Acting mediocre, with the exception of Fanning's hysterics and Cruise's occasional nastiness. He plays a thoroughly unlikeable character, a real bona-fide asshole. Which is as far from the book as almost everything else in the film. Tripods are cool, as is the heat-ray. Basic plot structure is the same(ish) as the book, Martians land, take over the world, laugh at the world's military and then all die of local diseases. Voice over intro and summation by Morgan Freeman is cool. Nice special effects, very believable CGI and physics and a couple of solid physical effects. On the whole a reasonable film if you are not a fan.
But I am, and hate revisionism.
War of the Worlds should be set in victorian Britain, not 21C Boston. The lead should be an English guy, quite nice, a bit wet. Not a hard-nosed Yank asshole who drives cranes for a living. I don't recall the book tripods having sheilds either. Or landing on bolts of lightning. Or the lead character having a 12 year old girl and a whiney teenager following him around. Or the landing pods causing EMP. Not a single cylinder in sight either.

And they left out the Thunderhead, destroying a ferry instead.

Lamers.


Back to film list