War of the Worlds sucked

What I don't understand is how Tom Cruise didn't figure it was blood to begin with. I swear, the idiot was two seconds away from taking a taste of it.
 
[quote name='Maklershed']I just saw it for the first time over the weekend and I was definitely disappointed. There's so many questionable plot points and the movie seemed to end rather abpruptly without clearly explaining how those things were dying. They made it seemed like it was because of the cold but then the answer seemed to be bacteria. You think the aliens may have tested factors like that before they decided to launch their million year plan. [/QUOTE]

How would the aliens know about ALL the bacteria that man has?

All in all, I thought the bacteria part was a pretty badass ending. You would have preferred something along the lines of ID4?
 
I enjoyed the movie and actually purchased it, I dont understand why people have a problem with ending, thats the way the aliens died in the book.
 
[quote name='camoor']How would the aliens know about ALL the bacteria that man has?

All in all, I thought the bacteria part was a pretty badass ending. You would have preferred something along the lines of ID4?[/QUOTE]

I dont know what ID4 is but what I'm saying is instead of transporting their machines to this planet, burying them deep in the ground, waiting thousands or millions of years, attacking the human race, and terraforming the entire planet they could've just put one alien there first to live awhile and to see if Earth was inhabitable. But maybe all that is whats in the book and the director/producer was just following the original story .. I dont know. Cant say I ever read it.
 
My in-depth review from another thread that was rightfully closed because I was too lazy to search for this one:

WTF? Was that supposed to be a good movie? Am I supposed to believe:

1. Huge metal alien weapons were buried in the ground all over the place and we didn't know it?
2. Super intelligent aliens who were watching us for so long didn't know about freaking ameobas?
3. That whiny emo kid lived and beat TJ to Boston?

What a pile of crap.
 
i was fortunate enough to hear everyone say how much it sucked before i watched it...which caused me to enjoy it more...that's how it tends to go for me...whenever a movie is said to be really good, i usually don't like it that much and vice versa (as this case)...i just watched it earlier today and thought it was good, but it had A LOT of plot holes...shit that the viewer was supposed to just know i guess...all in all though, i'm not disappointed that i purchased the dvd
 
[quote name='javeryh']My in-depth review from another thread that was rightfully closed because I was too lazy to search for this one:

WTF? Was that supposed to be a good movie? Am I supposed to believe:

1. Huge metal alien weapons were buried in the ground all over the place and we didn't know it?
2. Super intelligent aliens who were watching us for so long didn't know about freaking ameobas?
3. That whiny emo kid lived and beat TJ to Boston?

What a pile of crap.[/QUOTE]
I haven't seen the film since it's opening week, so my memory might be a little foggy.
1. Do we ever find out for sure that the weapons were here that long? I thought that was just a reporter's theory. I think it's possible the lighting could have sent down the machines along with the aliens.
2. That's how the aliens were killed in the novel.
3. I hated that too. He should have stayed dead.
 
[quote name='Kaijufan']
1. Do we ever find out for sure that the weapons were here that long? I thought that was just a reporter's theory. I think it's possible the lighting could have sent down the machines along with the aliens.[/QUOTE]
Simulate a 300 foot monster of a machine going into the ground through a 3 meter opening, hidden in lightning strikes. The machines were already there, accept it
 
[quote name='camoor']How would the aliens know about ALL the bacteria that man has?

All in all, I thought the bacteria part was a pretty badass ending. You would have preferred something along the lines of ID4?[/QUOTE]


At least they had to earn it in ID4, in War of the Worlds they were just given the victory. What irks me even more is that the narrarator claims that by living for millions of years and adapting to the bacteria was how we "earned" our survival. fuck that and fuck them.

