WAR OF THE WORLDS: Reaction Thread

[romanD]

that is so true... I recently stumbled over a board whree someone was sooooo looking forward to WOTW, one of his main reasons was UBER-DOP Kaminski!!!

I think Kaminski is one of the worst out there... especially the scene you mentioned struck me, too!

also when Cruise gets out of the farmhouse and the whole landscape was full of the red weed... that was so studio lit! horrible...

and of course no kaminski movie without the trademark light through a window, curtains down, some smoke, people in front of it... yaaaaawn... you can count the minute how long it takes until that idea comes up...

that dop from Lemony Snicket would have been great...

[AndyDursin]

and of course no kaminski movie without the trademark light through a window, curtains down, some smoke, people in front of it... yaaaaawn... you can count the minute how long it takes until that idea comes up...

The first time I noticed how much I hated Kaminski's cinematography was in THE LOST WORLD, during that early scene in Richard Attenborough's bedroom (as memory serves). For no apparent reason he had light pouring through a curtain, obscuring the expressions on the actors' faces, and totally stepping into the scene. It served no purpose or point, and yet there are virtually dozens of shots in all of his Spielberg films that are similar.

[mkaroly]

SCHINDLER'S LIST and SPR were heavy subjects, but WWII was always a fascination for him. MR and WOTW has a protagonist who is adult but clearly stunted in his growth and maturity as an adult- he doesn't have the innocence of a child or a child's wonderment or imagination...he's just stopped growing. Rather than finding the inner child in their adulthood, they have to find the inner responsible adult in their adulthood. They don't have to look at the world with childlike wonder- they look at the world as an adult would, are practical, and find maturity and growth in that. I think Spielberg is saying he's grown up.

What's ironic is -- to me -- that Spielberg grew up and made an "adult" masterpiece with EMPIRE OF THE SUN back in 1987. The fact that it took SCHINDLER'S LIST for the snobby film critic elite to take notice is secondary in my eyes because EMPIRE is in many ways his best and most satisfying "grown up" film....even though it was made LONG before the people who snubbed him before said he "grew up."

I agree- though I hated Christian Bale's whining and that squeaky voice of his. Still- it's a solid film, overlooked, and underrated.

[Harry Chen]

I finally got to see it. I was really getting tired of Cruise's love life and antics being discussed in every other magazine and newspaper, so I wasn't really expecting too much from Spielberg's latest. I didn't care much for The Terminal and I didn't enjoy Minority Report too much either. I think that because this particular story is already well-known (it's been around for over a century, right?), people were interested to see what the story would look like this time with a star director, the so-called world's biggest movie star and a big budget. Now we know.
I didn't hate it as much as Andy, and found it much better than ID4 (I really, really hated ID4) and Signs, the two movies it's gonna be compared to. I didn't like the design of the aliens (too close to ID4) and I know that the conclusion is not exactly explained. What really cause the tripods to malfunction or the aliens to lose control? I understood it but I think most people not familiar with the story/movie will not. The movie does sort of end abruptly. I also disliked the fate of one of the supporting characters, especially at the end. The tripods were good (I understand Doug Chiang of Episode I had a hand designing them), and the visual effects were good (it was Oscar-winnig Dennis Muren, of course) too. I also noticed that the field covered in red weed was very badly lit.
Then there were the plot holes. The TV newscasts are used to explain what's going on, but when they reached the wife's home, they don't turn on the TV to see what's happening? Gimme a break. I also liked that the movie had no shots of world famous landmarks being blown up, and that it concentrated only on Cruise and his family. I think Andy didn't like this too much.
As expected, Kaminski's signature shots were all over the place, which is not a good thing. There's this shot where the camera seems to be circling the van, and it's all over the place. That was cool, making me wonder how they did it.
Overall, good but not great, but I'm recommending it to my friends who might not like it and haven't seen it yet. Kept me entertained.
Did I mention how much I hated the design of the aliens?

[AndyDursin]

. The TV newscasts are used to explain what's going on, but when they reached the wife's home, they don't turn on the TV to see what's happening? Gimme a break.

That was one of my main problems as well. The attack on the SUV was also a terrible scene in my mind because it really made no sense, when you factor in that they're trying to cross the river (like I wrote, it would have made more sense if they had a boat!).

[romanD]

well, I didnt have any problem with the car scene... come on, everybody is panicking and maybe it was already clear that they wouldnt make it onto the ferry anymore, so of course people would want the car... i would feel a lot safer with a quick driving thing under my a$$

I probably wouldnt have gone onto the ferry though when the tripods arrived, coz that ferry is so slow...

the alien design was close to the ID4 thing, but I guess it is just the way people imagine aliens nowadays. It was ok, but I think we are over with the squd alien thing... from Spielberg I expected some originality there... how about hairy aliens??? have there ever been hairy aliens at all? or just some with spikes and dry skin and not those gooey squiddies... of course, wouldnt be believable if one of giger's aliens would drive a tripod, but just something new there would be really nice for a change...

[mkaroly]

. The TV newscasts are used to explain what's going on, but when they reached the wife's home, they don't turn on the TV to see what's happening? Gimme a break.

That was one of my main problems as well. The attack on the SUV was also a terrible scene in my mind because it really made no sense, when you factor in that they're trying to cross the river (like I wrote, it would have made more sense if they had a boat!).

How about the guy shooting video of the tripod making its way up out of the ground at the intersection? I thought all electronics were shorted at that point by the lightning storm (Ray couldn't use his cell phone, so I would assume one couldn't use a video camera if TV didn't work, etc.). Or maybe I missed something.

Then there was the trunk of the mini-van. When nature calls and Ray is yelling at Rachel to stay within eye-sight, at one moment the trunk is closed, then we see it open, then in the next shot it's closed again. It stuck out like a sore thumb to me.

I was not a fan of either ID4 or GODZILLA- characters were too one-dimensional and the dialogue was just plain dumb.

[Eric W.]

Whew. Andy's review of the movie and score were none too kind...and he's dead on, all the way.

This film really shouild have been SO MUCH more. And Williams submits yet another effort that honestly makes me believe he needs to retire.

I couldn't agree with you more on all counts, Andy. This film is inexcuseably bad considering who was involved from top to bottom.

[AndyDursin]

This film really shouild have been SO MUCH more. And Williams submits yet another effort that honestly makes me believe he needs to retire.

I don't think he needs to retire, but he IS getting older, and he HAS scored so many genre movies, that maybe the well for spaceships and extraterrestrial invasions has been exhausted in Williams' canon.

[MarkB]

also when Cruise gets out of the farmhouse and the whole landscape was full of the red weed... that was so studio lit! horrible...

I think that look was intentionally surreal. It reminded me of Dorothy first stepping out into The Land of Oz....

Mark

[AndyDursin]

I think that look was intentionally surreal. It reminded me of Dorothy first stepping out into The Land of Oz....

I didn't have a problem with that shot either...yet I didn't find it "jaw dropping" or incredibly amazing in scope...just kind of "eh, wow, look at that."

[Eric W.]

Some nice visual moments in this, but WOTW 2005 is a rushed, big, very polished turd.