War of the Worlds

I saw War of the Worlds yesterday and it's not worth all the hype they're giving it. They basically massacred the novel and have rewritten it to entertain today's violent, action crazed society -- obviously the novel wasn't exciting enough.

The novel and movie contrast too much in my opinion. The book has one main character who travels in an attempt to escape the invasion, ultimately surviving to tell his tale. The movie involves a disfunctional family (mainly just Tom Cruise being an asshole to his children) and their attempt to reach his ex-wife and her husband in Boston where they are staying with her parents for the weekend. This would be fine and dandy if it weren't for the poorly written dialogue they're forced to recite. Between the lulls of the alien invasion Tom and his son exchange bouts of profanity in what is supposed to be considered arguments. It doesn't achieve much except deeming the kid a smart ass teenager who needs to get his butt kicked. He smarts off, purposefully misses a ball so it will break his father's window, then runs off to watch the military be destroyed by the aliens - leaving his sister behind. While we're at it, kick Tom's butt too since his character (or him in general) isn't much better than the kid.

There are two things that don't gel in this movie, and one's the kid's wish to run off to watch the military. "I have to see this dad...I have to" is what he tells Cruise when they run into a military confrontation with the aliens. It doesn't make sense. What the hell does he have to see over that next ridge? The aliens coming and the soldier's inability to stop them? Wow, that's deep, and makes oh so much sense. (Don't forget this is the second time he has tried to run off with the military -- the first is when a army convoy rolled past them on a country road). I sensed this was supposed to be some heart wrenching scene where the boy must leave (why?) but I found it pretty comical really. After letting his moronic son go (good job Cruise, way to be a father) he has to run back and retrieve his daughter from a couple who is trying to take her. I thought that would be funny if he lost both of them simultaneously then gotten eaten by the aliens afterwards (he was a horrible father in the first place). Anyway, soon after everything blows up in a ball of flames, and the aliens advance over the ridge. Cruise and the girl meet the crazy man from the book, and end up killing him to keep him quiet. This is another scene they mutilate -- why kill the man when in the book the main character merely walks away? Oh I forgot, we like excessive violence in our movies, that's why. *slaps forehead*. Duh.

The second thing which I found really dumb was their explanation of the invasion. "Well they have these machines that come out of the ground -- they were buried there!...they must have been planning this for a million years..." Ok...first of all, why would you bury them in the ground? Why would you bring them in the first place really. If this is millions of years ago, then humanity doesn't exist *slaps forehead again*. Let's say it again...no humans on earth. If you have the technology to get to earth and bury something that large -- or build something that large in the first place -- I don't believe dinosaurs pose much of a problem. You could pick them off like flies. What's sad though, I bet nobody will notice the flaws in that explanation. They'll be so stunned by the sheer volume of the movie they won't remember much else. This thing is loud, let me tell you. Perhaps their marketing scheme was if they make a movie loud enough people will overlook a lack of quality. I for one hope it backfires.

They couldn't use the original concept of aliens arriving in shell like ships shot out of cannons on the surface of Mars -- because that would be too cheesy for today's sophisticated audiences. Now the aliens appear in lightning storms (I'm assuming they design themselves) and ride the lightning through the ground into their ships. If they can manipulate weather...why not just freeze all humanity? One or two good ice ages ought to do it. If they've been at this for a million years, they can wait a couple more to actually execute a successful plan. Their's failed miserably. A million years, and they didn't figure out bacteria can kill you. That's another failure which is exemplified in the movie. The lack of immunities made sense in the book since the strike was sudden, and the average reader wasn't extremely educated... so it worked out. But in this situation it's just plain dumb.

I think one of the final scenes, where the military accompanied by the crowd inspects the fallen spaceship, could have been better. Nobody seems to make much noise when the alien crawls out then dies. I'm supposing that the majority of those getting slaughtered never saw more than the mechanical beast which destroyed them with its ray guns -- shouldn't the alien intrigue them? Or at least elicit rage? Finally they have a chance to come face to face with what has been killing them, and they're silent. Anyway, the aliens were supposed to have tentacles. It seems they got that confused -- they gave the ships tentacles instead of the aliens -- they ought to have read the book.

But out of all this, the movie will sell millions. It has Tom Cruise, and it's extremely violent. Why shouldn't it sell? Nobody will point out its problems, or be able to see any discrepancies between the classic novel and the blockbuster hit. Why? Because our society -- or the culture aimed towards today's youth -- doesn't deem reading (or writing in this case -- could have provided for a better script?) as valuable as watching music videos or forking over money to the latest pop whore's new album. Of course in the big scheme of things, who needs a basic education? I'm sure somebody's music album, or the phrase whateva will prove a thousand times more useful in the real world than possessing basic reading, writing, and arthimetic skills.

Oh well.



Yes, I did make the comparison pic.