I'm also surprised that no one mentioned that the end sequence was Half-life 2 right down to the rocket launchers, I expected to see Gordon Freeman come running out. I think its probably difficult to say that War of the Worlds ripped off HL2 because there was only about 7 months between the two but still it really did seem like I was watching the live action version of HL2.
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']At least they had to earn it in ID4, in War of the Worlds they were just given the victory[/QUOTE]

So you're bitching because they didn't bother to change the classic ending that made the book and first movie so well remembered?
 
[quote name='zionoverfire']So you're bitching because they didn't bother to change the classic ending that made the book and first movie so well remembered?[/QUOTE]

So if the ending in the first movie and the book was so good and you don't plan on taking any artistic liberties or interpretations then why even bother to remake it? ;)

Edit- Besides, it wasn't necessarily the fact that it was a bacteria that killed them it was the fact that all the aliens died and the audience is sitting there like, what the fuck? and then the narrator starts in explaining everything for us like we're reading a my first storybook. I'm saying, at least make the storytelling creative don't just use the narrator to tell us everything.
 
Original War of the Worlds: Aliens attack and almost destroy mankinds except for

*spoilers*

bacteria kills them.

Remade War of th Worlds: Tom Cruise is a shitty dad who can not handle his kids until the world is on the brink of destruction.

You choose which one is better...
 
[quote name='javeryh']My in-depth review from another thread that was rightfully closed because I was too lazy to search for this one:

WTF? Was that supposed to be a good movie? Am I supposed to believe:

1. Huge metal alien weapons were buried in the ground all over the place and we didn't know it?
[/QUOTE]

It looked fucking cool. You would rather they descend from the skies again (BO-RING)

[quote name='javeryh']2. Super intelligent aliens who were watching us for so long didn't know about freaking ameobas?[/QUOTE]

Well the movie never stated that the aliens were super intelligent, just technologically advanced (the two don't go hand-in-hand, just look at modern America). Maybe the aliens don't have the resistance to just one of the billions of bacteria that we do - we are a pretty filthy lot. Viruses and bacteria are a tricky lot - we're pretty damn smart but there are plenty of viruses that our medicine can't beat, and meanwhile the bacteria are evolving around our antibiotics.

[quote name='javeryh']3. That whiny emo kid lived and beat TJ to Boston?

What a pile of crap.[/QUOTE]

Yeah he should have died, or at the very least been kicked in the crotch. Hard.
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']Edit- Besides, it wasn't necessarily the fact that it was a bacteria that killed them it was the fact that all the aliens died and the audience is sitting there like, what the fuck? and then the narrator starts in explaining everything for us like we're reading a my first storybook. I'm saying, at least make the storytelling creative don't just use the narrator to tell us everything.[/QUOTE]

People are so stupid they were complaining at the plot complexity of "Mission Impossible". You better believe a narrator has to spell it out for people, even you admitted that they were sitting there drolling on themselves asking the screen for answers.
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']So if the ending in the first movie and the book was so good and you don't plan on taking any artistic liberties or interpretations then why even bother to remake it? ;)[/quote]
And here I thought Hollywood remade movies because the odds of making a profit and the effort required was less.;)

Edit- Besides, it wasn't necessarily the fact that it was a bacteria that killed them it was the fact that all the aliens died and the audience is sitting there like, what the fuck?
Click to expand...

Again it's a really really really old book, if you want a current americanized version go watch ID4.
 
[quote name='camoor']People are so stupid they were complaining at the plot complexity of "Mission Impossible". You better believe a narrator has to spell it out for people, even you admitted that they were sitting there drolling on themselves asking the screen for answers.[/QUOTE]

Except the fact that there was absolutely no foreshadowingg to the fact that the bacteria was going to kill them except the vague opening monologue so unless you had read the original story it would be difficult to know that it was bacteria that killed them.
 
If they watched with envious eyes, descended from the heavens rashly with the intent of taking the planet as there own, I could accept them being wiped out by bacteria. An ill-concieved "shock and awe" all out attack which eventually leads to the aliens being defeated by the little things, the things they overlooked.

