War of the Worlds (2005) | Canadian First Time Watching | Movie Reaction | Movie Review | Commentary

[@minnesotajones261]

I love how you only find out what's going on as Ray finds out. No Presidential conference. No Joint Chiefs. No Pentagon. No power. No cellphones... Just a regular guy, stuck in the middle with no info. Such a great take on a very big sci-fi movie.

[@Replicaate]

Yeah, I love that about this version too. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the age of the cell phone video it felt very real that way.

[@Serai3]

That's the book. The whole tale is told from the protagonist's perspective, and he's just some schmo who's not in the know about anything. And just like the film, the book's end is beyond anticlimactic; it's frustrating as hell. But that's how life is. The universe is not a story about us.

[@DaDunge]

I mean that is true in the book too but in the book the main character finds out a lot more. mainly because human society puts upa much better fight there. It's about an actual war between worlds, this is just a catastrophe movie.

[@DaDunge]

@@Serai3 I don't recall it at all like that, he's pretty invovled early on and finds out stuff as he travels. Also the british put up a way better fight than the americans do in the movie.

[@tremorsfan]

The two grandparents at the end are played by the lead actors from the original film adaptation from 1953.

[@adrianalcala9770]

From the book, it is revealed that the martians were so advanced that they destroyed all bacteria and microorganisms on their planet. Over their immune systems were destroyed, but they didn't need one since all disease causing bacteria and microorganisms where wiped out. So much time had passed, they no longer thought about it.

[@zammmerjammer]

The vast majority of microorganisms are not pathogens. If the aliens don't have a gut biome or, like, SOIL, they're screwed.

[@Duffman69able]

I guess they weren’t really that smart then

[@robertyeah2259]

@@Duffman69able I wouldn’t say it’s too un similar to dead languages that no one on earth can speak right now.

[@carpediem9750]

​@@Duffman69able There was a time when everybhuman knew how to make fire from a bunch of stick, now is a skilled so few know... Same here

[@Duffman69able]

Morgan freeman said in the beginning that they had been watching people for a long time so I’m pretty sure that would have covered the topic of germs

[@TonganHalfBreed]

That horn is still one of the most haunting things I've heard in a movie.

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

Very true.

[@steveswafen2528]

Ever heard the Jaws theme music?

[@scottgraves6.9]

Oh my god for real! That’s honestly my favorite thing about the movie. I love when a movie leaves a lasting impression because of a specific sound. Especially sci fi and or horror which those genres are perfect for wild sound designs. The “pulse rifle” from “Aliens”is one of my personal favorite examples 🙌💯🖤

[@chrislaustin]

100% agree, and in the cinema it was on a whole other level to say the least, gave me chills each and every time it went off.

[@KD-cd2ck]

@@steveswafen2528they said “one of”

[@DoppelSkumm]

George! Grenade question! Grenade pins are designed to NOT fall out accidentally, they do take a lot of force to actually remove and normally you have to twist or rotate them before they will come out. It is incredibly unlikely that you can pull it out with your teeth, you are far more likely to just pull your tooth out. You can pull a pin from a grenade and put it back in again as long as you keep the arming handle in place (the lever thingy) so it would be technically possible to pull the pin and then re-insert it and loosen it so you could pull it with your teeth, but then you're just carrying around a grenade with a loose pin and that's just a really really bad idea.

[@gallendugall8913]

George's General Grenade Question!

[@marquisdesade3025]

Can you put the pin back in if you were to release the handle, squeeze the handle again, and try to re-insert the pin? Or can you not release the handle without an explosion?

[@gasperpoklukar8372]

@@marquisdesade3025 The handle is holding a spring-loaded striker in place. Once you release the handle, the striker impacts a primer which ignites the fuze. There is no way back from there.

[@marquisdesade3025]

@@gasperpoklukar8372 thanks!

[@DoppelSkumm]

@@marquisdesade3025 Once you let go of the handle, it flies off (as designed) and then you have however long the fuse is before it goes off. Some grenades don't have the handle at all and the fuse starts as soon as the pin comes out.

[@hughjorg4008]

What is amazing is that The War of the Worlds novel was written by H.G. Wells in 1897. That was in the 19th century (!) And he imagined the extraterrestrials will have light beam guns that burn their targets, in other words, LASER guns.

[@gojiberry7201]

The BBC did an adaption for TV that was really cool -- it was set in the time. It was cool to see that time period with horses, lanterns, and long dresses, and then this massive Tripod rises up over a tower. Made it so much more bleak!

[@adaddinsane]

@@gojiberry7201 I disagree with your assessment of "cool" - it was awful.

[@LilyMoonWitch]

@@adaddinsane Ok? Thanks for telling us, i guess.

[@markplott4820]

Ack, Ack. Ack. Ack Ack Ack.

[@localroger]

In H.G. Wells' version the alien beams were "heat rays" which emitted infrared radiation strong enough to fry anything. In the afterward it was revealed that all attempts to study the heat ray had ended with the device exploding, and that such research had been forbidden.

[@Tchika]

FINALLY some reactors who are not just skipping over the fact that Robbie just stands there in the end like "I'm fine, guys" 🙋‍♂

[@Mr_Incognito113]

Spielberg pussied out of killing the kid in this one

[@jp3813]

@@Mr_Incognito113 It would've been one of the dumbest ways to kill him off regardless.

[@mattwhite2328]

“Having him tower over them.” Tim Robbins was 6’6”. He towered over everyone; especially Tom Cruise.

[@Replicaate]

I can buy an invasion of alien tripods with laser guns attacking the planet, but my disbelief cannot be suspended for Tom Cruise taking out an insane shovel-wielding Tim Robbins in a one on one brawl.

[@VKayed]

"was"? Is he not anymore? (he's not deceased yet for sure)

[@Replicaate]

@@VKayed maybe he just shrunk recently.

[@angelguerrero7655]

​@@Replicaate happens to me every Thursday. It's a bitch considering I was 5'7". Now I'm 2 feet tall

[@arturitus321]

4:46 That dialogue explains what happens to the aliens in the movie. Rachel's body will push out the splinter when it is ready, the same goes for the aliens: Earth's bacteria and microbes will "push them out" when the time comes. One of Steven Spielberg's most underrated films.

