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To be fair, I did enjoy Independence Day, but not quite as much as I did War of the Worlds.

Independece day was an entertaining scifi action movie.

I'm sure this has been done before... but ah well.

The problem I have with WOTW is that it is kind of a cross between a serious sci fi film and a pop corn flick - it doesn't really fit into either category real well...

Independence Day is so clearly a popcorn flick. It doesn't try to be anything other than what it is - WOTW does in my opinion.

But I still prefer WOTW to ID4... mainly because popcorn flick just ain't my thing, and WOTW's shortcomings are enough to set it above ID4 as a film.

For what it is, ID4 is a great, but my vote goes to WOTW.

War of the Worlds

WOTW's because these aliens kicked@ss and they were killing people unlike independence day they waited a while to attack but both movies are cool though but my vote goes to WOTW's

I gotta say ID4. That new War of the Worlds movie was one of the most boring movies I've ever seen. I wanted Tom Cruise and his annoying family to die after half an hour.

Agree with Slaw.

WOTW(1953)>ID4>WOTW(2005)

WOTW.

Normally, the more of a popcorn flick it is, the more I hate it. In this case, ID4 is much better than WotW simply because it has more story which is rare for a popcorn flick. Plus the simple design of the ships is better than the tripods. The only thing WotW had going was the mood but it did nothing with it.

ID4 on right now on BBC.

Odd thing is, I had always derided ID4 for the unbelievability of being able to use an Earth computert to infect the alien's network.

But when you look at WOTW... the infection of the aliens there actually makes just as little sense. Ah well.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
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But when you look at WOTW... the infection of the aliens there actually makes just as little sense. Ah well.

Except they've been at our planet for millions of years and never tested the water or air till now.

It's more than just that. They have the technology to move between planets, and have made the detailed biological study of human blood that would be necessary to make use of it the way they do, yet somehow are ignorant of micro-organisms within it?

Not to mention that it is highly unlikely that any such things would hurt aliens (and with a virus it would be effectively impossible; it is traditionally meant to be a cold that killed them but that can't be it)

Not at all important, of course; it's just a film (and book), but it just gave some perspective on not knocking ID4 so much for that.

Of course, Wells made his reference to micro-organisms in the original in a sentence saying God put them there. Him being an avowed atheist, we can assume he was more interested in dramatic value than hard fact at this point.

Doesn't make much sense for aliens to have been planted on the Earth before humans. Why didn't they just inhabit it before we did? Save some time.

Also, they should've made a move once we started the industrial revolution just to be safe (although its not like we did squat anyway against them).

Agreeing with most of you guys on this. WOTW is full of holes.

ID4 was awesome. When I saw it, it blew me away. I mean ID4 covered almost every aspect aliens invading Earth and how people would react.

Loved it when Will Smith woke up, still sleepy, and pissing, all the while their are crowds looking toward the sky at huge space ships.

WOTW had basically an invasion of America or just a city/state. ID4 covered the entire planet. I mean the military pulled out jets and stealth bombers - even trying to nuke them, unlike WOTW.

Heck, to be honest, the whole time I watched War Of The Worlds I was thinking to myself that most of the scenes reminded my of ID4, as if Speilberg ripped some ideas from ID4.

I think they where both good movies but I have to go with ID4. it just seemed to cover the bases a little more that WOTW. The thing is I think people tend to look to hard at movies and forget to just lay back and watch it for the entertainment. ID4 was a really good movie and I just find myself liking it more even if it is a little far-fetched that Will Smith could just jump into a aliens ship and fly it.

what war of the worlds are you talking about the new one

If there are similarites between ID4 and the new WOTW, do remember that is because they are both based on the same story- ID4 was a modern re-telling of the original WOTW.

The WOTW book always had a very personal outlook on alien invasion, hence the small scale of the new film; that is intentional.

However, it is a shame that it had no effective fight back from the Humans, unlike the original.

I think you guys are being overly critical for a science fiction movie of this calibur. These movies like ID4 and war of the worlds are made only for entertainment. Trying to introduce logic is just setting yourself up for a big fall. I used to do this all the time. Untill i learned to dscipline myself in accepting bullshit for the good of entertainment. Very few movies are entirley believable. Now if you would have said you diddnt like ID4 for the terrible pacing, writing or acting, that would be one thing. these kinds of movies are only made for awsome scenes and to play out situations that could never happen to us. I do agree though, that if your going to do somthing you should do it right and i catch myself more times than not saying " that is the dumbest damn thing" but when i swallow my rationality i tend to enjoy these movies more.

Of course war of the worlds was totally unbelivable. These aliens have been studying humanity and our planet for centuries, yet they forgot to factor in the atmosphere, and they decided to pass up the oppertunity to invade the planet when there was no intelligent threat. However, the over all atmosphere and provoked emotion gives a sense of humanity. That is the goal, provoking emotion and they accomplished. The dialogue was believable as were the characters. This is the reason i would give my vote to war of the worlds. The characters and action from ID4 seemed fake and unbelivable.