However, in this version they have been planning this thing for 100,000 to a million years in advance. So they come down with their machines, spend significant time burying them (while being exposed to the bacteria and germs in the air mind you) then leave instead of conquering the planet when there was no enemy of high intelligence to defend them. Also, they would be fighting with horribly outdated technology (at the bare minimum 5,000 to 10,000 years old stuff but mostly likely much older)

The aliens send 3 tripods to attack a hudson river ferry, while Boston is largly still standing.

The hide and go seek in the basement went on for way to long, hide from the probe, followed by hide from the Aliens. How in the world are they going to conquer the planet with such speed if they stop to inspect and look around every house for 20 minutes.

As has been said, ship's huge fireball where Son was standing = dead son or at least captured son.

Ships are not organic so why exactly do the bacteria cause the shields to shutdown? Or is this the work of an Alien with the flu who flipped the wrong switch and instead of turning on the music player, he turned off the shield?

Pluses:
-Interesting ship designs and good visual effects (though the aliens seemed to be very reminicent of those from Independence Day
-If you ignore the gaping plot holes and rather implausible story points, the first 2/3rds of the film are visceral and quite thrilling.
-The son is gone for the most of the last third of the film
 
[quote name='guardian_owl']If they watched with envious eyes, descended from the heavens rashly with the intent of taking the planet as there own, I could accept them being wiped out by bacteria. An ill-concieved "shock and awe" all out attack which eventually leads to the aliens being defeated by the little things, the things they overlooked.

However, in this version they have been planning this thing for 100,000 to a million years in advance. So they come down with their machines, spend significant time burying them (while being exposed to the bacteria and germs in the air mind you) then leave instead of conquering the planet when there was no enemy of high intelligence to defend them. Also, they would be fighting with horribly outdated technology (at the bare minimum 5,000 to 10,000 years old stuff but mostly likely much older)[/quote]
They were probably used to the bacteria and viruses of 100,000+ years ago, but they evolve and grow stronger, so to say that being defeated by modern bacteria isn't so farfetched.

[quote name='guardian_owl']The aliens send 3 tripods to attack a hudson river ferry, while Boston is largly still standing.

The hide and go seek in the basement went on for way to long, hide from the probe, followed by hide from the Aliens. How in the world are they going to conquer the planet with such speed if they stop to inspect and look around every house for 20 minutes.[/quote]
As was said before, where were they called the smartest things in the galaxy. They were beaten by something so simple as bacteria, so they couldn't have been too good at effective and concise strategy.

[quote name='guardian_owl']As has been said, ship's huge fireball where Son was standing = dead son or at least captured son.[/quote]
Already been discussed.

[quote name='guardian_owl']Ships are not organic so why exactly do the bacteria cause the shields to shutdown? Or is this the work of an Alien with the flu who flipped the wrong switch and instead of turning on the music player, he turned off the shield?[/quote]
We don't really see the insides of the ships after the bacteria take their effect, so it could be the dead aliens are hooked into the ships defenses or whatnot and when they died the shields went or the delirious aliens knocked a switch off or something. The bottom line is that when they'd die the ships would not move so maybe the ships shut down or whatever.

I greatly enjoyed the film as I'm into this kind of stuff. While the kid making it all that way by himself was a little farstretched, I could get into the film and enjoy it. Too bad the DVD is stuck at $20, or I'd already have it by now.
 
[quote name='camoor']It looked fucking cool. You would rather they descend from the skies again (BO-RING)[/quote]

Yes. Aliens come from outer space. It is way more believable that way - in fact, this type of story is the most plausible scenario out there in the land of sci-fi. Right now there could be a race of aliens plotting to take over the Earth as we speak but I'm reasonably sure they would come from above.

