War of the Worlds, the classic Victorian tale of Martian invaders by HG Wells, that was re-imagined memorably by Orson Welles as a radio play that caused panic across New York in the 30's when listeners believed what they were hearing to be a newscast.
In 1953 the first film was made of the ... Read review
An earth-shattering adventure, War of the Worlds reunites superstar Tom Cruise and Academy ... more
Award-winning director Steven Spielberg for one of the most awe-inspiring cinematic experiences of all time!A contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells' classic, the ...
H.G. Wells' chilling novel of a Martian invasion of Earth becomes even more frightening in ... more
this 1952 film adaptation that's widely regarded as one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time.An Oscar winner for Best Special Effects, The War Of The Worlds delivers eye-popping thrills, laser-hot action and unrelenting, edge-of-your-seat suspense. No one who has seen the film's depiction of the swan-shaped Martian machines - ticking and hissing menacingly as they cut their path of destruction - will ever forget their ominous impact!
John Williams continues his longtime collaboration with Steven Spielberg in this ... more
adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel of the same name (previously filmed in 1953). Considering that the movie depicts a gigantic Martian invasion, you¹d think Williams would have fully gone into his familiar bombastic mode, but he's refrained from doing so. While the composer makes full use of the outsize orchestra at his disposal, he prefers juxtaposing layers and building atmosphere rather than hitting you over the head with dramatic arias. "The Intersection Scene," for instance, begins slowly and minimally, then progressively builds into an ominous pounding; Williams then inserts spooky, otherworldly banshee-like effects that escalate into a frenzied pitch before abruptly disappearing as the track begins its descent back towards calm. The sound is genuinely scary and could lead to a spike in blood pressure among impressionable list eners without the help of visuals. "Probing the Basement" is another example of Williams masterfully building anxiety. War of the Worlds culminates with "Escape from the Basket," in which Williams methodically builds tension over close to ten minutes. And refreshingly, even when the action picks up, he mostly avoids the clichéd thundering timpani that often plague this type of score. --Elisabeth Vincentelli
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Production Year: 2004 - Science Fiction - Director: Alex Proyas - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, James Cromwell, Chi McBride, Alan Tudyk
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Production Year: 2006 - Science Fiction - Director: James Hawes - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Noel Clarke, Camille Coduri, Penelope Wilton, David Tennant, Billie Piper
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Willow Smith, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson, Alice Braga
Advantages: Great special effects, fantastic start Disadvantages: Tim Robbins part of the film, still has a anticlimax ending.
War of the Worlds, the classic Victorian tale of Martian invaders by HG Wells, that was re-imagined memorably by Orson Welles as a radio play that caused panic across New York in the 30's when listeners believed what they were hearing to be a newscast.
In 1953 the first film was made of the story, updated, modernised and again set in America. The images of the Martian machines raining rays of red striking a chord with 50's paranoia.
... ...holding the copyright to THE War of the Worlds that the Spielberg film is missing the THE and only called War of the Worlds!
I have to say that I went to see WOTW expecting to see a vacuous Hollywood summer blockbuster, all special effects, moralising and not much more. This feeling was enhanced by Tom Cruise being the star, I have never thought that much of him as an actor, too much reliance on his pretty boy looks than acting skills. ... more
War of the Worlds, the classic Victorian tale of Martian invaders by HG Wells, that was re-imagined memorably by Orson Welles as a radio play that caused panic across New York in the 30's when listeners believed what they were hearing to be a newscast. In 1953 the first film was made of the story, updated, modernised and again set in America. The images of the Martian machines raining rays of red striking a chord with 50's paranoia. In the late 80's a sequel, of a sorts, to the film appeared on TV. Two series of adventures hitting American, and late night UK stations, where the Martians it appeared were still here and were awoken once more. While the second series was a bit rubbish the first was a cult hit and was highly entertaining. In between Jeff Wayne released what is nowadays the best-known version of the book, his musical interpretation that has just had an anniversary edition released on CD. In fact it is down to Jeff Wayne holding the copyright to THE War of the Worlds that the Spielberg film is missing the THE and only called War of the Worlds!
I have to say that I went to see WOTW expecting to see a vacuous Hollywood summer blockbuster, all special effects, moralising and not much more. This feeling was enhanced by Tom Cruise being the star, I have never thought that much of him as an actor, too much reliance on his pretty boy looks than acting skills. His range of emotions being almost non-existent, which is why he was probably so so good in Collateral.
Surprisingly though WOTW is a very good film with only a couple of minor downsides. It works on pretty much every level, there is action a plenty to satisfy those blockbuster junkies who love the high tech CGI effect scenes of Martian machines raining down rays of destruction on buildings and streets full of people, Of full scale battles between our antique weapons and the Martians and of the Martians themselves searching for victims. There is also enough to keep those who dislike the blockbusters, the script having enough human drama to counter balance the action.
Much to my amazement, especially as I know the story and how it would end, it is also very tense. Getting you to the edge of your seat on a number of occasions, the writing is very, very good at getting you to this state of excitement.
