the bodies indicative of some human-led tragedy like a capsized boat?

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Maybe Kraft gave them a Super Bowl ring, too. I don't know.

Good question,
Chuck

 

[Jefferson Morris]

I'd echo the comments of many here: good, not great. A movie of considerable strengths, but also considerable weaknesses. Like Jurassic Park, it has enough good set-pieces and powerful moments that some may mistake it for a masterpiece. At any rate, it's interesting to see Spielberg's take on the well-worn but problematic alien invasion subgenre.

I've never been a big fan of Wells' ending, although a dues ex machina is pretty much inevitable in these kinds of stories. (The only such ending that works, as far as I'm concerned, is in Burton's Mars Attacks! - and only because it's played strictly for laughs). I rather expected the filmmakers to change the ending, however. In this day and age, it's simply not plausible that such an advanced force would ignore… well, I won't retread the argument.

I agree with those who think that the son should have wound up as plant food. But sadly, Spielberg now seems constitutionally incapable of putting such a thing in a movie (outside of his "serious" historical dramas). Killing the kid would have interfered with the predictable "arc" of the children learning to accept their Dad. It reminded me of the (similarly trite) arc in Jurassic Park – "Oh look, Grant doesn't like kids! And now he's stuck with two of them! I wonder if this experience will change his attitude…?" I sincerely hope that for his next action/suspense film, Spielberg looks beyond the reliable but modest screenwriting skills of David Koepp.

It's impossible to imagine the Spielberg of today making something like Close Encounters, with it's subversively queasy attitude towards domesticity and childrearing. Spielberg has admitted as such, most recently during a press conference transcribed on CHUD: "Today, I would never have the guy leaving his family and go on the mothership," Spielberg said. "I would have the guy doing everything he could to protect his children." In other words, he would totally ruin the film. Thank God Spielberg isn't as active a revisionist as George Lucas.

Sorry to gripe – believe it or not, I really did like the movie. But it's frustrating to see Spielberg constrain his remarkable gifts as a storyteller within such predictable narrative formulas.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Chris Atkins]

If you think it's more chivalrous to go off hoping galaxies rather than to protect your family, then, yes, it would ruin the film.

 

[DavidPla]

It would make sense that his priorities would change. At 30, never haven had a family, he would of course make different choices than now at 50 or 60. It happens to us all. Some choices we make now will most likely change in 20 years. What he was saying was, "Close Encounters" is what the 30 year old Spielberg would do if confronted with aliens. "War of the Worlds" is what the 60 year old Spielberg would do if confronted with aliens.