Tom Cruise can go shag himself. He doesn't even have the jewels to talk about if accepting this role has any impact on his status in the Scientology community, calling any who question him on the subject, "glib" and "ignorant". He needs to pull his brain out of his scrotum for a second and focus.
Last edited by sexxysixx on Jun 26th, 2005 at 12:08 AM
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the very first authentic review of WAR OF THE WORLDS that we've gotten, this one from the German premiere. For those that want to know nothing about this film, the below review is very positive. There aren't many spoilers below at all, but if you want to keep 100% pure, I understand that. The rest of you enjoy! I can't wait for this sucka!
Hi Harry
I have just seen Steven Spielberg's "War of the worlds" here in Germay. I'm not good at English and I've never written a movie review before, so I won't torture you with one coming from my hands. I also know that Spielberg has asked journalists to wait with their reviews so I'll respect that and simply put down a few lines about my feelings of this movie. I'll break down in a few sections to make it easier for myself:
1 - The story
Well you'll recognize certain elements from the book and the overall plot is also pretty similar to the book, but other than that there are not that many elements from H.G Wells classic. That doesn't mean I didn't like what they did with the movie version, on the contrary! This movie has a tight storyline. It is a real survival story and also remniscent of some of the old disaster movies from the 70s, with a small group of characters fighting to get out of the way of destruction. Of course it focuses mainly on Ray (Cruise) and his two kids and their journey. I read before that this was going to be a very "intimate" story about surviaval and that it is. People who hope to see huge scale destruction will be disappointed. The action doesn't really get any bigger than what you have already seen in the trailers. It is told through the eyes of a small family, and the only action we see is what they see. No swooping helicopter shots of destruction and pulverised landmarks. However we hear about a lot of terryfieng stuff through radios, military and others, and it lets you imagine all these thing if you know what I mean. The action scenes feel more like a documentary, sometimes with handheld camera. It's extremely cool as the scenes seem far more intense. As a whole this movie seems more like a horror movie than an action movie. There are several moments where you are holding your breath while sitting on the edge of your seat. Especially in a sequence when the family is caught behind the "enemy" lines, while the Aliens probe all hiding spaces for human beings. That was truly frightening.
2 - The acting
WOW. This really blew me away. The interaction between Tom, Dakota and the boy playing his son is incredibly convincing. You really care about these persons after a few minutes into the movie. Normally I am pretty cold when it comes to the acting in American blockusters as it is always second hand to the action, but in this movie I felt a lump in my throat several times because I really cared for the characters.
3 - Special effects
It may sound as though there is no big action sequences in the movie, but that is not true. There is plenty of action but it (almost) always takes place "behind" the actors the camera focuses on. This way it feels a lot more realistic. And talking about realism! This movie - in my mind - shows us the best use of visual effects EVER!!! There is not 1 instance where you can tell it's CGI. It looks incredible. When the war machines first appear it looks so real and convincing. I don't know if they actually used models or what but they look incredible. It is also nice to see that houses blowing up etc. are the real deal and not miniatures.
4 - Overall
This is a fantastic movie. It feels sooo "spielbergian" and I truly believe this will end up being my favourite Spielberg movie so far. I just need to see a few more times to see if it really holds up. There is so much tension in this movie and it utilizes some of the best elements of Jaws, Close Encounters and Saving Ryan! Man I suck a writing about a movie, know I will stop. I could just have written 1 word: FANTASTIC!
Just saw it and it was good, but not the epic I thought it was going to be. As most of the reviews have said, the character development is just missing from the film, and as you're watching the movie, it just feels as if something is missing. The movie just went threw the motions and didn't really have any emotional impact. The special effects were great, and Cruise did a great job, but not to much otherwise. I was suprised by how graphic the movie was, how many people getting killed on screen that they showed and what the aliens did to the humans suprised me.