From the very beginning, with its clever pulling outwards from the inside of a speck of water all the way out to show the Earth from space, foreshadowing what's to come. Overlaid by the deep tones of James Earl Jones uttering those immortal words "No one would have believed…" WOTW just reeks of class.
WOTW is Spielberg back to his best, after the disaster that was A.I., no long preamble before everything hits the fan. We are swiftly introduced to Ray Ferrier (Cruise), his job, his family and his life before the whole world is turned upside down and torn apart. Again the is some nice foreshadowing of events to come, this time with the new broadcasts from other parts of the world on the TV.
The long opening sequence with Cruise, his neighbours and locals all out in the street examining the road and leading up to the first appearance of the Martians is a near perfect example of building up tension and excitement. You know as soon as the scene starts what it is going to lead up to, but not when. Each additional moment adds to the adrenaline rush surging through you as you await THAT MOMENT! When it finally appears that rush turns into a more physical manifestation, that of jumping out of your seat, and you are kept in that state throughout the whole scene as Cruise barely escapes.
Spielbergs direction is this efficient all the way through, apart from one glaring exception, more of which later. Every bit of the films plot fits together with no real extraneous baggage thrown in just to accommodate extra CGI effects. Talking of the special effects there is a scene with a train where they are used to such draw droppingly good effect, and like all the CGI in WOTW actually looks realistic. The CGI is used to enhance things rather than contrasting against the reality that is what often happens.
There are only two real 'disadvantages' to WOTW, the major one is the interminably long sequence with Tim Robbins in a house where Cruise hides out. While this also has one of the most tense hide and seek games I have ever experienced it just goes on far too long and to make things worse it is used to hammer home a point, and to do it very badly! The second one is that Dakota Fanning is an incredible actress and yet she is used in WOTW mainly to scream and cry a lot, what a waste. There is a third one but if you wish to know that you'll have to ask me as it involve a major plot point!
This is going to be THE Hollywood summer blockbuster to see. Forget Star Wars, this has a story; forget Batman Begins, as good as that is this is a lot more exciting and tense; forget Fantastic Four as that it going to be special effect laden with little story (or that is my prediction anyway!) and as for Sin City I don't see that as a Hollywood blockbuster.
As a final comment has no one in the army seen Empire Strikes Back? Surely they could have copied the Rebel Alliance idea for bringing down tall walking machines!
Advantages: Mass scenes of humanic destruction for the cold at heart Disadvantages: Poor characters, we want them to die
War of The Worlds represents Steven Spielberg's latest summer extravaganza of over-the-top entertainment. His hunger for the Hollywood big bucks shines through brighter than ever and Tom Cruise is thrust in to the spotlight as Ray Ferrier, the hopeless father with a hell of a lot of parental responsibility coming his way. This is very much a post 9/11 production. Making the most of the public's uneasy fear over an imploding society, Spielberg cranks ... ...novel of many moons ago, War of The Worlds is the latest pretender to the throne of which picture can inject the greatest chill down the spinal cord of it's suspecting viewer. The opening, taken from the novel itself, leaves us in no doubt as to what we're about to see.
Aliens are coming. And man, these guys mean business. I can't help but feel that somewhere, in a dark shadowy corner, Independence Day is cowering in to a ball and quietly wishing ...
tehfincheh 14.01.2006
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Advantages: Exciting, spectacular popcorn fun Disadvantages: Silly ending, sentimentall slop
...really good - and in War of the Worlds, he is frequently very good. Visually, the film is exceptional. Yes, big budget special effects are prevalent, but Spielberg's ability to be subtle is never lost and there is spectacular set piece after another. A horde of fleeing civilians runs screaming and shouting towards a railway line but is stunned and silenced when a runaway train hurtles past, every carriage on fire. A motorway flyover is ripped to ... ...the same scale - and War of the Worlds fulfils.
More surprisingly, however, is that Spielberg makes everything seem so frightening. In Independence Day, Will Smith kept things very light and despite the fact that thousands of people were being slaughtered, it was really just an effects-laden romp. Did you ever really fear for your existence? I'm guessing the answer to that would be no, but if you watch War of the Worlds, then the answer might be ...
LostWitness 08.11.2005 (26.12.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of War Of The Worlds (Special Edition) (DVD)
Advantages: Spielberg magic with great special effects and genuinely scary in places... Disadvantages: Faithful but weak ending...
...to write a review for WAR OF THE WORLDS as it was a film that really left an impression on me when I saw it on the big screen last year.
To be honest, I was excited about this film from the moment I heard that Spielberg was onboard to direct. We already know through Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and E.T. that Spielberg can pull off a story with aliens in it. The question was: how well could he remake the classic H.G. Wells novel?
Following ... ...low budget film of (The) War Of The Worlds made at around the same time as Spilberg's version. This version was pretty faithful to the time period etc of the original novel but trailers for it made the effects for Doctor Who (which I also like - before fans of the Doctor crucify me!) look like the best thing ever...
Anyway... here I go again - drifting away from the point!!!
