No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century, that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own. That as men busied themselves about their various concerns, they observed and studied. Like the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro about the globe, confident of our empire over this world. Yet, across the gulf of space, intellects, vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our plant with envious eyes. And slowly and surely, drew their plans against us....
One of very few movies to make me experience actual fear and I have had nightmares about being pursued by tripods several times.
Not a great film, structurally, but a very good sci fi horror.
Brayden Martin
The tripods are GOAT but the movie itself has too many flaws to be anything but average.
Angel Ross
I don't agree with people who say Boston being this bastion of safety from the aliens was an asspull. Even martians would know not to venture into that shithole
Luis Perry
any other good tripod alien movies Sup Forums?
Logan Hall
WOTW only ever works for me as a primarily audible production set at the turn of the 19th/20th century. Having the perfect American defending his family in the middle of every catastrophe, bringing down tripods, and having modern US military running around with Javelins and shit, makes it kind of tacky. It does have some cool eerie shots, but too much running toward the camera while hell breaks loose in the background, and that "stopping at the grade crossing for the burning train, then carrying on" scene was dumber than the burning cows from Mars Attacks.
Isaac Turner
THE CHANCES OF ANYTHING COMING FROM MARS ARE A MILLION TO ONE ... BUT STILL THEY COME
Pathetic! Tom cruise americun cra, ignores the whole premise of the book, higher tech, fucks over humanity, only stopped by the germs and biology of the earth, not man. Also, do a WOTW and doesn't include the Thunderchild is truly fucked in the head. Also fuck that screaming fanning and the pouty cunt of a son
Matthew Martinez
/thread
Aaron Moore
>Tom cruise americun cra Tom cruise americunt crap sorry
Hudson Murphy
it could have been so much better >that part where the camera never goes over the hill >literally drop the ball at the best point in the movie thus far fuck WHY?
Then the movie just ends abruptly because ayy freeman narration
Jaxson Barnes
martian bastards
David Cruz
>that scene where people in the cage get sucked up into the tripod's anus.
Ryan Russell
>tfw no big budget adaptation that's faithful to the book
The tripods look a lot more threatening striding across the English countryside then some American city
Xavier Hughes
the only evacuation/emergency movie done right apart from the shitty 'I must go fight with the troops' that came out of nowhere just to add tension, it was a great movie Someone post the river scene, one of the most tense scenes I've seen in a Hollywood movie
The film is flawed in many aspects and annoyingly americanised, but fuck if it isn't dope as shit at times. Really any moment with tripods is just great. Personal favourite moment is probably the tripod appearing on the hill when everyone is trying to get on the boat, shit was scary yo. Sorry for the shitty link.
>annoyingly americanised >dope >yo fucking yurocucks want to be american niggers now?
what a pathetic people
Chase Thomas
This movie is really just one guy running from one disaster to another much like the later World War Z. The only difference is that Brad Pitt's character was working towards finding the solution to the problem in the midst of the running whereas Tom Cruise was mostly just a passive bystander running into Tripods everywhere he went.
Colton Flores
>That river full of corpses >That train on fire >Guy getting his blood sucked up
The sense of dread was really well done.
Kevin Ross
>Also, do a WOTW and doesn't include the Thunderchild is truly fucked in the head. Most versions dont include thunderchild though.
Elijah Sullivan
It sucks. Completely missed the point of the book in favor for a 9/11 subtext that didn't work. Also, stop cutting out the Thunderchild film makers! It's the best part of the book!
Noah Powell
>The only difference is that Brad Pitt's character was working towards finding the solution to the problem in the midst of the running whereas Tom Cruise was mostly just a passive bystander running into Tripods everywhere he went.
This is why WoTW was superior
Parker Rodriguez
Didn't one of the writers flat out say that it was supposed to be an analogy of the poor Iraqi people getting attacked by the big bad American military?
Jordan Hall
These aliens may be mercilessly slaughtering us, but we must welcome them in since they probably fled their original home world due to war and persecution. Refugees welcome
Camden Rodriguez
Chicken Little
Brandon Diaz
That scene makes sense but it was executed poorly...I have seen many men run towards danger rather than away, stems from stupidity but quite brave. However in the movie, it made the kid seem like a cunt for not caring about his family.