Gender: Male Location: The Faroe Islands - Thorshavn
I just saw it, well it was a good movie, but a bit of a let down, I was lookig very much forward to see some Military's attacks, along with maybe some president in the movie, or some high generals, there was one point where I was really on the seat, almust cheering GO GET THEM! GIVE THEM HELL!!! it was right after the fiery sequence when Tom cruise and the kids walked up the hill where the military was firing loose on the Alines, and I was really happy then, and it got even better when the beautiful M1A2 came up the hill fireing that was music to my ears, I was sooo looking forwar to see a lined formation of the M1A2 tanks just fire away at the tripots AND BRING AT LEAST ONE OF THEM DOWN (I FREAKIN HATE SHIELDS, I was like praying all the time, please dopnt be lame and put sheilds on them!) well then S.S did something bad, he didint even show the impact on the tripots.... I wanted to see that, also I was looking forward to see what the president was up to, also what the other country where up too, even though I was hoping for it, i knew it wouldint be shown, I hoped to see the greatest tank army that exsitst fight the tripots, imagine this
Big really big snowy field in Russia, the tripots are going loose on a town and some tanks are closeby that are fireing, but the tanks get knocked out, but then we hear a very boomy sound thats coming close, the tripots notice this and 1 or 2 of them go closer to see whats up, then we see 1 tank appear from behind the hill, then the camera zooms out, and we see a part of the Russian tank army that is being sent to fight the tripots(say 5000 tanks or so, mostly heavy tanks, and tank destroyers) go headon with the tripots, would ahve been awesome, also it would ahve been cool, to just see some of the legendary T-34 fight along, just to show that the Russians where really using every spare and display tank they had to go fight the alien invadres wjere ever they where in the country, imagine the frommost line of the tanks(1500 tanks) just all fire away at the tripots even breaking teh bloody shields and putting the bastards down! but thats just my dreaming that I most likley will never see on screen, but all in all a good movie, maybe worth of DVD buying
Last edited by Lord Andres on Jun 30th, 2005 at 02:25 AM
Thought it was good, not great, which saddens me to say, being such a huge Sci Fi fan. The 1953 Byron Haskin version runs circles around this one, mostly because so little special effects were used, and it was a lot more eyecatching, overall. Acting was a little nonchalant, including Tom Cruise. Both he and Dakota Fanning are better than what they portrayed here, she, being relegated to the 3rd most important role of the film. Special effects were cool, especially the destruction of the bridge. The tri-pods did nothing for me, personally, just too big and lanky. The hovercraft with forcefields in the original however..awesome with a capital A. Storyline was wishy-washy. Never exposed their motivation to conquer the Earth, or why [SPOILER - highlight to read]: they planted the tri-pods before the Earth was even populated. The original is a straight up invasion, and was pulled off a lot better.
Overall, 7/10. Liked it, worth seeing, but the DVD purchase isn't so imminent.
Last edited by Cory Chaos on Jun 30th, 2005 at 02:26 AM
I really want to see this film but my woman hates sci fi and refuses to go so I won't get to see it till the DVD release. I can't wait till then to find out about it so can someone PM me with the plot/twist/secrets/what the aliens look like and what the shocking thing they do to the humans is? Thanks.
__________________
Post in the Indiana Jones forum.
Just got back from seeing it ... pretty good.. a little confused with [SPOILER - highlight to read]: the camera guy at the beginning of the movie, cause supposedly no electronics, watches, lights, cars.. blah blah were working
and also with the [SPOILER - highlight to read]: birds
please inform me if can
Tim Robbins was great as usual... Tom looked pretty... Dakota very very good acting
Sorry if this has already been discussed, but I really don't get the son's whole story arc...
Throughout the whole film it is shown that he has a great love for his sister, and that she relies on him - even moreso than she relies on her father. It's also shown that the son hates his father and thinks he's a bad father. It then shows that these tripods are virtually unstoppable. So then it begs the question of where the son's motivation comes from for wanting to leave his sister (who he cares a great deal about) with his father (who he thinks is a terrible parent) to go and fight these tripods (which are unbeatable).
Someone wanna fill me in?
And then he just shows up at the end. Though I was expecting this (it is a Spielberg fil after all) I was hoping he had died - this would have brought a greater meaning to the invasion. A more personal greater meaning - as the story focusses solely on this family.
KMC Community Forums
Jun 26th, 2005 12:02 AM
I really liked it. 
it was right after the fiery sequence when Tom cruise and the kids walked up the hill where the military was firing loose on the Alines, and I was really happy then, and it got even better when the beautiful M1A2 came up the hill fireing that was music to my ears, I was sooo looking forwar to see a lined formation of the M1A2 tanks just fire away at the tripots AND BRING AT LEAST ONE OF THEM DOWN (I FREAKIN HATE SHIELDS, I was like praying all the time, please dopnt be lame and put sheilds on them!) well then S.S did something bad, he didint even show the impact on the tripots.... I wanted to see that, also I was looking forward to see what the president was up to, also what the other country where up too, even though I was hoping for it, i knew it wouldint be shown, I hoped to see the greatest tank army that exsitst fight the tripots, imagine this
