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ok...i'm sooo into War of the Worlds. probably the best sci-fi movie ever. and it happens to be my fave sci-fi novel, though i didn't really like its original old classic WWI setting. u c...its written in 1890s by H.G. Wells. Quite a feat for a sci-fi writer in his period. Anyway i feel so 'honoured' to have read the bk long before anybody and to see the story alive in the movie is just satisfying.
so...for those who have watched it and want to noe how it deviates from the original story...well feel free to read my penny of thought.
*** WARNING: IF U HAVE NOT WATCHED THE MOVIE, PLEASE DON'T SCROLL DOWN. SPOILER ALERT ***
the original novel, like the movie, focuses on a character....unlike Independance Day which gave an overview of the aliens vs humans war. This itself adds a new twist against the backdrop of dread aura exuded by those aliens. Heres the difference: H.G. Wells wrote about a gentlemen, who obviously got separated from him loved ones in the midst of the attack, then met some artillerymen along the way and managed to survive blablabla....then u noe wat happens.....while Spielberg's version is in the form of a divorced father who raced to survive and save his children from the merciless aliens, portraying the transition from his once selfish attitude to one of a selfless father. obviously there's a message Spielberg wanna reach out to us behind it.
Spielberg's alien-landing and the way it was buried in the ground via lightnings that strike menacingly on the same spot ( quoting tomcruise: lightning never strikes twice on the same spot......) is apparently his own original idea. probably tailored to make the movie more scary. Wells' version is more of a slowly-wait-and-see situation. there's this astronomist who happened to spot some cylinders via his telescope flying off the surface of Mars, heading towards our very planet. Slowly,at different intervals, more cylinders were launched from Mars, one after another. Then, one by one, they landed on earth, and the inferno begins.
There are still a lot more but im going to round things up with the aliens themselves. The novel is obviously filled with 'aliens' everywhere - jellyfish-shaped, huge bird beaks, evilish eyes, tentacles, no legs. However, it's different for the movie. For once, I thought the aliens in Independance Day had jumped ship to War of the Worlds, coz they look pretty much the same. big ET eyes, humanoid shape, exoskeleton skin and shell, and black.
But it's kinda a waste to end the movie just like that. Spielberg is asking WotW fans to smack him. the ending part of the novel is kinda sombre anyway....scientists taken alien bodies to operating tables....autopsy....learn more about the alien physiology....makes sure they're prepared for another invasion....Spielberg should have added this part...and I prefer it to end with TomCruise saying "Told you Boston is safe....." .....nah. it was not to be. but not bad for a movie filmed in 7 months...YES 7 SHORT MONTHS!!..and in only 27 filming sessions! i can understand Spielberg's desire to showcase the movie a.s.a.p...he had been waiting for like 7 years...he wanted to film WotW in 1997 but there was already another movie of about the same concept. Independance Day was the title.
I give it a 3.5-4.0 out of 5.
lemme quote this movie critic webby: WotW was obviously a grade-B movie, but what a grade-B movie!!!