read me

Rating: Null/10 (21 November 2005)

1898..one of the greatest books I have ever read was first published. 1938..A little known narrator (at that time) by the name of Orsen Welles performs a rendition of the story in the format of a radio broadcast. The chaos that ensued due to people believing the invasion was real prompted government studies on mass paranoia to take place. 1953..A George Pal produced motion picture captures an Oscar and brings the Wells classic to the silver screen for the first time. There have been way too many TV versions for me to count.
I remember picking up War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells for the first time when I was about 8 years old. Some would consider an 8 year old reading that kind of stuff horrific, but I was into Stephen King as well. I remember as I read into the book I was thankful that this never really happened, because humanity was screwed. The ending in my opinion was poetic justice. To this day War of the Worlds is one of my favorite books.
2005..One of the greatest directors of our time decides to take his shot at the classic story of man versus alien. Spielberg has done a superb, but not flawless job. I was excited when the movie first started and there was narration from Morgan Freeman (uncreditied to boot). The book was narrated in past tense by the main character (who I believe was unnamed if I'm not mistaken) and it was my hope the whole movie would have such narration, but it only happened at the beginning and the end. Of course the setting has changed, with the book the setting was England circa 1900, the movie places us in modern day New York. I was a little miffed that Spielberg didn't stick with the original story completely, but I understand most people here in the States wouldn't feel much for London being burned to cinders. Granted it's stated in the movie that the aliens are attacking all over the world and that this is truly a global disaster. The one thing Spielberg did right by the book was telling the story from the view of the main character, our charming Mr. Katie Holmes himself...Tom Cruise.
Tom Cruise plays a divorced father named Ray Ferrier. In the book the main character was alone, no wife no kids. I thought the addition of a family was unnecessary, but I guess that's why I'm not a filmmaker. His son Robbie is a reclusive yet headstrong man and his daughter Rachel, played well by Dakota Fanning, is the scream machine in this movie. Ray is obviously the bad father who spent more time worrying about himself than about his marriage. The whole movie revolves around Ray trying to get his family safely to Boston, where he hopes to find his ex-wife. There were many things I liked about this movie. I liked how they never really explain the alien's motives a la Independence Day. To the audience or me in particular, the aliens are nothing but cold-blooded killers. I have to admit, this is a dark side of Spielberg we haven't seen since 'Saving Private Ryan'. The death is catastrophic. And while I kind of 'geek out' a bit as the alien tripods belch out a loud echoing "uuuuuuuuuuu-lahhhhhhhh' (just like the book!!!), I felt really a sense of dread as people were hunted down and killed mercilessly. I admit this movie scared me a little.
The first hour of the movie is intense. But to my utter disappointment it slowed down quite a bit with the introduction of Tim Robbin's character Ogilvy. The movie kind of dragged here and I can't help but wonder if they should've introduced the 'black gas' (like in the book) instead of dealing with this strange character.
That was the only real flaw other than the screaming kid of course. What is good is that Spielberg stuck with the general ideal of the book. And anyone who has read the book knows how it ends. But anyone who reads the book will never know if Ray succeeds in reaching Boston or not.
Great book, good adaptation of a movie. But I would still love to see a direct adaptation, it's high time a movie should be as good or better than the book! 8 out of 10 stars. Nice work Steven.