[quote name='camoor']Well the movie never stated that the aliens were super intelligent, just technologically advanced (the two don't go hand-in-hand, just look at modern America). Maybe the aliens don't have the resistance to just one of the billions of bacteria that we do - we are a pretty filthy lot. Viruses and bacteria are a tricky lot - we're pretty damn smart but there are plenty of viruses that our medicine can't beat, and meanwhile the bacteria are evolving around our antibiotics.[/quote]

I know that a technologically superior culture doesn't mean everyone in it is super intelligent but I would think that if you are plotting the takeover of a planet and you have the scientific and technological means of doing so you would at least wear a space suit or something. We wear these things on every mission into outer space and we aren't nearly as advanced as the aliens were made out to be. Also, I would think that for a mission like this any alien species would send its version of an army led by the best and brightest of their kind.

If it is how the book/radio show went (I didn't read it) then fine - I probably won't like those either. It doesn't make the story any better just because someone wrote it that way 75 years ago or whenever. I generally love sci-fi but this just wasn't well done (although I thought the first 1/2 hour or so was pretty thrilling with the lightning storms and not knowing what was going on and everything).
 
I actually didn't see the ending, I turned the movie off cause I got tired of the little girl just screaming the entire movie, I don't know how people could stand to listen to that the entire time, apparently that is all she does in every movie she is in though.
 
[quote name='guardian_owl']However, in this version they have been planning this thing for 100,000 to a million years in advance. So they come down with their machines, spend significant time burying them (while being exposed to the bacteria and germs in the air mind you) then leave instead of conquering the planet when there was no enemy of high intelligence to defend them. Also, they would be fighting with horribly outdated technology (at the bare minimum 5,000 to 10,000 years old stuff but mostly likely much older)

The aliens send 3 tripods to attack a hudson river ferry, while Boston is largly still standing.

The hide and go seek in the basement went on for way to long, hide from the probe, followed by hide from the Aliens. How in the world are they going to conquer the planet with such speed if they stop to inspect and look around every house for 20 minutes.

As has been said, ship's huge fireball where Son was standing = dead son or at least captured son.

Ships are not organic so why exactly do the bacteria cause the shields to shutdown? Or is this the work of an Alien with the flu who flipped the wrong switch and instead of turning on the music player, he turned off the shield?[/QUOTE]

[quote name='javeryh']I know that a technologically superior culture doesn't mean everyone in it is super intelligent but I would think that if you are plotting the takeover of a planet and you have the scientific and technological means of doing so you would at least wear a space suit or something. We wear these things on every mission into outer space and we aren't nearly as advanced as the aliens were made out to be. Also, I would think that for a mission like this any alien species would send its version of an army led by the best and brightest of their kind.[/QUOTE]

Exactly
 
[quote name='darkcrawlspace']I'm pretty sure Tom Cruise was yelling "cold steel" at the end, telling them where to shoot. And that's how they were able to take them down.[/QUOTE]

Cold Steel sounds almost like NO SHIELD which is what he said :p


Edit: Also I saw the tripods as bearing TOO MUCH RESEMBLANCE to Striders in HL2...... both have 3 legs, a smooth and round torso, Creepy and lifelike, and both had beams that obliterated people in an instant. Anyway, alot of good points are here but I always hate it when actors and movie/game makers take the audience for idiots and assume they don't have to think any of this out...
 
When I watched the movie it was a lot like SD, I was expecting a pile of crap, so it would have been hard to disappoint me.

Overall I liked the movie. It was almost like an M. Night Shamilan movie, in that it's about how a few ordinary people deal with a huge, non-ordinary event. I also liked how the movie was the story from the book. I was expecting them to keep the "Aliens invade our planet" and change everything else.

But what I didn't like was the way the movie failed to tell the story at the end. What happened to the aliens? Why were they here? Why did they die? What was the red plant?

The book never spelled out the answers, but it did give plausible explanations. The movie tried to wrap it up into a feel good message by the narrator, and failed miserably.

I had a good time watching the movie and I disagreed with my dad who said it was garbage, but this movie made me think more about how much better it could have been if they had changed this or that, instead of making me think about all the great moments from the movie or how well the story fell into place.

