It is a pretty great film until all of a sudden, it just isn't, and that's annoying but hey: happy endings.
I remember thinking that "The Last Of Us seemed to almost be homaging things, like the aeroplane, for example. The first movement feels like it directly influenced the first episode of LOU.
Well, it is one of the first science fiction stories ever written, give the man a bit of credit!
In the film there's a whole load of cobblers about his ex-wife and his son which makes your eyes roll out of your head in "Oh come on"
Much more recently, Kim Stanley Robinson shows this from the other end in Aurora - the humans land on an alien planet and never quite have enough time to figure out if it’s prions or microbes or something in between killing them off before they have to evacuate; done pretty believably I think
This is akin how I feel about The Snap. I become genuinely emotional thinking about it and its implications every time it comes up in MCU stuff, which is part of why I avoid a lot of MCU stuff
It really understands the idea of alien invasion fear as a fear of industrial warfare, in all its horror, visiting the viewer's homeland. So many people die, in fast and ugly ways
The best use of that gritty cinematic lighting in this film. The enormity of that highway just blowing away like paper with thousands of people on it. Watched it over an over one year, very haunting
After I watched it when I was like 15 I used to call it "the dakota fanning screaming movie" because it was the thing I took away. Like 15 years later I watched it and she didn't really scream that much, I think it was just the only part my younger brain really wanted to remember
My favorite part about the movie is that there is no explanation for what is happening, which is what I think getting eviscerated by a superior species would actually be like
Despite all the horrifying images burnt into my brain, there is one charming character moment that is classic Spielberg: the dad trying to stay calm and feed his kids peanut butter sandwiches.
(nothing horrifying here, I promise) https://youtu.be/vURIWyEUyao?si=yfAVDg1wyUFt1Zhc
This is my favorite scene in the whole movie. Him franticly trying to prepare the sandwiches. How the kids just sit there. Her delivery of the word "Birth." Him throwing the sandwich at the window makes me laugh every time. Every aspect of the scene speaks to just how stressed he is at this point.
I have read the book many times and somewhat of an afficionado of film / tv adaptations. This version because of the horror of these kinds of scenes is by far the best overall in my judgement at conveying the horror intended by the source material in a visual medium.
I rewatched it recently too. The scene on the way to the ferry was scary. The plane crash was haunting.
HOW people were killed at first were shocking, but later, in the "food hopper" it was gruesome.
also, the reveal about the alien vegetation is a touch that adds to the horror of the proceedings. every time you see it you’re reminded of the toll of the conflict.
always fascinated how the film dances around that reveal… lets you know exactly what the fertilizer is but never harps on it… saw it first as a teenager & that element went over my head but as an adult i’m always like Jesus Christ WHAT THE FUCK
in fact, one of the things spielberg does extremely well is *not* show you every bit of devastation. he gives you just enough — bodies in the river, a flaming train, people trapped in sinking cars — to let you do the rest of the work imagining how horrible it must be
Ah that’s such a good observation. That’s why it’s way scarier than the movies that put you in a helicopter and smash up a city. I had the same sensation with Cloverfield… horror is always human scale.
Can't remember where I read it, but a reviewer talked a lot about all of the Holocaust imagery in Spielberg's WOTW and that's always stayed with me too
What I found especially chilling is the way people started turning on each other for resources. The scene with the with a mob trying to commandeer a van; as Cruise's character rescues his daughter from the van and the mob, you hear gunshots as he walks away.
I gotta say tho, H.G. Wells' ending monologue about how our existence here was purchased through a billion deaths is utterly beautiful. "For no man ever lives, or dies, in vain."
Movie is OK but i don’t like the finale. The soldiers see alien stuff dying all around them but they cannot refrain from heroically defeating the tumbling walker just before the pilot succumbs to the disease.
It’s Tom Cruise’s most passive role. His heroism comes in hanging back and looking out for his daughter.
I hadn’t seen this in a long time. It made me sad, because it’s pop entertainment aimed at a traumatized audience. A lot of the movie makes no sense now, until you remember the days after 9/11.
