War Of The Worlds (Special Edition, 2 DVDs)

HG Wells' The War Of The Worlds was the first book I ever read. The story of Martian invaders in huge mechanical tripods laying waste to Victorian London fascinated me from a very young age. I have always wanted to see a faithful version of the novel, set in England in the 1890s. Sadly, the money men in the film industry don't share this ambition. The War Of The Worlds it seems is never going to return to its roots and will instead be updated periodically for the popcorn crowd with an American setting. For this reason I avoided the latest Steven Speilberg twist on the famous story for a long time. Speilberg had the talent to make a good version of the story but when I ...  Read the complete review

Divorced dockworker and father of two, Ray Ferrier, is on baby sitting duty. With his wife and her new partner off for a short break, it falls to Ray to look after his teenaged son Robbie, and his young sister Rachel. Ray dotes on his children, but there is friction in the relationship between him and son Robbie and things do not bode well for a peaceful weekend. When a strange storm hits the city, Ray and his neighbours venture out into the garden to marvel at the dark, swirling skies and fierce winds that seem to defy the laws of physics. A series of lightning strikes hit the city, not far from Ray's home and, curious as to what is happening, he leaves ...  Read the complete review

There are many people who are put off films due to the scriptwriter's decision to reset the story in a different era. This is obviously an accusation that can be levelled at this new production of the H.G.Wells classic, War of the Worlds. The book is set in late Victorian England, and so to cast the film in modern America is and all the cultural trappings and imagery that that entails is almost to re-write the book entirely. What we have to remember here is that this story is one that has evolved into something more that the original tale and has developed a mythology all of its own. Orson Welles's radio production of it, in 1939, was performed as contemporary news ...  Read the complete review

Made in 2005, the Spielberg-directed second film adaptation of HG Welles' classic Victorian tale of Martians laying waste to planet Earth stars Tom Cruise, with the action set in modern-day America. In many ways the setting is something of a wasted opportunity, as there are no shortage of modern-day Hollywood alien-invasion films out there and it would have been great to see the film set in the book's original setting of Victorian London, but never mind. The film is incredibly high budget and it shows, with the mix of live-action and highly detailed CGI effects working extremely well together as the Martians' huge mechanised tripods annihilate buildings, ...  Read the complete review

note: also appears in part on Flixster and The Student Room A lot of people were nervous when the War of the Worlds remake came out - it was not only an adaptation of H.G. Wells' beloved novel, but it also spawned a very popular film in the 1950s. Whilst the original film looks very dated now, it still has a kitschy charm that would be difficult to replicate. Instead, maestro Steven Speilberg takes a wholly different approach - a far more serious update for the modern times, and fortunately, it actually works. The film opens as Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) returns from a tough shift of work to meet his 10-year-old daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and ...  Read the complete review