[@NZBigfoot]

Thing is, and people tend to forget this, but we humans are also part of the Earths Immune system... while the bacteria was more effective given the aliens caught us off guard big time, we'd be the second wave of defense in the future or the more effective clean up crew should the aliens learn how to counter the bacteria... also if you consider things like asteroids and other space born forms of destruction, bacteria cant protect the planet from those sorts of things, Humans can.

[@DaDunge]

I don't know I kind of feel they could have played it closer to be book.

[@KirinMar]

The scene with the bodies in the river was filmed where I'm from in Connecticut, some of the mannequins got loose and floated downstream scaring the crap out of people who didn't know what was happening lol.

[@MesserMusic]

No way lol thats funny

[@theascendunt9960]

Would have been a cool way to market the movie.

[@sj-qn4uy]

The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897

[@Cbcw76]

And bacteria was seldom discussed, publicized or recognized across the planet, even into the end of the 1800s. HG was one of the few authors that brought up bacteria... he and Arthur Conan Doyle.

[@ukmaxi]

@@Cbcw76 Exactly, it was way before any of it was properly understood.

[@jessecortez9449]

H.G. Wells was well acquainted with the early Technocrats of the time. When you look into the actual lives of the biggest Science Fiction authors you might start to wonder if certain information was just passed to them to ask as a medium of seeding the to the general public. The majority of people "learn" science and history via entertainment. So Science Fiction may not be "predicting" possible futures but rather revealing what is already set in motion.

[@Cbcw76]

@@jessecortez9449 Yes, totally - the public using entertainment as 'education'. While that sounds awful, I believe few of us learn much when we're DISinterested. So 'showmanship' and 'entertainment' become important. I enjoyed several of HG's novels but when I got into his so-called 'histories', well... I stopped. (I probably was prejudiced him by Sydney Greenstreet's snide comment in THE MALTESE FALCON where he described The Falcon's real history, "not the stuff Wells wrote about." ha ha

[@No1Knows]

The bacteria subject: Remember, we can go to other places on our own planet that have bacteria that the local population has adjusted to but will really mess up somebody from a different part of the world.

[@takonaegi2967]

Well, that's because we're all humans after all. We have the same cell structure and basic biological processes. Which doesn't necessary applies to an aliens. A lot of bacteria and viruses can only live and recreate in specific cells of human bodies. Like there are viruses that are completely dormant in animals, but can be lethal to humans and vise versa. That's what George asked. But the movie implies that aliens have somewhat similar cell structure to us and that's why they were affected by bacterias. Or so alien to us that they would became just a food supply for our bacterias at the origin of life stage.

[@adriangaliver]

These immuneless aliens aren't affected by our viruses or illnesses. 'Cause they are too different. And they are completely sterile, so they can't infect us with something. But on the other hand, our precious little Earth is full of microorganisms that simply eating any unprotected food or any dead materia. And as soon as the aliens stepped feet on our planet, they instantly became a food supply for the lowest Earthian life forms. Ofc the aliens kicked our butts pretty hard in a matter of two days or so, but they was doomed from the start. From the POV of our fellow microbes, these aliens was nothing but a walking flesh that was ready to be consumed. This whole concept makes more sense in the original book, where the Martians tried to invade our planet without any recon. It's kinda strange that the aliens from the movie makes some preparations, took their time, spied on us, hide their tripods under ground. And didn't have any problems with microbes all this time, apparently. This is stupid, yeah. But don't forget that all of this isn't the point of the book. So, we can forgive some stupidness in a minor details of the movie script. 'Cause H. G. Wells planted a very good morale to his story. And this morale works fine in the movie as well. So, when the aliens started replacing a natural order of things on their planet with a superiour technologies, in order to achieve a perfect comfort of living - they lost their abilities to survive and adapt, they lost their sense and wisdom. Techs not only advance you to the highest levels of being, but they can also degrade and simplify you. And this is such an important lesson for humanity. It's much deeper than just a rad story about some monsters from space shooting lasers and then dying from germs.

[@thedrizzle06925]

I mean just going from different continents did a number on folks in the past

[@BoredMarcus]

@@takonaegi2967 I think you explained very well why this is a valid question and I agree with everything! Here's the thing though. Out of the two proposals in this movie, one being aliens invading Earth, the second them dying from bacteria, I'd argue the first is a lot less likely than the second. From all science tells us so far, complex life forms evolve pretty much like us. Of course our only reference is Earth, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. There is nothing more than speculation about life evolving any other way. So it is not too far fetched thinking that life may evolve on other planets at least similar enough. What's a lot more unlikely is that the aliens even get here. According to our current understanding of physics, faster-than-light travel is not possible. But we have seen it so often in SF, viewers don't question it anymore, but then go on to question that said aliens die from bacteria 😁

[@Dylan_Thomas1]

@@BoredMarcus Well FTL travel being possible for a sufficiently advanced alien race seems more plausible than the idea that human/Earth bacteria would affect them, even if FTL travel defies basic hard facts about reality...at least to me, and I'm sure many others. It's not just about being used to the FTL hand-wave. But also I'm not one to be less entertained when something like the bacteria thing comes up, although I guess I do prefer movies that don't have plot points like that.

[@NeelTheSphynx]

The original radio broadcast is awesome and horrifying. Just listening to it in a pitch black room is so effective

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

so much better than this trash

[@MesserMusic]

@@CyberBeep_kenshi well the movie is more faithful to the book. I love all the adaptions however

[@ThetrueKidGoku]

​@@CyberBeep_kenshiWhat's wrong with the movie?

[@hachimaki]

Jeff Wayne's musical version on vinyl is also pretty great

[@TechnologicallyTechnical]

Wasn't it a book originally? And the radio broadcast was some time later?

[@gallendugall8913]

5:18 George, "I know I bring up Independence Day a lot, but..." Independence Day is an adaptation of War of the Worlds

[@McPh1741]

True. They even kill the aliens with a virus.

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

most insulting movie ever. as if we could program in a language or OS we 100% do not know and magically win. just so stupid

[@MandoWookie]

In the movie it's implied modern computers & programming was reverse engineered from the alien craft.