It can easily be made better, just make it so that the kid went to rescue a family or a child or something, that would redeem the scene a bit, instead of "muh america"
Julian Torres
Nope that train burning scene was great, it gives a greater sense of geography in the scariest way possible.
Jason Myers
Thought it was pretty good sans the ending. I liked how everything was in Tom Cruise's point of view. We only knew what he knew.
Can someone explain how the aliens rode the lightning through the ground into the tripods?
Easton Perry
Why did they put the machines the ground then wait millions of years to come back and conquer the earth? Why not just do it millions of years ago?
Why are they so stupid they didn't bother sending a few aliens down first to make sure they aren't going to start dying after a few days?
Nolan Taylor
>Why are they so stupid they didn't bother sending a few aliens down first to make sure they aren't going to start dying after a few days? Stupid question and not the point.
Jackson Lopez
If you stop watching right after the kid says he wants to fight for the army and then imagine that he randomly gets killed while Tom Cruise gets away with the girl, the movie is pretty good. It's only when Tom gets stuck in a basement with an insane guy, the aliens randomly come down that it goes stupid. Everything else before that point is really damn good. It's exactly what would happen if an alien invasion happened.
Nicholas Perry
Explain yourself.
Isaac Wilson
The lightning is what charged up the tripods, it's what woke them up, or activated them.
I don't recall them ever saying the aliens rode the lightning, did they? It's been a while since I've seen the movie so maybe they did and I just don't remember.
Aaron Brown
Because that's not what the movie is about. But anyways, I feel like the explanation is easy >Why did they put the machines the ground then wait millions of years to come back and conquer the earth? Why not just do it millions of years ago? Because it wasn't needed a million years ago. They waited until their planet were completely fucked. >Why are they so stupid they didn't bother sending a few aliens down first to make sure they aren't going to start dying after a few days? Because they didn't have any other option
Camden Jackson
Disagree. The way people (including the police) just stood around watching while the ground is literally opening up under their feet is insane. The way the mechanic kept going on about a fucking van while aliens are killing people left right and centre is moronic.
Also typically of a Spielberg movie, it kept shoving its agenda in the viewers face it got extremely irritating. The dad's an asshole, the children are assholes, the entire human race are assholes. Yeah we get it already. It just makes it very difficult to care about any of these people when they have no redeeming qualities. And when every single character is so impossible to like, then the rest of the movie has to make up for it with story telling or action or something. It didn't.
Hunter Price
They did, one guy even shows a frame per frame recording of the lightning showing that it isn't just lightning and there's something on it.
Parker Gomez
>Because that's not what the movie is about. I didn't say anything about what the movie is about. Just because the alien isn't the centre point of the movie it doesn't mean that little story about them wasn't stupid and make no sense. But do tell me what is it about? >Because it wasn't needed a million years ago. They waited until their planet were completely fucked. Stupid. They know they're going to need it. A planet dying is inevitable. So why wait? >Because they didn't have any other option What does this mean? They can't sit up on the mothership and wait a couple of days?
Charles Price
>they didnt have option >hey lets invade this alien planet and risk the whole operation while having zero biologic controls, hell lets even use local fauna as food without even bothering to make immunization against local pathogens
They arent exacty an advanced civilization when we here already enforce these biologic controls since the first shuttles
Ryan Allen
>The way people (including the police) just stood around watching while the ground is literally opening up under their feet is insane. Is it?
You're probably remembering it wrong. People see a random lightning bolt. They investigate, there's some rumbling, everyone freaks out and realize it's only a certain spot that's rumbling, it's not an earthquake. Then they see something coming out of it. Their curiosity overcomes their fear because they don't know what it is. Then the tripod moves. Everyone freaks out and backs up more. They don't know what it is but want to know. You can hear the tripod charging his guns, and everyone is unsure what is going on or what to do. When the tripod starts shooting that everyone knows it's an enemy and runs away.