So... I think it's ultimately a good idea to have set the film in today's ...
ultrafrosty 04.09.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of War Of The Worlds (Special Edition) (DVD)
Advantages: Special effects are quite spectacular, true Speilberg style Disadvantages: Weak story line
"THIS IS NOT A WAR - ITS AN EXTERMINATION"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg/Dream Works (aka God of the film world) and Paramount Pictures have got together to produce this film. This is going to be good, isn't it? With the epic " WAR OF THE WORLD" re-mastered I busted more than a gut to go and see this at the cinema. I was also given this special edition 2 disc DVD set as a Xmas prezzie from a friend this year. So what ... ...the population. The three legged war machines take off and fire at all and sundry below. Not even the army can bring them down. Birds take off in abundance; even they don't want to hang about. Bundling his son and daughter into his car he fights for a way out of the town. His daughter is freaking and his son has to console her best he can. They make their way out of town and the roads become calmer. Ray drives to his ex -wife's house but the reprieve ...
mrsmopples 13.01.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of War Of The Worlds (Special Edition) (DVD)
Advantages: Great pacy film with fantastic special effects. Disadvantages: A bit of disappointing ending.
==***War Of The Worlds***== I love these big budget ‘end of the world’ adventure type films and I must be the only person I know who hadn’t seen the original version of H G Wells book, so I didn’t know that much about the movie and most importantly, had no idea of the ending. I watched it quite a long time ago, when it first aired on Sky and watched it again this week. I think it would have been a fantastic film to watch on the big screen. ==***What’s ... ...perfect type of film for Tom Cruise (Ray Ferrier) to star in and I have to be honest, I prefer his performances in this type of film, rather than his more serious roles (apart from Rainman). It is directed by Steven Spielberg and lasts 116 minutes. The film is rated certificate 12. The film is a remake and is based upon the original H G Wells book. The film gets off to quite a rapid start and introduces us to Tom Cruises character single parent Ray ...
LAURALILIA 12.05.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of War Of The Worlds (Special Edition) (DVD)
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Advantages: Great to see a live action version at last Disadvantages: Limited on the small screen
the Watson and Blaise Jellybaby war, and Alexis performs a very special version of Brave New World reworded as a marriage proposal.
Interviews With The Cast: The final addition to this 2 DVD set is a discussion with all the cast members. This includes asking the younger cast about the first time they heard War Of The Worlds and the effect it had on them. The same series of questions is asked to each cast member.
The live shows return to the UK from 5th to 22nd December 2007 you can book by visiting www.livenation.co.uk/twotw this is the best way I can imagine to see the show, failing that there is always this great DVD which is available as a double DVD set for £9.99-£19.99 depending on purchase location or a version without special features for £7.99 -£14.99. The lowest price illustrated is the play.com price. Even though I have my ...
David Koepp, Josh Friedman, Colin Wilson, H.G. Wells
Languages
Main Language
English
Subtitle Language
Arabic, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Hearing Impaired Language
English
Technical information
Special Features
Revisiting The Invasion, The HG Wells Legacy, Steven Spielberg And The Original War Of The Worlds, Characters The Family Unit, Previsualisation, Production Diaries East Coast, Production Diaries West Coast, Designing The Enemy Tripods And Aliens, Scoring War Of The Worlds, We Are Not Alone, Photo Gallery
Aspect Ratio
1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound
DTS 5.1 English Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Professional reviews
Review
The greatest action epic ever. (Daily Mail, )
Watching Steven Spielberg's spooky and playful remake of WAR OF THE WORLDS, you may feel a surge of childlike awe... (Entertainment Weekly, )
Effectively scary and visually impressive (New York Times, )
DVD Description
One cannot help but think of terrorist attacks while watching Steven Spielberg's update of the classic sci-fi fantasy THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. While the H.G. Wells story dates back to 1898, and has inspired previous adaptations, this particular version feeds off its 21st century audience's fear of a terrorist-induced apocalypse. Even if the sight of tall buildings crumbling to the ground and crowds running fearfully away from their demise doesn't trigger post-9/11 paranoia, dialogue such as Is it the terrorists? will. Disgruntled, divorced father Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is struggling to connect with his estranged kids, who have been dropped off by their mother for the weekend, when a severe and unusual lightning storm leaves his New Jersey neighbourhood powerless. Over the course of the next few hours, it becomes obvious that this was not a storm at all, but rather the first sign of a worldwide alien attack. Emerging from the ground in multi-legged tripod-like machines that have apparently been stored beneath the earth's surface since before man's time, these aliens begin the process of waging a long-planned war on our planet. While WAR OF THE WORLDS follows Ray's growing closeness with his two children (Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin) in the face of imminent disaster, and his transformation from lousy father to hero, their story is used mostly as a vehicle for illustrating an unending series of horrific scenarios. The human element of the story is also briefly explored with Tim Robbins's portrayal of a crazed, alien-fighting recluse. Sticking closely to Wells' original descriptions of alien warfare, the film focuses mainly on visuals and succeeds through impressive special effects to create two hours of thrilling, frightening, realistic terror.
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