[@Rorujin]

@@patrickflanagan3762 Bacteria>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Computer virus

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

@@MandoWookie in a week, lol. so no. no way. language, programming language, alien logic and apparently no virusscanner... it was utterly rediculous. if that movie happened irl, we lose. 100%

[@salmanedy]

This movie and the 2005 King Kong remake are borderline R-rated movies. This movie is utterly terrifying!

[@fakecubed]

PG-13 used to get away with so much more than it does now. R used to actually mean something.

[@Grenn1471]

Spielberg killed one kid in Jaws and spent the rest of his career giving kids Plot Armor.

[@antonycharnock2993]

What about the girl in the red coat in Schindlers List?

[@Jumpman67]

@@antonycharnock2993 That was the nazi's.

[@denisloebner4882]

Rufio from the lost boys got killed in Hook

[@Grenn1471]

@@denisloebner4882 Yeah, I forgot about Rufio. Whoops. Still, Robbie should not have survived.

[@grothesk80]

You are absolutely correct! The kids gloves in this movie kind of hurts it.

[@rasmuspedersen3563]

Fun fact: The childrens mothers parents at the end of this movie are the actual lead actors from the 1953 "War Of The Worlds" movie version

[@Madbandit77]

Gene Barry and Ann Robinson.

[@thegunslinger1363]

The sound design in this film is incredible.

[@sonofmoss]

It should have won sound Oscars over King Kong and visual effects

[@joshuaguzman2732]

Being an avid fan of the movies and especially the book, I do have to say that War of the Worlds has to be the most influential in regards to invasion stories, particularly alien invasion. From what I remember, when H.G. Wells wrote this book in the late 19th century there was a wave of books popular that were known as just invasion books. Whether it was Germany, Belgium, or France, there was always a story about the home country fighting against the "alien" foreigner. Wells, from what i remember, (could be misremembering) wanted to do something different but also wanted to do a critique of the invasion stories, since it feed into the general idea that imperialism was a good thing. Hence, the martians where created as a sort of expy for europeans with humans as the indigenous peoples. Since malaria was such a huge killer for the colonizing armies rampaging in Africa (which was being divided amongst the european empires at the time of writing), having the martians be defeated by disease seemed very poignant. Granted, the author did make the martians very vampiric and very eldritch sounding in his physical description of them, so some liberties were taken! Sorry for the lengthy repy, whenever i see War of the Worlds mentioned, no one describes why in the context of the book and story it was written. As i have probably forgotten about a few details, please let me know if I forgot anything!

[@zammmerjammer]

It always seemed a bit improbable to me that the aliens would have advanced enough technology to travel space and nearly conquer our planet... but not have, like, discovered MEDICINE yet...? But... it's a story. so... whatever.

[@neilbiggs1353]

It's one of my favourite examples of why Sci Fi has always been 'woke' to annoy the people who try to use the word as a criticism

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

Thank you for sharing this vital and enlightening information.

[@mikect500]

​@@neilbiggs1353everything woke is terrible and sci fi, especially old Sci fi, is definitely not woke.

[@DaDunge]

@@zammmerjammer they're not that advanced in the book, it's suggested that they may have run out of resources on mars and the forces they sent to earth didn't win every fight the way they do in this movie.

[@FourthDrawerDown]

“ and looked at our planet with envious eyes.” ‘ I’m Morgan Freeman.’

[@joshfacio9379]

that wasnt morgan freeman, that was the voice of GOD!

[@Serai3]

Direct quote from H.G. Wells.

[@brozy5720]

Morgan Freeman can read a cook book to me and I'd be thrilled.

[@wrorchestra1]

They did some very clever uses of things from the original book. In the book, the Martians land in cylinders which open like a screw thread. The ground in the intersection unscrews. The protagonists hide in a house to sleep and a cylinder lands, sliding into the side of the house. They have an aircraft crash into the side of the house. They meet a military gunner who plans to dig underground and start a new world there. Tim Robbins character plans a similar thing. Also, his name is Ogilvy, the name of the astronomer in the book who first spots the launches from Mars. The ferry across the Hudson is a nod to the books scene with boats leaving England for the continent (minus the HMS Thunderchild fighting them) And that horn, one of the best sound effects, is described as "Ullah" in the novel.

[@glennfitzroy4352]

Originally in the HG Well's story the sound was "Aloo" and later when the Martians were dying the sound was "ullah". In Jeff Wayne's musical it was always just "Ullah". In my mind he could make it sound both triumphant or threatening and later more mournful when the Martians were dying with the tone and pace of the music. Just my take on it. I do love that they used the horn in this movie with e fighting machines.

[@ericc8705]

In case nobody else remembers ... Tom Cruise and Tim Robbins were co-stars in TOP GUN ... Tom Cruise was "Maverick" and Tim Robbins was "Merlin" -- they were teamed up at the end as Pilot and RIO (Radar Intercept Operator) during the final dogfight scene with the F14 Tomcats going up against the six "MIG-fighters" (painted Northrup F-5 fighters)

[@Replicaate]

I always find that darkly hilarious, considering what happens in the movie...guess Merlin was never quite the same after what Mav put him through in that final fight.

[@lesbird1041]

@@Replicaate You're gonna do what?

[@zmarko]

"Why is it always butt stuff?" 🤣 🤣

[@NHNuisance]

Something two Canadians might not pick up on from the start. The Boston Red Sox (son’s baseball hat) and New York Yankees (Ray’s baseball hat) hate each other and have had one of the deepest rivalries in sports history.

[@mjmullady]

That part always makes me laugh because it's such a big FU to the dad

[@MatthewMortensen1]

Yep, It's true. The Yankees suck.

[@Nic-ye2yz]

lol I never caught that. It's like as a Rams fan seeing someone with a 49'ers hat.

[@carladavis1473]

😂😂😂😂

[@Replicaate]

I wonder if that's Ray's old hat that Jack-49 picks up in Oblivion.

[@MA-ji1iz]

Was in the army: the technique is to pull the pin one way and the grenade itself the other way. You need a lot of force to pull the pin. You'd lose teeth trying to pull the pin with your teeth.

