War of the Worlds (2005)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers (WGA):

Josh Friedman (screenplay) and
David Koepp (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 June 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

They're already here.

Plot:

As Earth is invaded by alien tripod fighting machines, one family fights for survival.

Plot Keywords:

Tripod | Alien | New Jersey | Fight | Television Reporter

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

Tom Cruise	...	Ray Ferrier
Dakota Fanning	...	Rachel Ferrier
Miranda Otto	...	Mary Ann
Justin Chatwin	...	Robbie
Tim Robbins	...	Harlan Ogilvy
Rick Gonzalez	...	Vincent
Yul Vazquez	...	Julio (as Yul Vázquez)
Lenny Venito	...	Manny the Mechanic
Lisa Ann Walter	...	Bartender
Ann Robinson	...	Grandmother
Gene Barry	...	Grandfather
David Alan Basche	...	Tim
Roz Abrams	...	Herself
Michael Brownlee	...	TV Reporter, Osaka
Camillia Sanes	...	News Producer

Also Known As:

Out of the Night (USA) (working title)
Party in Fresno (USA) (fake working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and disturbing images.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Taiwan:PG-12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | France:U | Malaysia:U | Chile:Y7 | Spain:13 | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | South Korea:12 | New Zealand:M | Germany:12 (f) | Japan:U | Australia:M | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 | Ireland:12A | Finland:K-15 | Hong Kong:IIA | Singapore:PG | Czech Republic:12 | Netherlands:12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Iceland:14 | Argentina:13 | Philippines:PG-13 | Peru:14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Brazil:12 | Sweden:11 | Mexico:B

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

While filming in Bayonne, New Jersey, studio Paramount Pictures offered quick cash to residents who lived on First Street and Pointview Terrace to move their cars off the block, between a Tuesday and Friday. This was in order for the film crew to resume shooting.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Ray and the kids take refuge in the diner when their car has been taken off them, there is a woman with long blonde hair in the booth next to them. When the gun shot goes off outside and they turn to look she has disappeared, there is less than one second for her to get up from the booth and walk the length of the diner and leave.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns, *they* observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water...

Movie Connections:

Featured in 'War of the Worlds': Production Diaries, West Coast - Destruction (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Infierno

Disappointing

If you're going to rate a film on pure spectacle, this one would easily get a 10 - it's utterly astounding.

The acting is uniformly good, and the idea of showing the film purely from the perspective of Cruise's character - so the audience knows nothing that he doesn't know - works extremely well.

But there's no plot, no underlying logic behind *anything* that happens, be it human or alien-initiated - every single plot decision seems to have been taken from the perspective of 'wouldn't it be cool if...' or 'Let's shock people with the nastier sides of human nature now' or 'Now we must give our hero a tough decision'... this was plotting-by-numbers at its most obvious (and painful)

With a decent script, this should have been one of the best Scifi movies ever made. Alas, the only good parts are the eye candy.

Andy