War of the Worlds Review
By Kat
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This film is classified as a sci fi/horror, and I am NOT one for horrors. I guess its my fault for ignoring the warning but somehow I figured it couldn't be that bad. This film is nothing like 'Signs' and 'Independence Day' though they had similar plotlines. War of the Worlds has a far more horrific plotline and some needlessly gross scenes regarding deaths of people. Don't go to this film if you aren't into this kind of stuff, you're filling your head with needless horrific images.
Tom Cruise has a strong performance in the film, his character is very relateable non heroic type. He's estranged from his children. Robbie has a lot of anger with him about the past and as many teenage boys do has a determination to fight and 'Get back' at the aliens "Could you come up with a play that doesn't involve your 10-year-old daughter joining the army?!" Ray yells in frustration at one point. In one scene Ray (Cruise) offers his daughter a peanut sandwich, she points out she's allergic to peanut butter, he laughs and asks "Since when?". She glares at him and responds "Since Birth".
Dakota Fanning is amazing in her performance as always but then we're pretty used to seeing the poor girl play a terrified child. Her character suffers from panic attacks (can we blame her?) and gets to do some good screaming. Newcomer Justin Chatwin puts in a good rebellious and angry performance.
The special effects kind of disappointed me. At one points the tripods appear on the horizon coming toward a flock of people and I almost felt like laughing. There was an eerie somewhat not real aspect to them at a distance that caused disbelief, but perhaps this effect was on purpose as a kind of throwback to the original.
The film moves at a good pace for the first two thirds or so as the characters are constantly moving, near the end this stops and the films nature very much changes and looses much appeal. The ending is too abrupt and should have had at least another 10 minutes to link events and explain how certain things happened, but then perhaps their is no explanation.
As other reviewers have pointed out the film somewhat trivializes September 11th with a giant plain crashing near where the characters are hiding and the camera pausing on walls of posters looking for loved ones at one point. One could wonder when fleeing from terrifying monsters who would have the time to make a poster?
My final words are: You've been warned. If you're going to this film expect horror but then you can also experience the wonderful relief that the events in the movie are only real in the movie. It was wonderful to watch and realise the door out of the theatre was a few feet away and out there life continued as normal. It shows what you take for granted.
War of the Worlds Review 2
By Whitney
Summary:
Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) returns home from work one fateful day to find his ex-wife and her new boyfriend at his doorstep, there to drop his kids--rebellious Robbie (newcomer Justin Chatwin) and intelligent Rachel (Dakota Fanning)--off for the weekend. Things go awkwardly that evening...Ray isn't very liked or trusted by his kids. But the next day, when all power sources in the city mysteriously stop working and a very strange lightning storm strikes, it soon becomes clear to Ray that Robbie and Rachel are the least of his problems. And when an enormous fighting machine with heat rays that vaporize everyone in its path rises up from the ground, something else becomes clear...Earth is under attack. And it isn't by anything of this world.
Ray has one mission: keep his kids alive and get to Boston, where their mother is waiting safely. Only a few problems: there are thousands of other tripod fighting machines, and hundreds of thousands of strange and violent beings that operate them. As they join the massive exodus to 'safer' ground, they aren't prepared for the horrors that await them. Danger and death is everywhere, and it seems very likely that Ray, Rachel, and Robbie will not survive this war of the worlds.
Critique:
I really wish I could convey all the excitement, suspense, and very real terror of this film. However, I would hate to spoil all the surprises and twists of the story, so you'll definitely have to see it! Basically, this is Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise at their very best. The special effects are the best I've seen in a really long time. The acting is amazing all around, but seeing Tom so adeptly pull of a role that requires a lot of emotion (and not the jumping on couches kind!) and heart is very refreshing. Dakota is very talented and convincing as well. Spielberg deftly blends a huge-scale disaster movie with a dramatic and touching story of one man and his kids.
Although the overall movie is amazing, the ending does feel very rushed and incomplete. It certainly leaves you hanging! Still, though, I for one was able to overlook that in favor of the rest of the film, which did live up to the hype. Let me just say this: after seeing War of the Worlds, you'll never look at alien movies, books, or TV shows the same way again!
War of the Worlds Review 3
By Rachel
Ray Ferrier, a New Jersey dockworker, is a failed husband and failing father, disconnected from his teenage son Robbie and younger daughter Rachel. Hours after his ex-wife drops the kids at his place for the weekend, strange things start happening. A massive storm gathers over the lower-middle-class neighborhood. Lightning repeatedly strikes an intersection close to their home. The power goes out, and all the cars roll to a stop. Then, as Ray watches, the streets heave, crumble and disintegrate, and something big begins to emerge from deep within the earth.
Based on H.G. Wells' classic sci-fi work, Steven Spielberg's version of War of the Worlds sticks to the story of desperate dad Ray as he tries to protect his son and daughter from the massive destruction of an alien invasion. Hampered by his own fear and sense of failure, Ray struggles both to keep his family alive and to keep their already strained relationships from imploding. The aliens rain down absolute and merciless destruction from their massive tripods—war machines that navigate on three flexible "legs" hundreds of feet tall. Ray's newly discovered protective instincts propel his attempts to escape the carnage, face down rioting refugees and get his kids across the ravaged countryside to Boston to reunite them with their mom.
Sexual Content:
None.
Language:
God's name is used for swearing on five to 10 occasions (four "g--d--n"s and at least a half-dozen misuses of Jesus' name). We also hear 10-15 uses of the s-word (once with "holy"), a couple uses of "a--" and "a--hole," and several slang references for male anatomy, including "d--k." God is said to be "p---ed off."
War of the Worlds Review 4
By Laura
War of the Worlds follows the journey of Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise), a self-centered dad who thinks the world revolves around his schedule. Ray will quickly learn a lesson when he is asked to spend a weekend with his children Rachel (Portrait cover-girl Dakota Fanning) and pouty teenager Robbie (Justin Chatwin). When their mom turns away, things begin to get weird. The sky turns gray and a lightning storn strikes, triggering an alien invasion. Ray grabs Robbie and Rachel in an attempt to head to Boston, where Rachel and Robbie's mom is with their grandparents.
Being how the great Stephen Spielberg directed this movie, it is no surprise it turned out so great. The enormous bridge toppling down over a ferry and some cars. Although the aliens themselves didn't come off so real to me. Almost like the wolves in The Day After Tomorrow. Tom Cruise was so great as the self-centered Ray. And Dakota Fanning was great as the scared Rachel. She's a great screamer. lol
There is no doubt that War of the Worlds will rattle the box office!!!!
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