War Of The Worlds Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

Terrible

If you can get over Tom Cruise being cast as a working class dockworker with a 16 year old then you might be able to turn a blind eye to what, upon reflection, is a poor effort from Speilberg. Shunted forward to fill the schedules of him and Cruise, whilst Indiana Jones 4 and MI:3 were delayed, it was shot in 72 days with ten weeks pre-production work and it shows. Take out the CGI and I don't really believe this film has anything to other over the likes of The Day After Tomorrow or possibly even Armageddon. Speilberg said that this is the most realistic film that he's ever shot, yet it has gaping holes running through it. Given that Speilberg hasn't produced a really good film since Schindler's List I think his Abraham Lincoln biopic may be his last shot at a good film because on his blockbusters I think he's lost it and they were his strength. There's so much that could be ripped apart in this film and I'm aware that I may be over-critical but the more I think about it the more that this film sucks, and I'm not putting an extra bonus point on just for the CGI.

Truly rubbish

This was such a dissapointment, I wasn't expecting high art but even as a big money film, this was almost too poor for words. A nonsensce script that was full of holes, Video cameras and car headlights working in a electrical blackout, a totally unmotivated parting of two main characters (to illistrate a laboured point about Cruise's parenting skills) leading to an unexplained introduction to Tim Robbins character which in turn leads to a truly unsubtle justification for Guanatamo Bay to mention just a few.

The real shame of it is that the two moments of genuine tension are ruined because the rest of the story telling is so cheap the film doesn't earn it. Almost unmitigatted rubbish from a Director who must know that this is substandard. The ending is so stupid and unearned that people were laughing when I watched it, I would have joined them had I not been rueing the fact that I had improved the Box Office by one. Do not bother with this film!

War of Attrition

Within film anything is possible. You can make cars fly through the air, the dead come back to life and aliens take over the universe. No problem.

And you can make the audience believe all this, provided you set out your own rules and play by them throughout.

You'd have thought Steven Spielberg would know this, but sadly not. The plot of WotW hinges heavily on the incapacitation of all machinery: Cars, electronics, even Tom Cruise's Omega watch, (which we could assume is automatic rather than battery driven). So why, minutes later, do we see some guy running down the street using a gatdam *video camera* to record the attack on his town? And not only this, Spielberg rubs our noses in it by giving us a full-frame shot of the camera's screen after it's dropped to the floor, it's operator having been zapped by the monsters.

It was this that initially caused me to cast a cynical eye over the integrity of the plot, but it wasn't a one-off. I found myself being slowly worn down by the general contempt that Spielberg seems to have for the audience. As for the ending, it may have been faithful to the original story, but it made the whole humans-v-aliens struggle, (and therefore the raison d'etre of the whole film,) utterly pointless.

*Profoundly* disappointed.

I have seen a lot of films, but this one was ‘the’ biggest disappointment to me! The H.G.Wells classic has been turned into a farce. When you watch the film you are constantly asking yourself questions; which the film never answers and the director seems to think is OK. Another problem is that the character profiles are not properly rounded, which means they behave erratically and against type.. The screaming daughter is a classic example of contradictions. (utterly hysterical at start and calmer when things are mental). My penultimate comment is the number of oddities; TOO MANY.. Son walks out of destroyed house with 747 in bits at yet he is calm and unperturbed! Finally I must comment about the number of plot holes; I would go so far as to say, “what plot”.. The reason I say that is that most of the film relies very heavily on peoples existing knowledge of the book War of the Worlds.. {read the book and you will have more enjoyment} [I begrudgingly scored the film 3 Stars, ONLY because of the special effects – As I write I think I should of scored it 2!)

Cruise + Spielberg = Egos & False Teeth

Firstly, this isn't as bad a film as many disappointed reviewers are making out.

However this is not a great film either.

Tom Cruise just isn't believable as a divorced, dysfunctional(father of 2 kids), dock worker. He's too young/too clean.

If Spielberg want's me to suspend belief and accept the alien invasion scenario and ignore some of the gaping holes in the plot (Alien E.M.P's knock out all the electrics/batteries yet some guy has a working camcorder?), then the least he can do is cast actors that fit the roles and he hasn't, so 1 mark off for laziness Steve.

We're never really shown the full apocalyptic horror of the alien attack and some cities appear unscathed, which left me feeling that the human race wasn't really on the brink of extinction after all. Then the aliens die quite quickly and everything is hunky dorey. Schmaltzy ending another mark off Stevie.

Switch your brain off and you'll find this film to be quite good. Start thinking about any plot holes etc. and you'll hate this.

Shame

This is a reasonable reworking of an excellent book and film. Its darker and more interesting than most hollywood summer blockbusters, but the pathetic last 5 minutes of the film bring it straight back into the 'forgettable rubbish' category. Its a shame because it could have been much more. Overall, a worthwhile watch but be prepared to throw stuff at your television in the last few minutes. You're better off with the original.

You will watch it anyway. Try to resist!

From now on I am not going to make a special effort to watch and pay to see Hollywood 'blockbusters' like this. They always promise so much with very clever marketing. I have finally learned my lesson and it has taken a long time! Quite simply, this is not really a film. It is just a high production short story stretched-out to over two hours. Yes it looks good BUT nothing really happens. In the same time as it takes to watch this 'film' you could watch four episodes of the Twilight Zone or Outer Limits and get as much enjoyment. Judge for yourself until you learn not to fall for the Hollywood hype.

Wish I could vote 0 stars!

It's not very often I see a film and am bored from start to finish. I'm a big fan of Cruise but I think his last couple of films have been poor choices. A lot of film reviews harped on about Dakota (the little girl) and how great an actress she was.... I must be missing something as I found her quite false. The 16 year old son (I forget his name he was so boring) was played pretty badly. The whole casting seemed wrong, the film was wrong, I just can't think of anything good about it. I expected this to become a classic film.... I no longer have such expectations!

A total waste

What is this movie about? Running, giant robots stomping about, little girl screaming like a banshee. This is the worst movie that Spielberg has come up with. There is no story, nothing is believable about the whole movie. A total waste of time!!!!!

Worst Film in the World more like

Speilberg and Cruise can normally pull off a good yarn between director and actor but this is short ( not just a dig at Cruise !) on any appealing moments . Sorry but Morgan Freeman just does not have the vocal depth of Richard Burton in the voice overs both at the start ( and not soon enough end) and finale of this dross . Too long , too many cliches . Looks like it was filmed by somebody from You've been framed on a cheap camcorder . Terrible story : Plane crashes on top of house where our hero ( Cruise and family are hiding ) is , but the house still stands and their car is unmarked while all around is devasted .Please !!! Hollywood at it's most dire . Avoid . 0/10