Wanted to see this on the big screen but schedules didn’t mesh. Heard bad things about it and, yes, the whole traveling-down-the-lightning-bolts-to-machines-they-left-here-a-million-years-ago-that-nobody-happened-to-trip-over-in-those-million-years thing was crap, but man . . . watch this thing in SurroundSound with the subwoofer cranked up and it’s freaking awesome. Yeah, you could have cropped the whole Tim Robbins sequence and not missed a beat, but I was glued. Tom Cruise may be a major a-hole, but he did right by this film . . . although I don’t know if he’d have been half as good without the amazing Dakota Fanning to play off of. (Jeez, that’s an awful sentence, but I’ll leave it be.)

FF= 0

Wanted to see this on the big screen but schedules didn’t mesh. Heard bad things about it and, yes, the whole traveling-down-the-lightning-bolts-to-machines-they-left-here-a-million-years-ago-that-nobody-happened-to-trip-over-in-those-million-years thing was crap, but man . . . watch this thing in SurroundSound with the subwoofer cranked up and it’s freaking awesome. Yeah, you could have cropped the whole Tim Robbins sequence and not missed a beat, but I was glued. Tom Cruise may be a major a-hole, but he did right by this film . . . although I don’t know if he’d have been half as good without the amazing Dakota Fanning to play off of. (Jeez, that’s an awful sentence, but I’ll leave it be.)

FF= 0

I saw it on 86th St. in a little theater without the mighty sound, sadly. (Well, let's keep a sense of proportion here--not a tragedy.) And yeah, it was entertaining--has Speilberg ever made a flick that wasn't? But the political subtext left me cold. Now if only old Steve had made a faithful "H.G. Wells' WAR OF THE WORLDS"... Go, Thunder Child, go!

This was my comment in an different thread:

Is your review of War of the Worlds based on the ending or Tom Cruise and his public display of idiocy? Or something else, like the demise of the Tim Robbins character? I really liked War of the Worlds except for the three elements above. The action sequences were quite good and Spielberg pulls out some great crowd scenes, but the ending was a joke (not the end of the "Tripods", at least that was consistent with the original, but the "family reunion").

I actually find Dakota Fanning to be overhyped. The "child-actor-du-jour" usually is.

And, why can't the aliens have seeded the earth with their tripods millenia ago? The million-years-ago quote was obviously an exaggeration with no scientific analysis in the vein of "I must've read a million books," or "I could eat a horse."

I truly despised the ending. How the hell did the son survive? Great skill, blind luck, or poor script writing.

This was my comment in an different thread:


I actually find Dakota Fanning to be overhyped. The "child-actor-du-jour" usually is.

And, why can't the aliens have seeded the earth with their tripods millenia ago? The million-years-ago quote was obviously an exaggeration with no scientific analysis in the vein of "I must've read a million books," or "I could eat a horse."

I truly despised the ending. How the hell did the son survive? Great skill, blind luck, or poor script writing.

I think it would have been better if Peter Jackson did the film. He seems to go by the book or the spirit of the book. BTW, War of the Worlds takes place mostly in England during the late 1800's (about the time that H.G. Wells wrote it). I hated this movie (though I liked the FX) and halfway through the pic I started rooting for the aliens.

I enjoyed the movie a lot, despite the fact that I went into it expecting to hate it. I'm not a fan of Tom Cruise, but he didn't annoy me as much as he normally does. And I love Dakota Fanning. She's actually one of the few child actors that I have never felt is over-hyped. Just my opinion, obviously.

I liked "War of the Worlds" enough I saw it twice in the theater. Yes, reality is stretched to the limits and many questions are raised and not answered, but it was thrilling, a great ride.

As far as Spielberg making a bad movie, he is most definitely not infalliable. His films are always watchable, though.

Here are Spielberg films I didn't care for, doesn't mean they stink to high heavens, but he did not hit the bullseye on these:
The Terminal
Artificial Intelligence (hated it, except for the Jude Law sequence)
Hook
1941
The Color Purple

Considering his massive resume, to have only 5 that don't do it for me is not too shabby.

I saw this in the cinema and, given that the film is nothing if not spectacular, I think it was well worth it. BUT I do think they made it hard for themselves by setting it in present day America. This meant that they had to use the weak "the machines were already here, the crews just came down in a storm" idea to avoid anyone asking how come we never saw the spaceships coming. Also the equally weak "force field" to explain why modern weapons couldn't harm them. If they had followed the book then the spaceships were originally thought to be meteors and the Martians (Oh yeah, cant have Martians now either) were vulnerable to a degree. Going from memory one was destroyed by artillery and one was rammed by a warship. I'm afraid this all spoiled it a bit for me, I just kept thinking they could have done it so much better.

And dont say that setting it in the past wouldnt have worked because we know different about Mars now, anyone going to see King Kong even though we know that there (probably) are no giant gorillas about?

Oh, nearly forgot, as an extra plus setting the film in H.G.Well's time we wouldnt have been able to have Tom Cruise as the star! To be fair I think he did a good job in his role though.

I saw this in the cinema and, given that the film is nothing if not spectacular, I think it was well worth it. BUT I do think they made it hard for themselves by setting it in present day America. This meant that they had to use the weak "the machines were already here, the crews just came down in a storm" idea to avoid anyone asking how come we never saw the spaceships coming. Also the equally weak "force field" to explain why modern weapons couldn't harm them. If they had followed the book then the spaceships were originally thought to be meteors and the Martians (Oh yeah, cant have Martians now either) were vulnerable to a degree. Going from memory one was destroyed by artillery and one was rammed by a warship. I'm afraid this all spoiled it a bit for me, I just kept thinking they could have done it so much better.

And dont say that setting it in the past wouldnt have worked because we know different about Mars now, anyone going to see King Kong even though we know that there (probably) are no giant gorillas about?

Oh, nearly forgot, as an extra plus setting the film in H.G.Well's time we wouldnt have been able to have Tom Cruise as the star! To be fair I think he did a good job in his role though.

The warship in question, Peter, was HMS Thunder Child, and ever since I was a child, I found that the most compelling part of the book. Humanity was fighting back! And who better to lead the counterattack than the British Navy?

My first post in these forums was about this movie....ahhhh memories.

I remember reading all the bad things about it and thinking... Did I see the same movie?

This movie made me feel like a kid again. It was just awesome.

And I think Spildberg is still the best director out there. Tom Cruise is also really good. I think he's got a bad rap. He isn't Ben Afleck. Think of some of the great movies he's been in (A few Good Men, Born on the Fourth of July, Magnolia, Color of Money) and it's seems hard to chalk him up as being a bad actor.

So yeah, I loved the movie. But I wish they would show it at the show once a year, cuz on a 30 inch tv it isn't nearly as fun a movie to watch.

And I think Spildberg is still the best director out there. Tom Cruise is also really good. I think he's got a bad rap. He isn't Ben Afleck. Think of some of the great movies he's been in (A few Good Men, Born on the Fourth of July, Magnolia, Color of Money) and it's seems hard to chalk him up as being a bad actor.

I think Tom Cruise is a good actor....I just don't like him. :p