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Review: War of the Worlds
I saw War of the Worlds last night. It was a bit good, like. <- That was the short review. Here's the proper one:
Trailers selected for your viewing pleasure
Lost: I admit it, I made a very loud noise of fangirly!squee once I realised exactly what I was seeing. Bless, I didn't recognise them for about 3 seconds. At least two other people in the cinema had Lost!Squeals too. So I wasn't alone. His Lordship was not impressed by my excitement.
Just so you know, the show isn't about people dancing in evening dress on a beach surrounded by burning plane wreckage. Just so you know. Oh and the Channel 4 website address at the end of the advert doesn't actually work. Idiots.
The Wedding Crashers: Owen Wilson's nose looks funny, (I have issues with it) so it distracted me from the rest of the trailer which I think follows two men gate-crashing weddings and copping off with the bridesmaids.
Dukes of Hazzard: Looks like a romp. A southern accent makes Jessica Simpson sound more intelligent. There's lots of car chases.
King Kong: ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh. Small dirty people! Jack Black! Dinos! T-Rex! Kong! Scary Island! Smash! Fighting! Screaming! Running! Kong looks nothing like Andy Serkis, not even in the eyes. *bounces up and down* I am very excited. (And it's not even out for another six months)
So seeing this at Starcity. The cinema went absolutely silent while it was on and then erupted into chatter once it had finished. It's a December release. That's His Lordship's birthday outing sorted then.
The Orange Trailer: Still Ewan McGregor trying to Make Poverty History. Too many people laughing at the crap rapping. I despair of the residents of this town (other than the two Lost fans sitting further back in the cinema)
The Main Feature:
So what is it all about?
Aliens invade the Earth and layeth the Smackdown on all of mankind. With big-ass special effects and not a cattle grid in sight. The film follows Ray Ferrier (Cruise) and his children Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and Robbie (Justin Chatwin) as they try to escape the destruction.
The imaginatively titled Main bit of the review
Transposing War of the Worlds to modern day America certainly hasn't harmed it. Don't forget, when HG Wells wrote it back in the day it was modern times to him. Didn't particularly like the little prologue at the start, although it did fit nicely into the story. The whole "And they waited on the edge of space, watching us, silently" sounds oh so familiar now. Aliens are just a bunch of voyeurs seemingly.
It's clever to only focus on a single family's experience of the invasion (a la Signs). As was the lack of information. It's nice to watch a film and not know everything that's going on, especially as the film's world is suffering from a news blackout.
The plane crash scene was really tense, again because like the Ferrier's we hadn't the faintest idea what was going on (although I recognised the sound of the planes engines - so I guessed). The post crash scenes were also very nicely done (although not as well done as Lost's - but I am a bit biased there).
Dakota Fanning is absolutely amazing, and she's still only 10 or 11. She can scream like a good'un. That must have been really annoying when doing take after take after take.
Tom Cruise, although scarily white teethed did throw himself into the role. You could almost believe that he's a dock rat; He cries really well too, all welling tears and wide-eyed sadness. You have to give the fella credit, he can act. His running's a bit wimpy though. His character, Ray, undertakes quite a transformation over the course of the film from a bit of a dead-beat dad to a bit of a hero (well we need some happiness in the unrelenting destruction)
I loved the design of the aliens; the way they were tripodular like their machines, and rather cute looking with their big doe-eyes, which made their emotionless extermination of the human race all the more scary. Their heads did look very Alien Queen though.
I also really liked the extermination effects; the way everyone sort of vaporised, leaving just their clothes behind, fluttering down like polyester snow. It also had the added effect of keeping the film's rating nice of low (which it would have had if the streets were full of cut up bodies).
In fact, all the alien effects were really good. The fluid way the Tripods move mirroring the way the aliens moved; the scary, snakey tentacles; the speedy way the red weed grew all excellent.
So, Boston is the safest place to be when Alien's try to invade our little blue planet. Well it's good to know I suppose. Bit far for us to go. I wonder how the rest of the world fared? I bet Big Ben got blowed up, it always does.
Isn't it nice that an Alien invasion can bring families back together. What with Eowyn standing on the steps of Edoras, hair blowing in the wind as Ray staggers up the street with Rachel. Hang on, I think I'm getting my films confused a bit there :)
Verdict
Very Good. Tom Cruise didn't annoy me half as much as I thought he would, although his teeth really are too white.
My only quibbles with the film were:
1. Not enough musical numbers
2. No David Essex
Otherwise it gets a summer blockbusting 8/10.
Oh and I think they ought to confiscate mobile phones from people when they go into the cinema. What's the point of spending £6.00 on a ticket if you're going to spend the first 45 minutes texting your mates and then the last 15 minutes doing exactly the same, click-clacking with your fake nails and annoying message tones. Grrrrrr.
