War of the Worlds will forever be known as the best prank EVER played. Orson Wells had no idea what he was creating with his 1938 broadcast! One night, the world was tricked into believing we were under attack by creatures from outer space. People gathered their loved ones and hid in basements, emergency phone numbers lit up like Christmas trees, and the world stood still... waiting for the attack to be over. Listening with every ounce of energy they had, preparing for the worst their minds could imagine.
It's hard to believe, can so many people really be duped at once? The combination of a new communication medium, an innocent young theater enthusiast, and an unready county, combined to set the stage for something great. War of the Worlds legacy is unmatched. It's an experience that Hollywood has never been able to recreate.
So why not make a movie out of it? We'll call it a movie "based" on War of the Worlds, get Steven Spielberg to direct it, have Tom Cruise star in it, and get that cute blond kid ... what's her name (Edit: Dakota Fanning) ... to run around on screen for one hundred and twenty minutes. In case that doesn't get'em in the theater, we'll hire Tim Robbins and then let people go look, Tim Robbins is in it, when is opening day? While Hollywood has yet to recreate the War of the Worlds experience, those bastards have succeeded time and time again creating mass hysteria over nothing. It's become an ancient Hollywood calling card.
So here we are again, a classic formula and gullible people. Opening day the lines are packed and movie theaters are sold out. Was it worth it? That's a loaded question. Remember this movie is "based" on War of the Worlds, which means they took all the main elements, twisted them around and made something new. This is War of the Worlds, but not.
The movie starts out with a typical American family. You have the angry young teen, the adorable younger sister, a deadbeat father, and a concerned mother and stepfather. One fateful morning, the world is under attack, they all go running, people die, they come face to face with the invaders, they narrowly escape, and the invasion is triumphantly stopped. Wow!
This review is making this film seem like a horrible interpretation, but really, it's not that bad, it's a decent film. It was just hard not to think, "Why is the guy from Minority Report doing running around with that girl from Cat in the Hat? And how did they end up in Dave Boyle's basement? Get what I'm trying to say now? This is a Hollywood rehash with an epic title and a huge budget. Not a must see on any level, but decent enough to go to the theater or catch on a movie channel.
Now nitpicking this movie is easy to do.
1.Why didn't the aliens crash from the sky like in the book?
2.Robbie lives? WHAT!
3.The world is being destroyed, how did Boston get spared?
4.We aren't suppose to know what the read vines are!
5.I didn't know there were any main characters in War of the Worlds...
There are more, but that could be an entire article by it's self. (Edit: and it's been over a decade since I've read the book by H.G. Wells).
Over all the CGI was perfect, the acting was top notch, and the story stayed pretty true to the book. It just seemed that this movie was made more as a money maker then anything else. And for that goal it succeeded very well.
"War of the Worlds" opens June 29, 2005 and is rated PG13. Action, Sci-Fi. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by H.G. Wells, Josh Friedman, David Koepp. Starring Dakota Fanning, Tom Cruise, Tim Robbins, Justin Chatwin, Miranda Otto.