[@simonoleary9264]

There have been multiple adaptions to this novel. Bizarrely, one of the most faithful is the 1978 album "Jeff Wayne's musical version of The War of the Worlds", which is a Progressive Rock album telling the story, with famed actor Richard Burton narrating. Ps. This album is considered a classic and was further adapted into a stage show around 2000, complete with a huge Tripod fighting machine over the stage.

[@Geth-Who]

The spinning of the bike wheel in the basement is a nod to the original novel - it's explicitly mentioned that the Martians never invented the wheel, and all their tech involves artificial muscles of some sort. There's a survival game unofficially but heavily based on this movie, currently available for Steam wishlist. There's gameplay demos here on KZbin, it's AMAZING stuff.

[@SpookyBees]

I never knew that

[@LittleGalaxyBoy]

*Jeff Wayne's Musical The War of the Worlds* may be my favourite out of the films, novel, and of course the original radio broadcast. "No one would have believed In the last years of the nineteenth century That human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space"

[@stefanlaskowski6660]

One of my favorite albums of all time.

[@JayM409]

The chances of any thing coming from Mars, is a million to one, they say. But still, they came

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

Absolutely the best version, this movie was crap

[@DavidClark-dkc]

Love it I have the original album with Richard Burton and went to see the live show with Liam Neeson as the narrator.

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

@@DavidClark-dkc oh that sounds good! His voice is just fantastic, any recordings of that?

[@kjacob35]

In the cellar scene, one of the aliens pays particular attention to a bicycle wheel. This is a reference to the book when the main character observes that none of their technology seems to incorporate wheels and wonders if this lifeform's technological evolution had skipped over it's invention.

[@space1999]

The way they defeated the aliens in independence day (computer virus) was a nod to the war of the worlds book in which the virus kills the aliens...

[@DaDunge]

Except it's not viruses here it's bacteria.

[@space1999]

@DaDunge clearly but the director acknowledged it as a nod to the book and original

[@wolverineaquajock2]

This is one of the movies we watched in a Cultural Trauma course as an expression of post-9/11 feelings of panic and helplessness. Especially with Robby insisting that he needed to fight and join the military, without knowing if it was actually useful.

[@danielpena4472]

MAN I REMEMBER SEEING THIS MOVIE IN THE THEATERS TWICE AND JEEZ IT SO LOUD WITH THE EXPLOSIONS AND THE TRIPODS LOUD HORN THAT WAS ONE OF THE MOST INTENCE EXPERIENCES IVE HAD IN THE THEATERS.

[@OogaBooga2690]

LOUD NOISES!

[@danielpena4472]

@@OogaBooga2690 EXACTLY

[@Randomyoutubecommenter]

CAPS LOCK!!!

[@deathninja16]

same dude, my dad and i had to watch it the next day again to absorb it all. still one of my favorites of all time.

[@todgeking]

It was so loud you are still shouting apparently. 😛

[@Solingen1000]

Also something to note is this is only a few years after 9-11. So the beginning sequence would have been very...impactful at the time

[@noheadhollow]

People walking around in a daze covered in dust and ash, passenger jets crashing, aircraft seats and luggage strewn across a city. All were very fresh in the minds of viewers only four years after 9/11.

[@panelbypanelshow]

I didn't realize just how relatable the aliens' weakness is until I joined the Army. When I went to Basic Training, one of the first things they did was give us all hand sanitizer and told us we needed to have at all times. The reason being is because we all came from different parts of the country and the combining of all of the germs and microbes in confined spaces like the barracks was the equivalent of a giant petri dish. We were all coughing, sneezing, and sniffing for the first couple of weeks as our bodies adjusted to the new environment/living conditions.

[@sergeantbigmac]

Small side note: this is one of the very last contemporary Hollywood movies that show the US Army with the old school BDU uniforms, ALICE equipment, polished leather boots, early Kevlar, etc plus softskin Humvees. My Dad was in the Army at the time and literally right after this released he switched to the whole new digital uniforms and equipment. When I think "Army" the first image I have is still woodland camo though.

[@ChadSmith-ef4lu]

I know you guys don't do music reactions, but Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds from 1978 is amazing. Pure prog disco sci-fi insanity!

[@Dularr]

The Thunderchild is my favorite.

[@neilbiggs1353]

Has to be the 78 version. They've done a few updates and they just lose something without Richard Burton and Phil Lynott

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

best version, by a mile

[@shorty1x521]

Thanks for the recommendation! Im listening to it right now while walking my dog and am absolutely loving it

[@YourBeingParanoid]

@@shorty1x521 The artwork is a must too

[@karlmortoniv2951]

The movie actually tracks the book pretty closely once the alien stuff gets going, the red weed and so on. The book was written in 1898 so it takes place in a horse and carriage world, which is kind of a head trip to read and would be very cool to see on screen but those who have tried adapting it that way have concluded that it would be too expensive to stage a big alien invasion as a period piece. Orson Welles restructured the whole story as a fake radio broadcast when he did it which was awesome, but again transposed the story to the time he was making it. My Dad always got a laugh when he saw the grenade teeth thing in a movie. He said every bunch of new recruits in Korea would have one nerk who would try that in the heat of battle and end up yanking all his teeth out. As others have said, grenade pins are NOT easy to extract by design. Regarding the science question, how would we know if our bacteria would have an impact on aliens or not until it happened? We don’t know that’s absurdly wrong based on available facts. We haven’t met any aliens yet and confirmed (or not) any compatibility in how our biologies work so I figure it’s fair game. Jeff Goldblum uploading a virus off a Mac into the aliens’ mother ship in “Independence Day” seems like a bit of a stretch though, but it’s all good clean clean fun.

[@woof9408]

This movie became more scary after having my kids. That feeling of helplessness and fear of not being enough to protect your kids. Tom's character breaking down in the diner is what I'm sure many would feel in this situation.

[@javcube]

Here in Ecuador, in 1949 a local radio did the same broadcast, but with an active war conflict with another county, the things escalated too quickly that caused mas hysteria in the city of Quito, where the broadcast was made, churches opened and some started to give give open air mass absolution of sins to the people. Later, an angry mob formed and torched the building where the radio was. Most of the occupants could escape, but between 6 to 20 people died because of this.