How is any of that unrealistic?
>The dad's an asshole, the children are assholes, the entire human race are assholes. Yeah we get it already. You missed the point, it's not about being an asshole but just trying to survive. Look at it step by step. Tom cruise sees aliens killing everyone. He comes home, unsure what to do. All he knows is that he needs to pack anything he can get and run, run somewhere, anywhere. He gets irritated at the kids for being kids but still keeps his composure. When a mob storm his car, one get gets the gun on him. The girl is still in the car. The guy could've just run away with the car, not caring about anything, but Tom quietly begs without looking for pity to just get the girl. The guy quickly gives a motion to get the girl without conflict and runs off with the car. That was perfect. No assholes, just people scared.
I think you are grossly biased by thinking Spielberg has an agenda when he doesn't. Simply saying ''hurrrr everyone's an asshole'' without showing how anyone is an asshole is shallow.
As I said, if you cut off right when the kid gets separated with Tom Cruise during the big alien versus army fight, the movie is good.
Dylan Murphy
> ignores the whole premise of the book, higher tech, fucks over humanity, only stopped by the germs and biology of the earth, not man
But that happens in the movie too. Humanity is getting fucked until germs weaken the Martians
Ryder Morgan
>Giant tripods burried ten feet below a modern metropolitan city There entirely too much shit that makes no sense dumped on you in the first act that it hurts the movie as a whole.
Also the fact that they changed it from the source material where the martians are seen coming to earth, the crased ship that draws out spectators, the surprise when they begin to attack, etc. You're totaly fine to change that, but its important to justify it in the movie.
Tyler Morgan
The tripods were hauntingly beautiful and terrifying. I'll never forget the noise they make
Oliver Hill
It's just a generic alien invasion film which happens to have tripods in it. Everything that makes the book so good and so distinct is absent: for one thing theres no sense of geography or the passage of time, which means there's no tension and nowhere near as much atmosphere as there should be. In the book the Martians land at Horsell Common on Friday morning and begin their invasion from there so there's a sense of being closer to or further away from danger depending on where you are and which direction you're going in. This allows the gradually creeping sense of unease and rumour to spread everywhere that the tripods are not actually present from the Friday to Sunday when the panic hits and everyone in London has to drop everything and run north or east.
The film just has them appearing everywhere at once so there's no logic to those crowds of refugees going in particular directions. What the film could have done if it wanted to still pursue this ridiculous "they're buried underground everwhere" idea is skip straight to the chapter Under Foot or thereabouts and have all the human characters scurrying around and watching over every rooftop and treeline for the shape of a fighting machine striding around. But the film doesn't do that either. Whenever the tripods aren't in shot people just walk around in crowds and drive cars and go boating. Utter trash.
Infuriating nonsense. The making of featurette is a hoot too, listen to one of Spielberg's errand boys give the game away by saying "we went through the book and highlighted everything we thought looked cool and should be in the movie". Spielberg didn't read the book, I will stake my life on it. Also the lesson that he apparently got from the book was that in a crisis we all get together to help each other. He needs a damn good thrashing.
Charles Stewart
I also love how the tripod makes the BLAAAWWWMMMMMM sound and everyone is unsure what to think or so. Everyone immediately bends a bit in half fear upon hearing it but immediately regain their composure when nothing happened. It's great because it gives a further warning that whenever that BRRAAAWWWWWWNNNNN sound happens, the only thing that will follow is death.
Arghh, look at that shot when the tripod is looking down on the humans trying to flee. It makes its entrance, blows its horn, everyone doesn't know what to do for a few seconds, a few people have the immediate reaction to run while most are frozen, and then everyone panics. And then you see the entire swarm of humans as a sea trying to escape.
The light the tripods make is also incredibly scary.
This movie is so fucking good.
Cameron Ward
I remember it well because I just watched it 2 weeks ago. No its not an earthquake. Like I said, the ground was literally opening up. And all the police do is tell people to back up? How about telling them to go back to their fucking home?
