War of the Worlds (2005)

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers (WGA):

Josh Friedman (screenplay) and
David Koepp (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 June 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

They're already here.

Plot:

As Earth is invaded by alien tripod fighting machines, one family fights for survival.

Plot Keywords:

Gore | Disintegration | Stylization | Death Ray | Stylized

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

Tom Cruise	...	Ray Ferrier
Dakota Fanning	...	Rachel Ferrier
Miranda Otto	...	Mary Ann
Justin Chatwin	...	Robbie
Tim Robbins	...	Harlan Ogilvy
Rick Gonzalez	...	Vincent
Yul Vazquez	...	Julio (as Yul Vázquez)
Lenny Venito	...	Manny the Mechanic
Lisa Ann Walter	...	Bartender
Ann Robinson	...	Grandmother
Gene Barry	...	Grandfather
David Alan Basche	...	Tim
Roz Abrams	...	Herself
Michael Brownlee	...	TV Reporter, Osaka
Camillia Sanes	...	News Producer

Also Known As:

Out of the Night (USA) (working title)
Party in Fresno (USA) (fake working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and disturbing images.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Chile:Y7 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | France:U | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Taiwan:PG-12 | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia) | New Zealand:M | Malaysia:U | South Korea:12 | Spain:13 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Australia:M | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 | Ireland:12A | Finland:K-15 | Hong Kong:IIA | Singapore:PG | Germany:12 | Czech Republic:12 | Netherlands:12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Iceland:14 | Argentina:13 | Philippines:PG-13 | Peru:14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Brazil:12 | Sweden:11 | Mexico:B

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Tom Cruise's sixth consecutive film to break the $100m barrier domestically since 2000 and his 13th movie to break that barrier in total.

Goofs:

Continuity: Right before Ray first drives away in the stolen van, he tells his son Robbie to close the door. So he reaches over to close the door. But in the shot BEFORE that one, you can clearly see Robbie already reaching over to close the door. In other words, he reaches over to close the door twice.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: 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, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water...

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Oprah Winfrey Show: (2005-05-23)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

If I Ruled the World

Disappointing

If you're going to rate a film on pure spectacle, this one would easily get a 10 - it's utterly astounding.

The acting is uniformly good, and the idea of showing the film purely from the perspective of Cruise's character - so the audience knows nothing that he doesn't know - works extremely well.

But there's no plot, no underlying logic behind *anything* that happens, be it human or alien-initiated - every single plot decision seems to have been taken from the perspective of 'wouldn't it be cool if...' or 'Let's shock people with the nastier sides of human nature now' or 'Now we must give our hero a tough decision'... this was plotting-by-numbers at its most obvious (and painful)

With a decent script, this should have been one of the best Scifi movies ever made. Alas, the only good parts are the eye candy.

Andy