I liked how the movie showed how smart Cruise's character was, without him coming across as cocky. He didn't make any big speeches--he just kept making connections other people (including the audience) hadn't made yet. "Why is there no thunder?" at the beginning helps set up "The birds!" at the end.
Yeah, it was one of the first post-9/11 movies that really captured some of the feelings of powerlessness in the midst and aftermath of catastrophic attacks.
Spielberg is a master at this; he said in an interview about Jurassic Park (and I am paraphrasing) that you should spend $1 million on a prop with no more than 3 seconds of screen time to get the best reaction from the audience.
When they climb out of the river and you can see their breath and Dakota is shivering my first thought now is "Oh, they are all going to die of hypothermia."
I’ll never know how it felt to listen to Orson Welles’s radio version in 1938, but watching Spielberg’s WAR OF THE WORLDS on first release—and experiencing it as America’s post-9/11 nightmare—is close enough for me.
I remember having discussions with people that thought some of the violence circled back to a kind of shocking punchline (iirc the bodies-down-the-river scene made some people laugh!). I didn't have that reaction but I think speaks to how grisly some of those scenes were
Haven't seen it since it was in the theater and I still remember the neighbor guy with engine trouble Cruise helps like 5 min before getting vaporized by the heat ray.
So based on the beginning of this thread I was motivated to watch this for the first time tonight. Man what a shitty dad Cruise is at first. Also - how is the guy’s video camera rolling when all electronics are fried? But generally yeah, the sweeping scale of nightmarish scenes….of
"every 15 minutes this movie has an image that is so haunting and terrible that it will burn itself into your brain." I do not - ever - watch movies that do this. Actual life is upsetting enough without throwing in terrifying fiction on top of it.
It can be a cathartic release that allows you to cope and work through traumatic times even better. The macabre is multicultural, and it serves many purposes.
It may - for some. I just have nightmares and really wish I hadn't watched whatever it was. I've walked out of movies that were too violent for me-including "Robin Hood" (in the 80's, I think) - and had nightmares post-Jurassic Park (the 1st one. So yeah, no thanks.
If this is the movie I think it is, I remember watching it one and only time. I remember one of the tripods impaling a man(?) and lifting them into the air. Horrific, horrific, horrific. It's never left my mind and it's been close to a decade, I think.
The train on fire is the most memorable one, for me. No explanation, no sense of anyone helping; it just goes by, people stare, then go back to what they were doing.
Went to WotW in theaters with my younger brother who was like 12 at the time. We knew movie was 2 hours long and at the 90 min mark he leaned over to ask “how long have we been here?” He was thoroughly freaked out by that point.
From atmospherics to the tripod horn that's crushingly ALIEN in a theater. Andy Nelson is IMO the absolute best in the business, Speilberg's dream team with Anna Behlmer & Ron Judkins. Consummate professionals all.
I remember leaving the theater feeling tired and deeply shaken. I wasn't sure then whether that meant I liked it or not, and I'm still trying to work that out now.
It’s the history of the original radio show that haunts me. We listened to the recording on Halloween in the 6th grade & it SHOOK me to know that people listening in 1938 thought it was real. They thought the world was legit ending. I can’t imagine the fear. Orson Wells was a twisted genius, man. 😳
Actually most people knew it was a radio show, it had a few listeners, and the people who were upset pressed on their "making it sound like real news".
There was no mass hysteria it was an exaggeration
Well, as you can imagine, this in-depth analysis was not provided to the sixth graders in my class back in 1987. 😂 It was simply a scary story for kids to listen to on Halloween, and scare us it did. Goes to show fake news/misinformation was a problem even back in 1938.
I'm more astounded at how there was months of planning for this show, complete with a sound team and many trial runs.
They went above and beyond for their fans
My parents watched it on my Gramma's old TV, which had such suspiciously rich sound quality that I came creeping up from the basement thinking something was actually wrong
At our local mall you could hear that anywhere in the food court the entire time the movie was in theaters. (The theater was also in the food court, it was a weird mall.)
