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From SCIFIPEDIA
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War of the Worlds (2005) is based on the novel by H. G. Wells, but updated to the 21st century. The film stars Tom Cruise as a Boston dock worker swept up in the tumultuous events surrounding an invasion of the Earth by extraterrestrials. Cruise plays a divorced dad, Ray Ferrier, whose teenage son and young daughter are visiting for the weekend when the invasion begins. The arrival of the aliens is presaged by a mysterious and dramatic lightning storm. In no time, giant tripod walking machines (buried, we later learn, perhaps millions of years ago) erupt from the ground and begin to blast people, cars, and buildings with ferocious beam weapons. Panic follows. Ray and his children go on the run, seeking safety and refuge from the tripods. Along the way they get caught up in a number of spectacular attacks, escapes, and adventures. Highlights include a tripod attack on a ferry, and a suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse with an alien probe device in a farmhouse basement.
Although this film is somewhat more faithful to the novel than George Pal’s 1953 version, it is first and foremost a visual spectacle. The effect of the tripods' beams on people is particularly gruesome, turning flesh and bone to dust in an instant, but leaving the victim’s clothes untouched. During the first attack, Ray gets covered in this dust in a scene that is clearly meant to evoke the events of 9/11 in New York City.
Interestingly, if Ray is a hero at all in this movie, it’s only on a small scale. He doesn’t take on the aliens and save the planet single-handedly. His heroism is expressed on a more personal scale. Ray fights to save himself and his children, and all his efforts are directed toward that cause.
War of the World was directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Josh Friedman and David Koepp. The music was composed by John Williams, and special effects were supervised by Dennis Muren of Industrial Light and Magic.
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