War of the Worlds
 

It is official. Steven Spielberg is the reigning living king of sci-fi film. Sorry, Mr. Lucas.

I just saw War of the Worlds today, and although my sci-fi fan status might have colored my judgement somewhat, I am prepared to declare this newest version of HG Wells' classic novel Spielberg's finest film ever.

For fans of the book, the story is much closer in feel than was the 50's George Pal version. For fans of the George Pal film, there are numerous nods of affection and respect for this seminal invasion film, culminating in the end-of-the-film appearance of Gene Barry and Ann Robinson (hero and heroine of the the original film) as the grandparents of astoundingly talented child star Dakota Fanning's character.

Although I am not a huge fan of Tom Cruise, I must give grudging kudos for his performance in this film. His portrayal of regular-guy non-custodial dad Ray is the centerpoint upon which this spectacularly frightening film turns. Indeed, for the faint of heart, The War of the Worlds must surely be one of the most frightening films to be released in decades. Watching entire cities destroyed by the alien tripod machines as frantic refugees desperately try to evade and survive the advancing enemy is real enough that I found myself twitching uncomfortably in my seat more than once.

There are many changes and adaptations from both book and original film, but all are excellently rendered.

Go see this movie. Seriously.

Darn you, making me struggle over going to see this or not!

Also, I'm going to have to find my copy of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds ...

I have all the mp3's.
Hard buggers to find.

Probably easy to find the tunes, but I would understand the narration being tough to get ahold of.

I got a notice from amazon telling me that the set has been rereleased.

[quote=wolf]Darn you, making me struggle over going to see this or not!
QUOTE]

Struggle? No struggle. Go. It is *amazing*.

I have the entire thing ripped straight from the cd's avec narrative.

Mmmm, alright not quite the entire thing. There were a batch of re-mixes at the end of cd2 I skipped.

Wolf, wait for a bit and we can go together. I'll be in town Fri-Sun.

I saw it last night. I really enjoyed it, but there were moments where I laughed out loud at Tom Cruise--I just can't take him seriously. Dakota Fanning totally makes up for it, though.

Plot holes and inconsistencies you could drive a tripod through, sure, but what sci fi movie these days doesn't have those?

Intense movie! Steven Spielberg at his best - "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was comic book in comparison. He's come a long way!

My son is a definite Lord of the Rings fan and until last weekend didn't think anything could beat it.

I left the movie theater with a stiff neck and headache I was so tense.