Celtic tribes would use a horn before battle that made a similar loud bellow. Must have been terrifying to hear on a dark, cold & wet Scottish morning before getting cut to pieces by an axe.
Sorry but I thought it was a very silly movie. Cruise sucked. Fanning screeched a bunch. The Martians reminded me of pool vacuums. The 1953 version was better by far. Same goes with The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Time Machine. Some movies severely sucked as remakes.
I live on the east coast where there's some very tall metal towers coming up out of the Chesapeake Bay. Looks like the aliens going after the ferry boat in War of the Worlds. Gives me the creeps every time I drive over a bridge that overlooks them
I saw this movie when I was in elementary school, I was terrified and couldn't sleep in my room for two weeks, I have been scared of aliens ever since. Nightmares of invasions for years.
I’d considered watching this tonight, wish I had. Great take on an amazing story (my fave of all time). Best attempt of all the films. The noises/sounds, the isolation born from survival instinct, that train scene, the car/gun scene with hands gripping the windscreen…That opening panic. Love it.
The movie is excellent and makes you feel so helpless/hopeless. There was no war. Humans were decimated, and if this ever became a reality, we'd be done. To quote Loki 🤭....ant-->boot
Aye. Spielberg understood the point of the book. Wells didn't set the book in Victorian times. He set it in contemporary times. And Tom Cruise wasn't playing a superhero. He was an average Joe Schmoe
The thing about that movie that stands out the most ti me is how much Dakota Fanning screams. I really wish they did not have her scream so much. It became quite annoying.
True! We’ve been through a lot in the years since that movie was made and it hit me the same way when I watched it again. Scarier! I think we identify with the helplessness more now. Things are out of control, we can be obliterated in a flash.
The title “War of the Worlds”, in every iteration, from book to movies, is almost a misnomer; the “war” wasn’t between humans and aliens, it was a lopsided one the martians had no hope of winning against Earthly disease. The “fight” against humans was a holocaust.
I saw it on TV a few years ago and it was very upsetting in a way that I can’t explain. Maybe because the terror felt so real. I don’t ever want to see it again.
For years, Spielberg has been criticized as an overly sentimental filmmaker, but then you watch A.I., or War of the Worlds, or Munich--three movies I'd argue refuse catharsis and force us to wrestle with ugly feelings--and the man can knock you out cold when he wants.
I don’t think anything has scared me in a film (and stuck with me) than the nuclear explosion in T2…that’s terrifying. The score, in WOTW, those horns, scary as hell (and the train).
It has a great tracking shot that just goes on and on. That said I love the Howard Overman War of the Worlds that was filmed during the pandemic. The vibe feels real.
I literally had nightmares FOR YEARS after seeing that for the first time…it gets under your skin in a very profound way, kind of like what is happening now…😬
That movie is a jarring mashup of the best of Spielberg’s tonal palette. He can do incredible horror & terribly unsettling suspense… but then there’s also schmaltzy cheese & too-glossy drama with unsubtle messaging.
For the longest time after this movie came out even train whistles triggered me, I was so wigged out and terrified by the sound they made. Absolutely haunted me.
The book it is based on is about British Colonialism in Africa
It was an attempt by HG Wells to have his fellows see what colonialism looks like from the perspective of the colonised
I always see in this movie is refugees fleeing from war. Unable to do anything but run, as their homes are destroyed
.. because now it seems so real. In the past the left Empaths were gaslighting for thinking the usa were that violent & abusive. I am so sick to my stomach that I voted for Genocide joe..ugh! Mainstream media lied to us in the most severe way. I hate when innocent babies & people are tortured.
I guess I’ll have to watch this movie again because when I first saw it, I thought it was Spielberg’s worst movie (looking at you too A.I.). Visual effects are neat and all but don’t make up for a weak story and so so acting. Movie is a C at best.
Agree. There were some effective scenes. But when the tripods burst out of the ground I immediately lost believability. You mean all the digging, tunneling, assorted infrastructure everywhere under any city, and none of these were noticed?
I knew, I just didn't know it was 90 minutes of it. Also there has to be some survival instinct in the genes somewhere right? I mean, the girl screams at everything and the boy runs toward a battle.