Trailers selected for your viewing pleasure
Lost: I admit it, I made a very loud noise of fangirly!squee once I realised exactly what I was seeing. Bless, I didn't recognise them for about 3 seconds. At least two other people in the cinema had Lost!Squeals too. So I wasn't alone. His Lordship was not impressed by my excitement.
Just so you know, the show isn't about people dancing in evening dress on a beach surrounded by burning plane wreckage. Just so you know. Oh and the Channel 4 website address at the end of the advert doesn't actually work. Idiots.
The Wedding Crashers: Owen Wilson's nose looks funny, (I have issues with it) so it distracted me from the rest of the trailer which I think follows two men gate-crashing weddings and copping off with the bridesmaids.
Dukes of Hazzard: Looks like a romp. A southern accent makes Jessica Simpson sound more intelligent. There's lots of car chases.
King Kong: ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh. Small dirty people! Jack Black! Dinos! T-Rex! Kong! Scary Island! Smash! Fighting! Screaming! Running! Kong looks nothing like Andy Serkis, not even in the eyes. *bounces up and down* I am very excited. (And it's not even out for another six months)
So seeing this at Starcity. The cinema went absolutely silent while it was on and then erupted into chatter once it had finished. It's a December release. That's His Lordship's birthday outing sorted then.
The Orange Trailer: Still Ewan McGregor trying to Make Poverty History. Too many people laughing at the crap rapping. I despair of the residents of this town (other than the two Lost fans sitting further back in the cinema)
The Main Feature:
So what is it all about?
Aliens invade the Earth and layeth the Smackdown on all of mankind. With big-ass special effects and not a cattle grid in sight. The film follows Ray Ferrier (Cruise) and his children Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and Robbie (Justin Chatwin) as they try to escape the destruction.
The imaginatively titled Main bit of the review
Transposing War of the Worlds to modern day America certainly hasn't harmed it. Don't forget, when HG Wells wrote it back in the day it was modern times to him. Didn't particularly like the little prologue at the start, although it did fit nicely into the story. The whole "And they waited on the edge of space, watching us, silently" sounds oh so familiar now. Aliens are just a bunch of voyeurs seemingly.
It's clever to only focus on a single family's experience of the invasion (a la Signs). As was the lack of information. It's nice to watch a film and not know everything that's going on, especially as the film's world is suffering from a news blackout.
The plane crash scene was really tense, again because like the Ferrier's we hadn't the faintest idea what was going on (although I recognised the sound of the planes engines - so I guessed). The post crash scenes were also very nicely done (although not as well done as Lost's - but I am a bit biased there).
Dakota Fanning is absolutely amazing, and she's still only 10 or 11. She can scream like a good'un. That must have been really annoying when doing take after take after take.
Tom Cruise, although scarily white teethed did throw himself into the role. You could almost believe that he's a dock rat; He cries really well too, all welling tears and wide-eyed sadness. You have to give the fella credit, he can act. His running's a bit wimpy though. His character, Ray, undertakes quite a transformation over the course of the film from a bit of a dead-beat dad to a bit of a hero (well we need some happiness in the unrelenting destruction)
I loved the design of the aliens; the way they were tripodular like their machines, and rather cute looking with their big doe-eyes, which made their emotionless extermination of the human race all the more scary. Their heads did look very Alien Queen though.
I also really liked the extermination effects; the way everyone sort of vaporised, leaving just their clothes behind, fluttering down like polyester snow. It also had the added effect of keeping the film's rating nice of low (which it would have had if the streets were full of cut up bodies).
In fact, all the alien effects were really good. The fluid way the Tripods move mirroring the way the aliens moved; the scary, snakey tentacles; the speedy way the red weed grew all excellent.
So, Boston is the safest place to be when Alien's try to invade our little blue planet. Well it's good to know I suppose. Bit far for us to go. I wonder how the rest of the world fared? I bet Big Ben got blowed up, it always does.
Isn't it nice that an Alien invasion can bring families back together. What with Eowyn standing on the steps of Edoras, hair blowing in the wind as Ray staggers up the street with Rachel. Hang on, I think I'm getting my films confused a bit there :)
Verdict
Very Good. Tom Cruise didn't annoy me half as much as I thought he would, although his teeth really are too white.
My only quibbles with the film were:
1. Not enough musical numbers
2. No David Essex
Otherwise it gets a summer blockbusting 8/10.
Oh and I think they ought to confiscate mobile phones from people when they go into the cinema. What's the point of spending £6.00 on a ticket if you're going to spend the first 45 minutes texting your mates and then the last 15 minutes doing exactly the same, click-clacking with your fake nails and annoying message tones. Grrrrrr.
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