I give it 3 out of 4 stars.
 
[quote name='javeryh']I know that a technologically superior culture doesn't mean everyone in it is super intelligent but I would think that if you are plotting the takeover of a planet and you have the scientific and technological means of doing so you would at least wear a space suit or something. We wear these things on every mission into outer space and we aren't nearly as advanced as the aliens were made out to be. Also, I would think that for a mission like this any alien species would send its version of an army led by the best and brightest of their kind.[/QUOTE]

The funny thing is that America is now the only superpower in the world, America has the most technologically advanced military, yet just look at the type of preparations that America has made for any war or occupation effort it has entered in the past century. Even if you insist on anthromorphizing the aliens, their decision to enter a war that they were not fully prepared for cannot be considered a plot hole.

Furthermore, why would the aliens send their best and brightest - the fact is that we know nothing about the alien's societal structure, politics, or other ongoing war campaigns and colonization efforts. Besides, if the aliens were truly so advanced it's likely that they would consider us to be maggots - if your basement is full of maggots do you send in a Navy SEAL team?

Lastly, would our spacesuits protect human astronauts from every microscopic toxin, virus, and ??? on an alien planet teaming with life; I don't know but I suspect that they wouldn't.
 
[quote name='jcp4322']I actually didn't see the ending, I turned the movie off cause I got tired of the little girl just screaming the entire movie, I don't know how people could stand to listen to that the entire time, apparently that is all she does in every movie she is in though.[/QUOTE]

Yeah that was freaking annoying.
 
[quote name='camoor']The funny thing is that America is now the only superpower in the world, America has the most technologically advanced military, yet just look at the type of preparations that America has made for any war or occupation effort it has entered in the past century. Even if you insist on anthromorphizing the aliens, their decision to enter a war that they were not fully prepared for cannot be considered a plot hole.

Furthermore, why would the aliens send their best and brightest - the fact is that we know nothing about the alien's societal structure, politics, or other ongoing war campaigns and colonization efforts. Besides, if the aliens were truly so advanced it's likely that they would consider us to be maggots - if your basement is full of maggots do you send in a Navy SEAL team?

Lastly, would our spacesuits protect human astronauts from every microscopic toxin, virus, and ??? on an alien planet teaming with life; I don't know but I suspect that they wouldn't.[/QUOTE]

That's fine I guess (I still don't buy it because nothing until the last 5 minutes of the movie ever gave any indication that the aliens were fallible) but then the movie could have explained it or dealt with it in some fashion - any fashion. It just felt totally incomplete and not in a "make you think" good way - more like a "that's it?!?! WTF?" kind of way...
 
[quote name='camoor']

Lastly, would our spacesuits protect human astronauts from every microscopic toxin, virus, and ??? on an alien planet teaming with life; I don't know but I suspect that they wouldn't.[/QUOTE]

Umm considering they're sealed environment suits... yeah. How else would astronauts survive in space which is the harshest environment for life?
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']Umm considering they're sealed environment suits... yeah. How else would astronauts survive in space which is the harshest environment for life?[/QUOTE]

Yes but so far astronauts have only gone to sterile enviornments.

Other planets could have REALLY microscopic bacteria - or acidic bacteria that eats through the suits, or any number of other ways an infectious agent could beat our spacesuits.
 
[quote name='javeryh']That's fine I guess (I still don't buy it because nothing until the last 5 minutes of the movie ever gave any indication that the aliens were fallible) but then the movie could have explained it or dealt with it in some fashion - any fashion. It just felt totally incomplete and not in a "make you think" good way - more like a "that's it?!?! WTF?" kind of way...[/QUOTE]

I can dig it, although I liked the fully human perspective. Even though I would have gotten a kick out of the alien's cockpit view (eat death ray you puny humans!!), it would have destroyed the mood of mystery and doom.
 
