The CGI and special effects were probably the best I have ever seen in a movie. Very real. As we all know special effects don't make a great movie though. To me this was just a typical "Summer Blockbuster" with the likes of Armagedon and Independence Day so I wasn't expecting much of it. It was entertaining to watch though.
I liked the movie. Sure there are some questionable scenes but overall its all about the entertainment and this movie had plenty of it.
Also, was Cruise the only person able to figure out how to get the van started? Well, other than the Army. Their vehicles seemed to work properly.
Speilburg went all . . AI on us this one sucks as much as that movie did Rocket River terribly disappointed
Saw this remake only cause I hadn't seen the original. Spoilers Fatty's right about the cameo. I wouldn't have known that the grandpa at the end was in the original if I hadn't heard some old man talking in the restroom afterwards. I agree with some of the things mentioned, how did they survive the fall in the cage, how did the son survive, why was that family still at home, and why didn't the aliens take over before intelligent species developed on Earth. And again, Aliens have been studying us all this time and they didn't know about disease.
It's not a question of modesty. You just don't got traipsing off into an alien environment without some form of protection. These guys weren't from Mars, the only explanation I could think of is that maybe all planets that can sustain life have to be exactly like ours so their planet is similar.
i saw it and didn't like it. i have a feeling the book is better. the movie like everyone else mentioned had so many "what?" and "how did that happen b/c blah blah." i'm not a big movie person to begin with but i didn't enjoy it. special effects were the only good part. tom cruise is a horrible actor.
It's been 10 years since I read the book, so I'm not sure how true to the book the movie was. Based soley on the movie, I'd give it a B. It would have been a B+ had Spielberg killed Dakota Fanning off. I'm sorry, but if that little b**** starts screaming like that while I'm saving her from humongous three legged alien machines that are destroying the earth, I'm ditching her ass on the highway...
I enjoyed the flick and thought it was the 2nd best flick, behind Batman, this summer. I personally gave it a B. I thought it was well directed and fairly well acted. You guys have covered most the “what the…” moments but here are 2 that I still can’t quite wrap my head around. !!Spoliers!!! When people are getting vaporized, why doesn’t the clothing do the same? I assume it’s for a dramatic look but it just made no sense. Last one, When they were Cruise’s ex wife’s house and the plane crashes, how in the hell did the Mini Van survive unharmed when most of the house, and all the other houses for that, were destroyed? Just a few quibbles. By the way, I have no problem with the ending, I think it fits just like I did in the book and the 50’s version.
Grendal-I agree with you on the mini van thing. when i saw that, i was like BS... i think they tried too hard to make the plane crash look real that it made the minivan surviving seem even more impossible.
I know what you mean, also he had a perfect lane to drive out of that mess Little quibbles but the kind that bug me
Exactly! This movie was about survival (us and them) and how we act when faced with the possibility of death. How the humans acted towards each other made me more sick and mad than anything the aliens did to us. Remember, the planet and it's resources have evolved over millions of years. They could have been perfectly fine here back when they placed the machines underground but, since they left, thier bodies didn't evolve to be able to handle the changes and the new types of viruses like we have. Remember also, that they needed our blood to fertalize and polinate thier "new" planet. I've never read the book, but there are probably perfect explanations to some things that happened (ie: ships buried but waited until now, etc.). HG Wells was really into science and biology and I think he would of had good reasons for some of these things. I just think the movie didn't do a good enough job of filling us in on those explanations. Overall, I liked the movie. It was an experience at the theater and it made me really think about certain things. It really portrayed the fear and frantic nature that was experienced during the famed radio broadcast by Orson Wells. Despite some of the goofs that you guys talked about (how did the son live?, etc) I still give it an A. I'll give Batman a B. . .
I agree. Ever wonder how awesome Star Wars could have been (especially the prequels) if Lucas had hired Spielberg to direct them?
Saw it last night... freakin great movie ... great peformances all around (though Dakota Fanning seems to always act a little too "grown up" at times), unbelievable cgi and audio effects (both are reason enough alone to see it in a theater w/ DTS), incredible tension, great action, etc, etc. The movie totally had me, up until the ending. And I'm not talking about the ending in general as I was already familiar with the story. I'm talking about the very final scene...that sequence just about killed everything the movie had going for it and destroyed all sense of realism.
Just look how good Empire ended up being with Kershner directing, and Irv is no Spielberg. SS would have been great for Jedi and Menace, but I think a darker director like Scott would have been good for Clones and Revenge.