Also, Ush, you dont think that is was unecessary to show the humans fighting back? I think that was intentional. For all of our most powerfull technologies, we were unable to effect the invaders in even the most miniscule way. In the end, it wasnt us who defeated them, but nature. I think it would have sent mixed signals. It would have also, conlicted the focused perspective from the family.

I also feel as though i need to comment on an earlier post from someone saying that war of the worlds was filled with holes. ID4 is one of the kings of holy cheese when it comes to sci-fi.

Virtually all old Sci Fi movies are saturated with undertones, many of which are reflective of the society at the time. These days, it is entertainment.

Originally posted by ragesRemorse
I think you guys are being overly critical for a science fiction movie of this calibur. These movies like ID4 and war of the worlds are made only for entertainment. Trying to introduce logic is just setting yourself up for a big fall. I used to do this all the time. Untill i learned to dscipline myself in accepting bullshit for the good of entertainment. Very few movies are entirley believable. Now if you would have said you diddnt like ID4 for the terrible pacing, writing or acting, that would be one thing. these kinds of movies are only made for awsome scenes and to play out situations that could never happen to us. I do agree though, that if your going to do somthing you should do it right and i catch myself more times than not saying " that is the dumbest damn thing" but when i swallow my rationality i tend to enjoy these movies more.

Of course war of the worlds was totally unbelivable. These aliens have been studying humanity and our planet for centuries, yet they forgot to factor in the atmosphere, and they decided to pass up the oppertunity to invade the planet when there was no intelligent threat. However, the over all atmosphere and provoked emotion gives a sense of humanity. That is the goal, provoking emotion and they accomplished. The dialogue was believable as were the characters. This is the reason i would give my vote to war of the worlds. The characters and action from ID4 seemed fake and unbelivable.


Also, Ush, you dont think that is was unecessary to show the humans fighting back? I think that was intentional. For all of our most powerfull technologies, we were unable to effect the invaders in even the most miniscule way. In the end, it wasnt us who defeated them, but nature. I think it would have sent mixed signals. It would have also, conlicted the focused perspective from the family.

I also feel as though i need to comment on an earlier post from someone saying that war of the worlds was filled with holes. ID4 is one of the kings of holy cheese when it comes to sci-fi.

What holes are you talking about in ID4?

I mean Cruises son survived explosion of the hill battle and got to Boston. Heck, Boston looked fine even though it was a major city.

The aliens planned for years yet got beaten by bacterias? If they'd come down spontaneously to take over a new planet and wasn't ready then it's an okay ending. But it wasn't. Speilberg had the invasion force hidden ready for the invasion, and when it came about - the aliens lost because they weren't prepared for microbes? What kind of dumb aliens are these?

I'm fine with how the original ended with the microbes. But this version just sucked. I mean it didn't take much thinking to realize that aliens should've been prepared for the microbes. Speilberg should've had the invasion be spontaneous, instead of prep. I know he didn't want everything to be like the original, but he should thought it through when he had the aliens bury there ships for millions of years.

An entire plane dropping down on the house, and guess what? The van wasn't even damaged although everything else around was.

ID4 had a good ending. WOTW just ended right away. The aliens weakenned and they were taken out. And for all that running and suspense, Cruise and Dakota get home to a happy family, even finding out his son had survived, without any explanation.

For a start, RR, I said it didn't matter- I specifically said it was just a film; I said the point was that my original criticism of ID4 had faded because I later realised that the original was no more credible.

Secondly, yes I do think the Humans fighting back is very important. It was an important part of the book and it should make it into the films. Simply having the aliens as totally indestructible- as opposed to merely ultimately unstoppable as they were in the book- actually reduces the impact. It's also rather juvenile to have an invulnerable, as opposed to a powerful, enemy; any five year old can imagine an invulnerable being; Wells' original aliens are a more intelligent design than that.

In fact, in the original, the aliens use of chemical and biological warfare- extreme concepts for the tme Wells was writing in- were in direct response to the humans fighting back, because they could be fought conventionally (although it was extremely difficult) and there were, after all, far more humans. This was a demonstration of how unready humans were for new types of warfare. The journalist (whose role turned into Tom Cruise's) who is the star of the book has the fortune of observing (or hearing from his brother) these things first hand, right over to the centerpiece fight of the martians against the Thunderchild, the famous picture of which adorns the front of the musical version.

Removing that is a change which I think weakens it.

i liked war of the worlds better, because in independance day, the humans kinda were an equal match and did a pretty good job of defeating the aliens, which prolly wouldnt really happen. in WOTW, it was how pathetic how the humans sucked, even with our advanced technology, which is how it would prolly really happen. so, i loved war of the worlds!

Originally posted by Beyonder
What holes are you talking about in ID4?