[@ScarlettM]

20:30 - fun fact: "While filming the ferry attack sequence, Spielberg decided to troll Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning by playing John Williams' iconic theme from Jaws when they were in the water, using the soundstage's huge speaker system to blare it out."

[@AsylumSaint]

The splinter in the finger scene early in the movie foreshadowed the ending.

[@sammylane21]

My favorite shot is when Robbie and everyone turns around at the bridge as they hear the ominous sound of the Alien ships approaching the bridge. So cool.

[@rollingvee]

Think of what happened to native Americans upon first encountering Europeans, and the diseases that went on to kill them in high numbers as contact spread across North America. Sort of the same phenomena; but in reverse with this story. I've always thought it was one of the most brilliant resolutions in science/horror fiction. Hats off to the great H.G.Wells! Thanks for reacting to this wonderful movie. (I've always thought the lack of bodies in the crashed airliner scene, and Robbie's return at the end of the film hurt it somehow.)

[@MesserMusic]

Werent the passengers just vaporised? I can understand the robby part

[@sergeantbigmac]

Yep I remember reading in some class or textbook that researchers estimate around 90-95% of Natives Americans were killed from just disease alone without violent conflict. There was an early explorer (cant remember who) who wrote about sailing down the NE coastline and seeing fires and people as far as the eye could see. The vast majority of those people would be dead in the following decades/century for no other reason than making contact.

[@BoredMarcus]

well, the argument is that an alien species could have a very differnet organism so that bacteria from earth couldn't do anything to them. On Earth every complex organism is carbon-based and has cells. Bacteria or Viruses need cells to attac or to reproduce. On another planet life could evolve in a completely different way, for example silicon-based.

[@Murdo2112]

@@BoredMarcus Silicon-based life is often touted as an alternative to Carbon-based, but while it's possible, in theory, it's not actually very viable, and certainly not to form the complex structures for anything more than the simplest organisms. Alien life would certainly evolve along different paths, but there are limited options for the basic building blocks upon which that evolution is founded. Life in the universe, regardless of where it evolved, will almost certainly be based on Carbon and water: people who glibly say "ah, but it could be something completely different" don't understand the science. Given all that, it's entirely feasible that the principles of convergent evolution (life requires the same basic functions, to be achieved using the same basic elements and compounds and the same laws of physics and chemistry) would result in a similar cellular model, at a fundamental level. Once you have an organism comprising water-based cells, you have an environment in which bacteria can survive and multiply. That's all they need to do. The ensuing damage to cells, and the lack of an immune system suited to cope (in the book the Martians were said to have eradicated disease and infection completely, millions of years ago) will lead to failure of the higher systems that depend on processes at a cellular level.

[@howareyoualiveifyoudonteatbeef]

That was mentioned in the original story by HG Wells. He mentions the destruction of the native Tasmanians by the British being comparable with the Martians taking Earth.

[@bujin1977]

Ah, the radio broadcast of 1938. Love the Simpsons pisstake, especially the bit with the sound guy. "They're griding up the bodies of human beings!" "Now they're riding horses in the rain!" "Now they're playing the xylophone while bowling near an airport". 😆

[@wendydanielle3476]

I think Robbie’s character makes more sense if you view him as the hero and not Tom Cruise’s character. He helps his sister calm down and teaches his dad the right things to do with her, and again with others in the boat scene by helping them onboard. He’s a hero because he’s doing what’s right and going against the selfishness we see from other characters. Ray let’s him run towards the fight because he’s seen that his kid is going to be alright and has a good head on his shoulders, despite that he wasn’t there to watch his son grow into this person and even that the stepfather might just be okay even if Ray makes fun of him. And I think his actions is what inspires Ray to be a better dad and person.

[@Replicaate]

All of this. It’s why I’m not too miffed by his apparent miraculous return at the end, he’s a smart kid and probably did all the right things to survive on his own.

[@masamune2984]

“Some thingy from another world is gonna grab earth by the ball” sounds like a legitimate late 90’s/early 2000’s movie poster tagline.

[@thetntraider]

Fun fact, they actually used a decommissioned 747 for the plane crash scene. You actually drive through the set on the Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood!

[@twsteele1977]

The book's explaination for the bacteria thing is not that they got sick in the way that you or I would catch a cold, but that microbes that usually feast on dead and decaying matter just started feasting on the aliens and their crops since they did not have the immune system to fight them off and were therefore just like food. The book says the aliens did not anticipate this because they had completely eliminated microbes on Mars (their home planet) for millenia.

[@TonganHalfBreed]

The military scenes really are so well done. When you first see them before they fought back against the aliens but I believe it was just a huge Army convoy with just army grunts and armor. But when they are fighting the aliens the soldiers are noticeably mixed of Army and Marines with multiple vehicles from not just both but the Air Force as well. Showing us exactly how desperate the situation is that the military is so completely exhausted in soldiers and resources that all branches had to combine to even attempt to fight back.

[@stefanlaskowski6660]

More likely its because Hollywood has no idea how to portray the military and doesnt actually care.

[@Replicaate]

That was a detail I actually never noticed until it was pointed out to me. Like you said, great way of showing-not-telling how dire the situation is that the world's biggest military is reduced to jumbled bands pulled from various branches.

[@DaDunge]

It's one of the things I like the least in this movie comapred to the book, in the book the humans actually score some wins. Yeah the aliens always come back with a solution to whatever the humans do but it's all misery porn.

[@lalalalisa41]

​@@DaDungeI mean, one perspective is that we're following a regular everyday guy. Feelings of helplessness, not knowing what to do, and misery would fit. Maybe if we followed someone more related to the military, we'd probably see some of said wins.

[@DaDunge]

@@lalalalisa41 We follow a regular guy in the book too but he gets to see some wins.

[@Karebear_8000]

18:27 “that would be so terrifying to witness!” Meanwhile just recently in London, Ontario there was just a train that was running on the tracks while on fire 😬

[@TheGoIsWin21]

It will never fail to crack me up that they tried to make Tom Cruise deadbeat dad as a crane operator in this movie. Union crane operators EASILY clear a six figure salary, and if you're experienced you can push over 250k-300k. Dude should be loaded 😂

[@Dularr]

More an absent father, who is working all the time.

[@enadegheeghaghe6369]

Well he had a very expensive car.