Kids have very powerful lungs. And they get scared easily and it can be hard to calm them down. And the boy runs towards a battle for a reason. It's commentary and actually something young dumb or brave (depending on your viewpoint) actually do in real life...😁 Found it to be quite realistic.
I’ve always enjoyed this movie - and yeah it’s dark, played for real, harrowing to watch in places. So maybe ‘enjoy’ isn’t quite the right word. But I think it’s excellent & captures the creeping horror of the novel brilliantly. Ridiculously underrated when it first came out.
Rewatching ST- Strange New Worlds. The episode where Pike shows and describes to the alien leaders how Earth was destroyed bc of differing ideologies hit me in the gut so hard.
Such a strong series premier. Honestly S1 might be the strongest first season out of every ST series. I've watched both S1 and S2 countless times now 🖖
The scene where they're crossing the river and see the tripods going over the mountains (and you just hear distante screams) might be one of the most terrifying things I've ever seen.
I watched this in middle school and the imagery from it has stuck with me ever since. I remember being shocked as an adult to see it wasn’t more highly regarded
I feel like this just came out a couple of years ago, but your comment made me go check the release date and HOLY SHITBALLS IT WAS RELEASED ALMOST TWO DECADES AGO
I really can't articulate why, considering some of the competition it's up against, but that movie is genuinely one of the most upsetting I've ever seen, to a degree of "will never watch it a second time." And it's only PG-13!
I've seen it twice, but still prefer the original film. I didn't think Cruise was at the top of his game in it. But, sure, almost any scifi movie is better than a Hallmark Xmas movie, even one with Tom Cruise.
Yeah a few films around then either deliberately used the emotional memory of it to tug the heartstrings ... Or axed parts of their in production film that were a bit too close to reality!
@lindsayellis.bsky.social did a great video where she directly contrasts it with Independence Day (1996), a movie HEAVILY influenced by the War of the Worlds novel, but made in a time where watching the New York skyline being blown away was a pyrotechnic thrill ride and not a national trauma
she described the whole thing as comparing and contrasting the alien invasion film as interpreted between two wildly different cultures (the United States of America before and after 9/11/2001)
That’s valid. And thinking on your point, it’s probably easier to see the infallibility of post-Watergate/Vietnam/9-11 America than to accept the Zionist goal (which to a Jewish person is about safety) comes at great cost.
The stuff where he's trying to keep it together for his kids but is actually more disoriented and alarmed than they are also feels like an attempt to process 9/11
I think overall it's a movie that tries to dramatize what it would feel like to live your last few minutes in a warzone where you and your kids were both about to die, except the movie repeatedly pulls the final punch and they all improbably live over and over again
I think we are going to get some very very raw retrospectives about Spielberg's movies if we get another 10 years of political trajectory like our current one
It's too neat but I do think it's more bittersweet than people make it out to be, his relationship with his kids is better but he's still on the outside of their new family
The movie’s feeling is very true to the book, which is horror as much as sci fi—just constant frantic, panicked, helpless flight from extermination—with the kids adding an even deeper level of tension and humanizing the book’s “Everyman-becoming-an-animal-to-survive” protagonist
Good Lindsay Ellis video about the difference between 1990s rah rah America, post-Soviet Union invasion films and 2000s post-9/11 invasion films: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KioF1sTQFtE
You should watch the original 1953 version, too. The cultural references are priceless, and it still holds up very well in terms of plot, and the effects are better than you might expect.
I liked the part in the book where it says "no artist will be able to recreate the horror that I witnessed" and that holds true to the movie adaptations
That’s one of my all-time favourite stories. I personally think about the scene where they’re walking on the ridge and all the clothes are falling from the sky – so creepy!
Whenever I watch that one I turn my TV setting to set colour at zero so it's in Black & White. I know that sacrilegious to many but it showcases just how much Spielberg is a master of the compositional foundations of light and shadow. It's frankly, to my mind, better. Try it! It's amazing!