Tom Cruise is an asshole because he's a shit dad. Kids come over and he goes to sleep and tell them to call for deliveries for food. When all kind of weird shit start happening, he just left the kid by themselves. Again. When the kids are confused and ask him what's going on, instead of being calm for them and explaining things, he started yelling, leaving them even more scared.
The mob scene explain well the humanity being absolute idiots and assholes. I don't know what you mean by it was perfect. That guy did not get away. He got shot in the head 2 seconds later by someone else who also had a gun. My guess is in the end nobody got the car. It probably just got trashed by people throwing things and jumping on it.
Nicholas Brooks
aliumz wuz gud bois dey dindu nuffin wrong dey wuz jus gettin dey life on track
Caleb Anderson
Jeff Wayne's musical version is the GOAT.
Connor Bell
Good post. I have not read the book so I don't know how good/bad it is. But this movie is trash. And not even enjoyable trash.
Wyatt King
This all the way.
I still want a version from the military's perspective.
Isaac Robinson
It was like Teleportation. Imagine that when you teleport somebody, it looks like a regular lighning.
Blake Ramirez
there's literally a scene after the plane crashes into the house cruise and co. are hiding in that shows you in detail that some kind of diamond shaped fuckface is coming down in the lighting gayboy
Liam Johnson
I really liked it, but the scene where he closes the door 100 times fucking bothers me.
Nathaniel Bell
speilberg: I want the aliens to the come out of the ground instead of landing other producers: okay how would that work? speilberg: idk I just really want them to come out of the ground
Jason James
>Disagree. The way people (including the police) just stood around watching while the ground is literally opening up under their feet is insane. The way the mechanic kept going on about a fucking van while aliens are killing people left right and centre is moronic.
This is correct. In the book it makes sense that when the cylinder opens people are curious enough that even after the initial shock of seeing what's inside it they begin to creep back towards it to see what's going on. It makes sense because these things are lumbering octopuses that are trapped in a pit and for how horrible they look they seem to be more threatened by us than the other way around. Even once they kill people on the common with the heat ray the opinion is that they're stuck in the pit because of the weight of their bodies in Earth's gravity and that they're completely terrified of us and we'll just have to put them out of their misery. Nobody imagines the fighting machines, which only appear on the Saturday.
The movie scene makes no sense by comparison because the first thing everyone sees is absolute proof that these things are much more powerful than we are. The first thing everyone sees is unambiguous proof that we're completely fucked. Nobody would stick around for that and wander back towards it (!) like it's a curiosity.
Landon Williams
The only thing that truly bothered me was the inconsistent tripod scaling.
>one shot its not that big >same shot other angle >its 5 times as big >same tripod in a different shot >its tiny again
Yes. I this scene basically is the War of the Worlds movie. Everything else felt like an afterthought to this.
Jack Lewis
This must be a joke.
Charles Morris
I know its a bit on the nose..but its supposed to be symbolical as how everyone kept looking on during 9/11..its immensely played out now since everything about 9/11 has been exploited to the slightest detail, but the reason for the scene at that time came organically
Kevin Adams
kek
Are you sure you aren't talking about the shots of the lower legs of the tripod, which themselves are tripods?
Parker Kelly
Look at the scene where the tripod flips the ferry, in the initial shot it's the size of a mountain, and the other angle shows it to be significantly smaller.
>tfw no faithful adaptation that takes place in the late 19th/early 20th century
Hunter Watson
First attack is amazing. And one with the boats.
I love this movie. Very entertaining and I found my self watching this time to time.
Luke Richardson
I can absolutely take your word for it that they did something as wrongheaded as that. It would fit the pattern.
In the making of documentary Spielberg explains how he arrived at the imaginative masterstroke of having the aliens emerge from the ground. He says, almost in as many words: "in the original they came down from the sky. So I asked myself what's the opposite of that? Coming up from the ground! So I decided on that." There was not a single undamaged brain involved in the production of this film.
Jace Flores
>in the original they came down from the sky. So I asked myself what's the opposite of that? Coming up from the ground! So I decided on that." LOL