:

You really need to ask that? just to name a few off hand. One, this alien species that is technologically superior in every way happens to operate on the same computer program as we do. A computer virus...serisouly now . An alchoholic drunkingly accepts to an invintation to fly an f-14, he jumps behind the controlls and and pilots the damn thing like he is tom cruise in top gun. An average jet pilot, for some reaosn or another has the divine knowledge on how to fly and alien spacecraft. He jumps behind the controls and explains to all of these scientists (which had been studying the ship supposedly since rosewell) that piloting this ship is no more complicated than finger painting. A tank...only so many meters away, is unscaved by a nuclear f*uck explosion. just to name a few.

Ush, maybe spielberg diddnt want to illustrate the book on screen, maybe he wanted to make a movie that was focused more around humanity, using the book as a refference. I think showing how easily the humans took down the aliens at the end, got the point across. You say creating somthing that is invincible is childs play, but what is more frightening than somthing you KNOW you cannot destroy? I enjoyed that aspect of the flick, becuase the only thing that was left to do was to survive, hope is fleeting when you know you cannot harm what is attacking you. Like the orginal, the movie is about looking cool, and living out outlandish situations.

ID4 can pull off the plot holes because it is so obviously a popcorn flick. It embraces that fact even...

WOTW tries to be a serious film and so its plot holes are more annoying.

I liked War of the Worlds better, even though I enjoyed both films a lot. I liked the fact that War of the Worlds had aliens that were really unstoppable and that the human's had no real hope to cling on to. It was a much darker and more realistic film IMO, even though they both had their plot holes. I don't really mind the fact that Speilberg didn't follow the book that closely. I read the book a few years ago and looked forward to something different and more modern so that I could identify with it and see his vision of what an alien invasion would be like. He also made it more personal too. War of the Worlds focused on a family, so people could sort of identify with it a little more and care a bit more about the characters. Don't get me wrong, however, I still like Independence Day and think it's great, but overall, I liked WOTW better...

Originally posted by ragesRemorse
You really need to ask that? just to name a few off hand.
One, this alien species that is technologically superior in every way happens to operate on the same computer program as we do.

?Same computer? When was it said that their computer used the same program as we do? Heck, it was a computer expert that tested it on an alien craft. It wasn't like he didn't know what he was doing. Plus, the computer he used was in Area 51, where the scientists had spent decades studying. It was their computer. He didn't just go up into space and all of a sudden pull out a deus ex machina ending.



A computer virus which he himself said would temperarily put down the shields. They then nuked the flagship to make the solution perminant. It wasn't like the virus infected all the ships and they blow up and thus the end. Hell the shield want down and that only gave them the chance to hurt the alien ships. It wasn't the final solution to taking them down.



Did you missed the part where he flies that plane every day? That he was an actual pilot. Or the part where a military personnel asked for pilots and then he explained to them how to fly one? It ain't like all of a sudden he jumps into a jet with no flight experience at all and became top gun. Heck, he even had problems when he first want airbone with that jet.



Average? He was average? You mean he wasn't an expert? Everyone gets blown up in the first battle; he, however, outmanuevers one and takes it out and you call him average? And when did he explain everything? Hell, he was show boating to them. The controls in it were labeled for him by the scientist.



Missed that part. Which part are you talking about? The nuclear explosion happened in the sky from what I remembered.

---------------

One more thing, I got my answer to the question of how Cruises' son survived and got to Boston, on another board. It makes alot of sense.

See, when the explosion of the hill side killed everyone. Said same explosion also blow Robbie to Boston...unharmed.

...Heck, atleast this is an explaination, instead of non given by Speilberg.

Originally posted by ragesRemorse
Ush, maybe spielberg diddnt want to illustrate the book on screen, maybe he wanted to make a movie that was focused more around humanity, using the book as a refference. I think showing how easily the humans took down the aliens at the end, got the point across. You say creating somthing that is invincible is childs play, but what is more frightening than somthing you KNOW you cannot destroy? I enjoyed that aspect of the flick, becuase the only thing that was left to do was to survive, hope is fleeting when you know you cannot harm what is attacking you. Like the orginal, the movie is about looking cool, and living out outlandish situations.

No, I disagree again. You get the exact same feeling of not being able to fight, only survive, in the book as well, just with less childish invulnerability of the aliens. And it is still totally focussed around humanity- none of the sparse fighting back (it is a WAR of the Worlds, after all) detratced from that at all.

ID4, which was in turn basing off the original WOTW film, had a similar issue, and then made the aliens way too easy to beat at the end... still not important, though, just a little irksome.

Of course, somehow a rumour got about that the war machines being able to survive nukes came from the original book. Wells was ahead of his time but not THAT much.

Independence Day was much better than war of the worlds.

Originally posted by Cinemaddiction
Agree with Slaw.

WOTW(1953)>ID4>WOTW(2005)

yeh that would be my order

When it comes to "aliens attacking the earth" movies, Independence Day is a blast. ID4 was such a perfect summer popcorn movie with incredible special effects.

I personally thought they were both kiss ass movies but i did prefer inderpendence day

I liked the idea of the computer virus than the bacteria that eventually kills the aliens.

Independance Day also has a better ending than WOTW.

Even Mars Attacks was better than WOTW.