Ok so funny thing, I used to take the Bayonne Bridge a lot, and when I saw the film (in the theater) I was so thrown off by the inaccuracy of the layout of the streets running along the bridge/440 (instead of intersecting) that it threw me right out of it and I found that part not scary as a result!
Ha! I completely get that. In Die Hard 3, between the phone booth and the direction people were walking in at the 72nd St. subway station, I couldn’t take that scene seriously.
In this case, I think I was paying too much attention to the CG work to notice!
Is Ghostbusters still the most geographically-accurate NYC film? Like the third act in particular you could easily trace on a map as the plot progresses
It’s enough that I’ve not seen the film in what? 20 years?? and that still sticks out to me now.
I was watching Daredevil’s pilot a couple nights ago, and they feature the C/E train’s 50th St station at 8th Ave….and it’s so obviously shot in SoHo and not Hell’s Kitchen.
Like Crocadile Dundee, where she leaves the Plaza Hotel, runs all over midtown Manhattan, only to end up at the subway station literally across the street from Plaza Hotel.
Oh my God I'm so relieved I'm not the only person who is this bothered by lack of location continuity in stuff. Especially in anything set in New York, even though I moved out of the City a decade ago. 😅
Funny enough, I absolutely adore and enjoy Tom Cruise movies. I'm always keenly aware that I'm watching a Tom Cruise movie first and foremost, and that the movie should probably be titled: Tom Cruise Presents: . But, despite how ridiculous they can be,...
I totally understand, and I don't disagree with you -- there are just some actors I can't bear to watch anymore, one or two because they raise issues for me, but most? Just because, and I couldn't even say why. Cruise is just somebody I got tired of watching, I guess.
I did a fanedit of the movie where I gut the divorced dad storyline as much as I can and remove as many vanity shots of TC looking at things. It's the best compromise I could come up with.
Maybe someday we can use AI to replace TC with someone who can actually act.
my partner can't get thru that scene without crying. there is one woman who gets vapourised in particular that makes him upset, it's the expression on her face when she's hit that makes him upset. He gets about half way thru the film and turns it off.
I remember that scene, she’s just an ordinary person running for her life and then one second of agony on her face before she goes poof. Unforgettable.
Good movie, but I hated the character of the teen son. Extremely unlikable. I know teenagers are narcissistic, but jeez, everything he did made it harder for his dad, then ultimately abandoned the family for what, his own curiosity?
Like Saving Private Ryan it’s an astonishingly good film until about halfway through when the momentum lags and the film struggles to get it back. Tim Robbins is a terrific actor but his scenes don’t really land. And the ending is a cheat.
And once you are done listening to the original there is Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds The Musical UllaDubUlla the Remix. Created in the late 90s by a bunch of techno artists they reworked the original into a more modern version.
Forget Spielberg. If you haven't heard Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds The Musical you are missing the real show. From the 70s this production is still a huge thing in England.
You can catch some of it on YouTube and it’s got this headless Richard Burton thing going on in the background which is kind of creepy but still kind of cool
This is one of my absolute favourite albums of all time! I’ve been listening to it since it came out and I never tired of it. I was wondering if someone was going to mention it here.
I came to the comments hoping someone would mention this. It’s is final boss of War of the Worlds adaptations. Talk about your brain doing ALLLLL the damn work. This album still scares the hell out of me.
I’m British and this album is part of the cultural landscape here. I know people who have listened to this album hundreds of times and see the stage show multiple times.
It has never interested me and I’ve *never* listened to it, but now feel that maybe I should. I’m working from home today, so…🤔
Haha was waiting for someone to mention this, the album alone without the rest of the production is incredible.
I will say Spielberg’s film is definitely a more visceral/horrifying adaptation. Jeff Wayne’s one oozes class and is more faithful to H.G. Wells’ book of course
It's one of the most disturbing movies bc it's so hyper realistic. It's really underrated as far as Sci-fi horror films go. Tom Cruise is amazing in it.
Comments
I remember thinking that "The Last Of Us seemed to almost be homaging things, like the aeroplane, for example. The first movement feels like it directly influenced the first episode of LOU.
You'd think a species that kinda sorta mastered inter-solar system travel would be aware of alien microbes.
