SpiderJerusalem said:
Proverbial Jon said:
vansau said:
It's been a little while since film director Steven Spielberg ruined a piece of classic literature (the last time he did was with 2005's War of the Worlds).
Fixed that for you.
OT: I like the idea of this film, but Spielberg is somewhat hit or miss for me (WOTW and Crystal Skull, I'm looking at you) so I shall reserve judgement... for now. However saying that, so long as Tom Cruise doesn't walk within 5 million miles of this film, I'll probably be happy just to get some more (hopefully) quality Sci Fi.
Ruined, huh? By sticking extremely close to the book (almost to a fault, even)? By casting great actors in all lead roles? By directing some of the most intense scenes of his career (escape from Philly, the overturned boat, the burning train, the attack on the car)?
Or did you mean that you ruined it for yourself with an irrational hatred of an actor, because you can't distinguish a fictional character from the person who's playing him?
Ouch, that hurt. Please don't assume me to be one of the usual torch wielding ludites who would shun originallity simply because my rabid fanboy urges decree it a biological imperative.
First of all, the movie is a true spectacle, that is for sure. I'm in no doubt that Spielberg's directing of this movie was on par with his other great movies. The scenes that you mentioned were exciting and well made. BUT the movie as a whole, I feel, failed as an adaptation of that particular book. Perhaps the blame should go to the script writer but since it is his move, the onus falls on Spielberg.
I have some very specific reasons for disliking the movie and I shall tell you why:
I'm afraid the storyline deviated a fair amount from the book actually. Now I can accept some deviation, I'm FINE with deviation if it makes the movie work better. It did not. Some scenes missed the point entirely.
- In the movie the aliens did not come down in cylinders that were fired from Mars. This was a strange choice to make. The unscrewing of the clylinder, the burning heat of the strange metal, the slow reveal of the Martian creature and the eventual reveal of the tripod's devastating heat ray... it was all missing. So the ships were already on Earth? The Martians came down in bolts of lightning? That just opens up a whole ton of questions that really didn't need to be posed in the first place. When did they bury ships beneath the earth? Why didn't we notice them before now? Just... why?
- The main character in the movie was a divorced parent instead of a married man with no children. Ok, I can get that. I can accept that we all need to be able to relate to the characters and it might be difficult for such a massive and effecting event to be portrayed through only one character. But the characters were poorly implemented, the children were annoying as all hell and most of the time it felt like they were actually going out of their way to cause problems, rather than reacting to the events thrown at them.
- The ferry is destroyed in the movie. In the book, the Thunderchild, a massive warship, valiantly fights the Martian tripods and ultimately sacrifices itself in order to let the ferry full of people get away. In the movie however, no one is there to defend the ferry and a Martian tripod easily capsises it. From the looks of it many lives were lost. This was one of the most iconic scenes in the book and yet it was omitted.
- Frankly the ending is ridiculous. If the movie is trying to portray the strength of families during hard times or perhaps how even the most normal man can be heroic when loved ones are threatened, it really ruins the idea by having Robbie simply appear, unscathed at the end of the movie after we thought he died for sure. His arrival is as much a deus ex machina as the virus that kills the martians, but that doesn't make it acceptable. It strikes me as lazy story telling.
- Not once was I even given the impression that the family was a strong one, even when they HAD to survive together. Dakota Fanning's Rachel was whiney and incredibly irritating, clearly with the greater capacity to understand her situation but less ability to actually cope with it. Robbie was hot headed and didn't listen to a word his father said and Ray himself was a giant douche and as much of a kid. One doesn't even have to speculate as to the reasons that led to his relationship breakdown. Besides, nothing is solved at the end. His wife is still with Tim and his kids probably don't like him much more than they did anyway. Aside from the Martians being dead, which was a problem solved all on its own anyway, nothing has really changed.
The following points may be considered somewhat biased by my own preferences.
- I'm not a fan of taking a storyline and setting it in the 21st century. The War of the Worlds was published at a time when the public at large had not really considered life on other planets yet. The idea itself was revolutionary for its time. A modern day setting doesn't have the same cultural relevance.
- It is an English book written by an English author about events that take place in England. I am English myself and therefore highly biased! But the idea of the crowd gathering around the cylinder on Horsell Common is a stirring image and not one that was replicated during the movie. The Martians all crying out in painful mourning around the clock tower of London is also something that we were sadly deprived of.
BUT
I did like the design of the tripods.
ALSO
I shall say that I was happy to see the scene between Tom Cruise and Tim Robbins. It was about the only scene that truly conveyed to me the struggle that was outlined in the book. That a normal man might be forced to take the life of another, simply to save his own. Although in this case he was protecting his daughter as well. One of the main themes of the book is how far humanity fell once they are forced to survive, how their sense of morality was pushed to its limits when they had no other choice. For that I applaud Spielberg. For everything else, sadly I must say it did not do the story justice in my opinion.
Also, sorry for the rant!