[@josefhorndl3469]

Weird comment. How do you know that he didn't run into depts and have to work, work, work to pay back? Even in real life sh*t happens!

[@TheGoIsWin21]

@@josefhorndl3469 it's totally possible. It's just WILDLY implausible, and that's what's funny about it to me. A single man making $150,000 a year shouldn't have any financial issues, even if he DOES make terrible choices, even with supposed child support. It would be an absolutely insane amount of debt for it to make a significant impact in his living

[@aricteneyck7722]

There's no amount of money you can make that you can't squander.

[@robertstuart480]

The best adaptation of H.G. Wells' novel is the 1953 version. Y'all should check that one out sometime.

[@zvimur]

Mom's parents played the main characters in '53😂

[@neilbiggs1353]

That version is pretty manky to me. I'm still waiting for someone to do a good adaption and keep the Victorian setting. For me, the film that comes closest to capturing the novel is actually Cloverfield, especially with the very raw way that they capture the ordinary people caught up in the events well beyond their control. The energy for that one is right

[@stefanlaskowski6660]

Agreed.

[@JayM409]

@@zvimur - So, your grandparents.

[@MesserMusic]

@@neilbiggs1353 they’ve also reacted to that. They liked it also.

[@mikerhodes8454]

I have never wanted an "angsty teen" character to die in a movie as much as Robbie.

[@hermanrobak1285]

Both of the children were grating in this movie. They were unworthy of their plot armor.

[@NeelTheSphynx]

The crashed plane set still exists on the universal backlot, fire and smoke effects still active. It's now a part of the backlot tram tour.

[@toddjones1480]

You can also walk through it during Halloween Horror Nights as part of the Terror Tram.

[@davidanderson1639]

Fun Fact: Ann Robinson who played Sylvia van Buren & Gene Barry who played the Dr. Clayton Forrester in the 1953 film appear at the end of the Spielberg adaptation as the grandparents. The 1953 adaptation is a personal favourite of mine; as is another of George Pals adaptations of HG Wells novels, the 1960 version of The Time Machine. Also, if you like giant tripods, may I recommend the cult 80s BBC series ‘The Tripods’ based on the novels of the same name by John Christopher.

[@SirHenryMaximo]

18:53 If memory serves, in the DVD commenary it was said the birds going towards the tripods were meant to be a reversal of the ideia of following the birds to safety.

[@xjamesx7047]

There's one deleted scene in this movie that was unfortunately taken out weeks before the release back in June 2005. As soon as the trio made it across Hudson River, the trio enters the town called Camelot. While they ventured into Camelot and a whole bunch of Tripods came passing by. Some even went to grab some people across the townhouse buildings in Camelot as using their tentacles. (This is the part where they began harvesting people) The trio makes it through the overrun town of [Camelot] and they came really, really close to a Tripod as it walk right over (The trio are hiding in an abandoned SUV) After all of that ruckus, they moved out of Camelot and while they make it out they witness and saw the "Red Weed" for the first time. (Chronologically this was suppose to be the first encounter of the Red Weed than later in the movie when they are at the basement) Next they took another route by going with the refugees, that's leading to the next scene where the hill-battle fighting takes place. Also fun fact. There are only two Tripods in the film. 3 lights indicates they are normal fighting machines acting like NCOs/non-commissioned officers. The 5 lights indicates they are the generals acting like their COs/commanding officers. And they are packing huge firepower than the average normal fighting machine.

[@stevemccullagh36]

Spielberg in the editing room: "On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. 'Tis a silly place."

[@Replicaate]

I wish they'd left that scene in there, cos it'd correspond to the scenes in the book of people escaping the black smoke by climbing onto roofs, only to get yoinked by the tripods.

[@ripflex2167]

The Electromagnetic shielding was confusing the birds internal compass North thingy... making them circle around the Alien's Machines.

[@cafeabasedecinema]

I remember when WofW came out many critics didn't appreciate the lack of city destruction shown like it was in Independence Day or other disaster films in previous years. But it was a great achievement showing everything by protagonist perspective. Three years later Cloverfield was released in first person.

[@katrinaleebaldwin4660]

What I like about this movie is that Tom is not a hero. He’s just a guy trying to survive. His son is the “hero” in that he goes out of his way to help and is drawn to help others.

[@captainchaos3667]

Never forget who _really_ rules the Earth: the bacteria. We're just an interesting footnote by any measure (numbers, mass, variety, spread, hardiness, you name it they win).

[@XeonAlpha]

You would think a species that has the knowledge to exterminate an inhabited planet would have known about microbes.

[@zammmerjammer]

Well, if we do colonize space, we'll be a very convenient delivery system for the microorganisms to colonize along with us.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

​@@XeonAlpha The book i implied Mars didn't have pathogens The aliens where more advanced than us in some ways, but less in others They never invented the wheel for example, they could have never invented a microscope

[@howareyoualiveifyoudonteatbeef]

Bacteria will be here until the Sun eventually burns out. Humans can't compete by numbers and rate of evolution. We need bacteria to survive. It's an incredible dependency.

[@DaDunge]

@@XeonAlpha You underestimate just how many types of bacteria there are.

[@glennwelsh9784]

Parts of the movie were filmed in New Jersey, only a couple towns away from me. The choice of production location is actually a nod to the Orson Welles radio broadcast which caused a huge panic locally due to its mention of real New Jersey locations, particularly the small town of Grover's Mill (a plaque was later erected in Grover's Mill, commemorating the broadcast). It was a big deal for Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise to be filming a movie together nearby, but unfortunately I couldn't visit the production.

[@isabellegarza9070]

0:02 From what George asked about the bacteria and what the movie narrated would conclude this: These beings came to Earth millions of years ago. The atmosphere was different. The history of humanity deserving our rightful places to be here on Earth and has endured life treating bacterial diseases through thousands of years. Remember we were vaccinated so we could be immune. I don't know what the alien's were thinking but from narration it sounds that they underestimated the human beings. Not from gun power more from a tiny cell. Maybe that's why other aliens do butt checks to see what humans are discarding.?

[@RaedViera]

Spielberg has said that this movie is his reaction to 9/11. If you notice, the cinematography has the same feeling as the videos of that day. It's the cool simplicity of this story, it changes with the times, from the cold war to modern warfare.