[quote name='camoor']I can dig it, although I liked the fully human perspective. Even though I would have gotten a kick out of the alien's cockpit view (eat death ray you puny humans!!), it would have destroyed the mood of mystery and doom.[/QUOTE]

yeah - now that would have kicked ass. Imagine the entire story told from the alien's point of view. We could get all of the lingering questions answered and learned what drove them to take this course of action. Maybe there are alien-led "human rights" sympathy groups opposing the takeover and some great moral struggle like killing everyone on Earth is the only way for their race to survive. You could weave in some politics, symbolism with the war in Iraq, etc... now that's something I'd go see!
 
[quote name='javeryh']yeah - now that would have kicked ass. Imagine the entire story told from the alien's point of view. We could get all of the lingering questions answered and learned what drove them to take this course of action. Maybe there are alien-led "human rights" sympathy groups opposing the takeover and some great moral struggle like killing everyone on Earth is the only way for their race to survive. You could weave in some politics, symbolism with the war in Iraq, etc... now that's something I'd go see![/QUOTE]

Sounds like the "Star Trek" approach to SciFi.

I'm a big fan of aliens who act like... aliens. "Alien" is a good mainstream example - those creatures are freaking bizarre but you still know that their existence means disaster for anyone who comes in contact with them.

2001 is really the only movie I ever saw that truly investigated how bizarre and unconventional our first encounters with alien intelligences could be (or have been) - Ranging from the devious yet child-like AI to the astronaut being reborn after a mind-blowing tripped-out sensory overload triggered by contact with a higher life form. Kubrick was truly the man.
 
[quote name='camoor']Yes but so far astronauts have only gone to sterile enviornments.

Other planets could have REALLY microscopic bacteria - or acidic bacteria that eats through the suits, or any number of other ways an infectious agent could beat our spacesuits.[/QUOTE]


You're really stretching now... The spacesuits are sealed so tight that not even oxygen molecules can seep out. Now if molecules can not get out then how could bacteria, which is made of MANY molecules, get through? Acidic bacteria? A very far stretch considering acid breaks down organic tissue. Not to mention that this entire discussion was how could the aliens in this movie be affected if they were wearing spacesuits on earth, acidic bacteria and subatomic bacteria do not exist on earth.
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']You're really stretching now... The spacesuits are sealed so tight that not even oxygen molecules can seep out. Now if molecules can not get out then how could bacteria, which is made of MANY molecules, get through? Acidic bacteria? A very far stretch considering acid breaks down organic tissue. Not to mention that this entire discussion was how could the aliens in this movie be affected if they were wearing spacesuits on earth, acidic bacteria and subatomic bacteria do not exist on earth.[/QUOTE]

Well, the aliens did come down out of the Tripod to lick that dirt-farmer's toothbrush. Thus showing that they

A) Aren't too bright
B) Broke the hermetic seal on the cockpit of their spaceship
 
[quote name='javeryh']yeah - now that would have kicked ass. Imagine the entire story told from the alien's point of view. We could get all of the lingering questions answered and learned what drove them to take this course of action. Maybe there are alien-led "human rights" sympathy groups opposing the takeover and some great moral struggle like killing everyone on Earth is the only way for their race to survive. You could weave in some politics, symbolism with the war in Iraq, etc... now that's something I'd go see![/QUOTE]
A rather interesting low-budget zombie movie from the 80's is "The Dead Next Door" in a section of it there are protestors who are opposed to the violence against zombies, and we're talking global epidemic levels, not isolated chases of zombies roaming free. It shows its age, but there are a lot of good ideas. A plus is the main character's voice is dubbed by none other than Elvis/Ash himself, Bruce Campbell.

So basically to summarize, some people can turn off their brain and enjoy it on a popcorn level and others cannot. I probably wouldn't be so pissed if it wasn't based on such classic source material (and changed in ways which cause plot canyons) or done by a director who has proven he can do much better.
 
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