In the film there's a whole load of cobblers about his ex-wife and his son which makes your eyes roll out of your head in "Oh come on"
at 7:50 if this doesnt timestamp right https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V3Iqd3WbVg&start=470
It was visually beautiful, sonically haunting and like most Spielberg films exquisitely cut.
(nothing horrifying here, I promise)
https://youtu.be/vURIWyEUyao?si=yfAVDg1wyUFt1Zhc
Then… the kid.
Spielberg at his absolute best, and absolute worst, in one movie.
I LOVE it though.
HOW people were killed at first were shocking, but later, in the "food hopper" it was gruesome.
I hadn’t seen this in a long time. It made me sad, because it’s pop entertainment aimed at a traumatized audience. A lot of the movie makes no sense now, until you remember the days after 9/11.
https://bsky.app/profile/obsofdeviance.bsky.social/post/3ldnmloqvzs27
Shudder.
https://youtu.be/wkk1ohg99FY?si=mY5nMYxVSkLXWj2F
Did not expect such a brutal movie
From atmospherics to the tripod horn that's crushingly ALIEN in a theater. Andy Nelson is IMO the absolute best in the business, Speilberg's dream team with Anna Behlmer & Ron Judkins. Consummate professionals all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Nelson_(sound_engineer)
That film was deeply scarring and I’m glad to see I’m not alone with that reaction.
There was no mass hysteria it was an exaggeration
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(1938_radio_drama)
They went above and beyond for their fans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Nelson_(sound_engineer)
It's almost as good a movie as "Minority Report"
The tactile transducers mounted to the sofa and loveseat seriously rumble.
It captures the vibe of Victorian sci fi without using naff English accents
When it’s good it’s fantastic tho
“War Of The Worlds wasn't even greenlit until eleven months before its release - and filming wouldn't start for three more months after that.”
https://overcast.fm/+AANlDnJgmt4
It was an attempt by HG Wells to have his fellows see what colonialism looks like from the perspective of the colonised
I always see in this movie is refugees fleeing from war. Unable to do anything but run, as their homes are destroyed
SPOILER ALERT
the end when the son has miraculously survived was totally unbelievable and very stupid.
SS has made worse films that have won a ton of Oscars.
There were quite a few upsetting events in that film
The entire movie is super scary and intense! It’s just the ending that’s so silly. Just like in the actual story
That whole movie was great, esp. the scene with the flaming train barreling down the tracks.
I want to think Spielberg made it to show Americans what it feels lone when we attack another country.
But maybe I’m giving him too much credit.
But think WoTw works better as a metaphor for a US invasion than 9/11, whatever Spielberg intended.
It’s built into the narrative. The martians are a technologically superior enemy with inscrutable minds.
Which is what the US is to the countries it attacks.
You *will* feel, damn you, you WILL feel, if I have to club you over the head with reel 5 you will feel.
#movies
I’m going to watch it in black & white very soon 👍
In this case, I think I was paying too much attention to the CG work to notice!
I was watching Daredevil’s pilot a couple nights ago, and they feature the C/E train’s 50th St station at 8th Ave….and it’s so obviously shot in SoHo and not Hell’s Kitchen.
Maybe someday we can use AI to replace TC with someone who can actually act.
I’m usually a fan of the classic sci fi films….. but this is one remake that i actually liked and thought to be as good as the original.
https://youtu.be/NIPEew6lBLg?si=zY8SL_r8l0zyWdBS
https://youtu.be/6YwFvmnbj3E?si=OYoIfIvYeswWBOVs
It has never interested me and I’ve *never* listened to it, but now feel that maybe I should. I’m working from home today, so…🤔
I’d happily listen to Richard Burton reading the book anytime but only if there wasn’t that godawful music.
I will say Spielberg’s film is definitely a more visceral/horrifying adaptation. Jeff Wayne’s one oozes class and is more faithful to H.G. Wells’ book of course
What I would have just enjoyed before becoming a dad I found pretty damn distressing.
Also makes me think of the effect the original radio broadcast by Orson Welles had on the public that time.