[@CinHotlanta]

"Why are they taking them??" "... butt stuff??" 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆

[@zombiepicnic9683]

"Yeah but they got Gundams...." You both had some gems this movie, but this one takes the cake.

[@andreallaodeazevedo8101]

I recall the absolute mistery about the tripods design... Spielberg and the crew from ILM made a truly remarkable job keeping the aliens visuals and its machines a military-grade secret until the premiere. No leaked production photos or designs, the trailers and teasers never came close to revealing or suggesting how the invading aliens were supposed to look like. The tripods design are fantastic, I love how they made the aliens created machines that resemble their anatomy.

[@Pink.andahalf]

Dakotah Fanning screaming in this movie aggravated my mother's tinnitus quite a bit. It's my main memory of it.

[@AdhamOhm]

7:38 The way the whole intersection slowly rotates is a reference to original War of the Worlds novel where the top of the alien cylinder unscrews open like a jar lid.

[@GracefulBearOnStilts]

A large portion of this adaptation is also an observed response from Spielberg on the events and aftermath of 9/11. You've got the running through destruction and dust, the missing posters all on the board before the ferry, Robbie's intent and desire to fight back and do something after everything done to us, etc.

[@effluviah7544]

Healthcare worker here to respond to George at the end! So, if the autoimmune response theory is correct here (aliens exposed to human bacteria/viruses/environmental contaminants/etc.) and it caused them to have an autoimmune style response, then this would likely be more similar to something called a Cytokine Storm. Explanation below: A cytokine storm is effectively when you have an extreme multi-systemic autoimmune response, typically acute in nature (rapid onset), which results in your cytokine cells and other immune system cells starting to attack your vasculature and native tissues, resulting in oedema (swelling), breakdown of vasculature (internal bleeding and inflammation), and organ failure, among other complications such as cardiac and respiratory complications. Cytokine storms are awful and typically fatal, as it is difficult to stabilise effectively as it is your own cells destroying your own body. There are cases of patients surviving, however quality of life is often lowered due to damage to organs etc., potentially including the brain. Based on the behaviour of the aliens, assuming we are witnessing them have a cytokine storm-like response to contaminants on Earth, it looks to me as though the giant spindly "walkers" may be experiencing neurological symptoms indicative of autoimmune inflammation starting to cause neurological damage. Their shields may drop as they are no longer able to expend the energy/concentration/resources to maintain them as they become more critically ill. This is a massive simplification of what a cytokine storm is, and certainly not all autoimmune responses are cytokine storms. But given the rapid onset of the alien's fragility, it seems like a strong multi-systemic acute autoimmune inflammatory issue rather than a more drawn out one-- Although we can't rule that out either, based on what we know. I hope that's interesting/helpful at all!

[@lobachevscki]

This is well and good if we assume alien's physiology can be compared to ours which is not crazy to assume (the Aliens came to our world, they apparently breath oxygen, they have similar tolerances to temperature and gravity and so on) but this response is not even true for a lot of mammals, bats and pangolins for example can deal with a mind blowing amount of pathogens that are very foreign to them (thats why they are such a reservoir for strange viruses); sharks and other cartilaginous fishes's physiology and anatomy is so fundamentally different to mammals their immune system also works in a fundamentally different way as well and the scenario explained simply does not happen and they can survive a huge amount of foreign pathogens and this is not counting invertebrates. It is equally valid to assume that alien might be completely different in the ways shark are to us. The more basic answer, as i mentioned in another comment, is that substances still react chemically, so if an alien race 'ingest' earth bacteria the bacteria probably won't have ways to biologically hang to their new host but they will react chemically and they might act as poison. So the bacteria didn't interact with the aliens using biochemical pathways that were selected by evolution, they interacted because they are still made of chemicals that will interact with other chemicals in some fashion. From the perspective of the aliens a bacteria is an organic compound like sulfur and they might get poisoned by them in the same way sulfur can be poisonous to us. Organic compounds can totally be so extremely poisonous and gruesome as we see in the movie.

[@kingfield99]

I'm from the actual town in England where the original H G Wells novel is set. As a kid it was wild to read about all the local villages I knew getting heat ray'ed to oblivion.

[@frannydai]

"War of the Worlds: some sh*t from another world is gonna grab Earth by the ball." 😂

[@2old4gamez]

The burning train is such a haunting image. Als, if you try to pull grenade pins with your teeth best have dentist on standby.

[@nickstark8640]

This is definitely one of those films you don’t want to examine too closely. It’s not a realistic scenario. For one thing, tall buildings require a deep foundation. It’s not possible for them to have buried these machines and never be discovered. It’s best to watch a film like this while suspending all logic. Suspension of disbelief.

[@TheNowhereMan0]

Fun fact: Ogilvy (Tim Robbins' character) is the first victim's name of The War of The Worlds novel.

[@ravensdark99]

People nowadays cant even understand how scary the original radio show on this was. People literally shat their pants..it was the prime example of a social media hype decades before that was a thing..which really shows you how brilliant Orson Wells was

[@Mr_Incognito113]

I’ve heard that the reaction of listeners of the time thinking it was real is an exaggeration, and everyone knew what they were hearing was a work of fiction but had a realism they were not used to.

[@lindah5910]

Remember that H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" novel was published in 1898.

[@spencerarnold669]

Aliens: "Sorry Gerorge, we didn't know about covid when we left our planet 500 light years from now..... we had all our jabs for small pox, thats what our scouts said was the bad one right?" Its amazing that in one of the first attempts to writing a world invasion story in the 1800's H G wells came up with a much better ending to overcome unwinnable odds than 'we need to blow up the biggest ship and then everything else dies'

[@jimbruton9482]

Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, the main characters in the 1953 adaptation, had a cameo appearance in the 2005 movie, playing the Grandparents near the ending. Nice touch!

[@CorgyOntoppya]

The original story is a quick, easy read. I highly recommend it.

[@adriansue8955]

Alien Mecha I like how the Tripod machine's design closely resembles the physiology of the alien's themselves. it's basically their version of a Gundam

[@bamjo8750]

My head canon is that the aliens picked up the equivalent of an antibiotic resistant bacteria, like MRSA or something. They were over-confident in their advanced medicine and were caught by surprise. But you're right, it doesn't really make sense. Still, not too bad for a story written in 1895.

[@neilbiggs1353]

If I was to do a sequel to the original story, I'd love to play with the concept that the invasion was intended to fail, the real goal was to leave technology behind that would lead humanity to wipe out a lot of the population before the proper invasion began

[@Replicaate]

@@neilbiggs1353 Incidentally in the original novel, the protagonist witnesses additional launches from Mars but since the planets have moved position the subsequent alien expeditions are headed for Venus now - and if that sounds stupid, remember until the 70's most people thought that Venus had a comparable climate and conditions to Earth - BUT if we handwave that that and assume a less dangerous Venusian environment, a sequel could do a lot with an Earth boosted by alien tech coming back into contact with the Martians-now-Venusians. Maybe set during the 1940s as an interplanetary twist on WW2?

[@SchrodingersTransCat]

The nonsensical behaviour of the aliens makes perfect sense when you realise it's secretly a live-action Invader Zim movie. "Why did you bury yourselves where we ought to have found you long ago, and come down in lightning when you could have just landed in ships? And why weren't you prepared for germs?" "Silence! You can never understand our amazing brains!"

[@Commander-Appo]

We need a counter for how many times Simone says Jesus

[@NielsRiethorst]

More specifically ‘jeepers!’

[@lawrencejones1517]

Yeah, War of the Worlds is an amazing story! The original story was written that the story takes place around the time it was written, the 1890s. When Orson Wells did his radio play he kept the contemporary point of view, resetting in the 1930s. In 1953, they made the first movie adaption, and it was legendary! And oh so 50s! They kept it contemporary, but they put their own spin on it, starting with the shields. An amazing movie, and I think that this should put it on your to watch list! Anyways, there was also a TV series in the 80s which I remember liking at the time, but as I don't really remember much of it, I have no idea ow well it held up. Then there's Independence Day. Take out some of the things that we know won't fly, like no intelligent life on Mars, and make them an interstellar species. Go for a really over the top 90s style action, use a play on the original method for defeating the aliens, throw in an all star cast and you have the most over the top take on War of the Worlds. And contrary to some opinions, it is in fact another adaption of War of the Worlds. Then we come to this version. I was really looking forward to this when I heard that Spielberg was directing it, and while some complained, I thought that he did a magnificent job adapting it! He basically homaged the book, the radio play, and the first movie adaption! He went and used tripod war machines, which was from the book, the basement scene where he chops the 'electric eye' was from the 50s movie. It starts out in New Jersey which was from the radio play. There's a fair bit more, but Spielberg also added his own ingredients to it, like riding the lightning, and the machines being buried, and some modern touches like the crazy storm and showing the human condition as only he can.

[@CaptainAndroc]

I love that the Tripods and "Martians" share the same design.

[@roninprofessor]

You should do the original film from the 50’s-60’s. I actually saw it on reel to reel film as a kid in the 80’s at my local library.

[@kevinklare6436]

“Do you think TC will full sprint in this movie?” George, the over/under on when that happens is like 18 minutes

[@chrischarlescook]

I was a projectionist when this film came out. It received a lot of backlash locally on release, because the trailer featured cities across the globe. Whereas the story is actually localised. Little factoid for ya.

[@okreylos]

32:10 Depends on the model and manufacture of grenade, I guess, but the ones I knew would have pulled your teeth out. Our instructors were *very* explicit about never attempting to do the "movie toothy thing."

[@jp3813]

This was the 2nd collaboration between Tom Cruise & Steven Spielberg (tons of 9/11 inspired imagery). The first was Minority Report (2002), which most consider to be the superior film.

[@joshfacio9379]

i heard that after cruise kept trying to get spielberg into scientology even going so far as to try to get spielbergs kid off medicine he was prescribed and having people go to the kids school spielberg had had enough.

[@ch44227]

Never been in the army but I've heard that too. That if you tried to pull them out with your teeth, your teeth may come out too. The pins are purposely made to be difficult to remove so you don't accidentally do it.

[@Pamtroy]

This is the most faithful adaptation I've seen. It captures what Wells wanted to convey -- the terror of societies under attack by a technology they can barely comprehend.

[@Replicaate]

Yeah, that’s kinda why I prefer it to even the 50s movie (which I DO like a lot!) because it’s so much closer to the tone of the book. No scientists, no generals, no world leaders and rational minds; just absolute terror and shock and all our protags can do is run.

[@scoot-f5y]

The girl who plays Tom Cruise's daughter really shows off her superb acting chops in the movie 'Uptown Girls', co-starring Brittany Murphy. A movie I would highly recommend to anyone. In fact, when I'm finished with this, I'm gonna go and re-watch it.

[@eshuorishas9987]

33:35 yeah everyone in our theatre was like “what?!” When we saw the son lived. Such crap

[@hermanrobak1285]

It was about as (un)gratifying as the survival of that little dog in the movie _2012._

[@CorranHorn84]

I remember a saying going around online about the daughter years later to the effect of: "Worst item to have in an apocalypse ever!"

[@cangaroojack]

"Why are aliens always naked when they go to another planet? Exept for Indipendance Day" You sir, are forgetting one of the greatest, pherhaps the single best alien invasion movie of all time, which is, of course, Mars Attacks

[@BoredMarcus]

we could see their brain though 🤣

[@alolkoydesigns]

I love the use of showing things indirectly through reflections in windows, car mirrors, video camera monitors. It somehow brings in into the movie more.

[@marquisdesade3025]

I can’t recommend Ghostwatch enough. I saw it for the first time the other night, and I love it. And it caused somewhat of it’s own War of the Worlds panic in England in 1992.

[@UndeadBex]

I agree! y'all should check out Ghostwatch!! It's so fun!

[@aniket8350]

OH MY GOD that would be so awesome

[@bujin1977]

Scared the shit out of me as a teenager (in Wales, not England...). I saw it for the first time since 1992 a few years ago, and *my GOD* that is one cheesy production! 🤣🤣

[@marquisdesade3025]

@@bujin1977 should I have said UK? My bad

[@bujin1977]

@@marquisdesade3025 No problem. 😁