[zachary80]

Guys, it is called suspension of disbelief. That way you don't realize all the movie's faults until its over

 

[viator122]

I saw it over the weekend and I enjoyed it, but a few things bugged me, some of which have been mentioned.

1. The ferry scene (fantastic, btw) took place at the Hudson River in New York State. Must take a long time to walk to Boston, huh?

2. If these aliens are so technologically advanced that they can shoot an alien from outer space into a buried tripod, why can't they just drop the tripods in when they're ready to attack?

3. From the window in the basement we see that the tripods are sucking the fluid out of the people and then spraying out over the fields. Why? Is this fertilizer? Do these aliens want humans for food or do they just want the planet?

 

[redshifter]

didn't really read the thread, but saw it yesterday and [size=medium]WOW!![/size] that film blew my mind.

as a fan of the welles novel, the welles (orsen) radio play, the 1950's film, i totally dug spielberg's take on this. the tripods were exactly as i imagined them as a kid, and the digital effects were--as usual for spielberg--very solid and convincing.

the characters were a nice throwback to the "regular guy" jaws and close-encounters spielberg, and i thought the character developement with his daughter was handled nicely.

scene that "did it" for me--the ferry boat scene through the basement. OMG! what a sequence.

i'll be seeing it again.

 

[philodox]

Wait a second, Tom Cruise is in this movie? Ok, not seeing it anymore.

 

[dreamnid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zotjen What gets me is all the people who complained they didn't understand what was going on and that a lot of things weren't explained. That was the whole point and what I liked best about the film. You weren't supposed to know what was going on.

I agree with zotjen with his point. Remember that the movie's perspective is from a father who is trying to save his children - not the military like ID4. Therefor, he doesn't have the resources or care why the aliens are here, where they come from, what the red veins are for, etc.

Keep in mind that rumors start very easily in these situations. I think it was one of the officers who said the tripod were buried for million of years - he obviously didn't really know how long they were buried there and said as a hypebole. For all we know, they could have teleported it below the streets for a month.

Concerning the scene when Robbie wanted to go over the crest: maybe Speilberg wanted to take a moral from "Finding Nemo" where the father should be willing to let his son make his own decisions? After Ray went back to get Rachael, I guess Robbie took a quick peek and started to go back. He did get a head start over the other two since they were in the basement.

Some people were asking why the aliens went down to the basement for a visual inspection. I think they are just like any archaelogist - curious about the inhibatents. Remember they were playing around with the bicycle wheel and rummaging with other stuff in the basement.

When the army was able to shoot the tripods, I thought it was a ID4 thing too (same as jefemeister) where Ray was able to start the chain reaction. The conclusion just flew past me (didn't really understand what was going on) until my brother said they were talking about disease.

It was kinda funny (ok, very scary) when I watched the movie last night. It just so happens that when the alien's tentacle was just about to enter the man's basement, the lights briefly brightened, then both the lights and the projector turned off. At this point, people in the auditorium was very anxious and probably half expecting a Disney-like ride where the arm would appear moving around the house

Unfortunately, they announced it was a power surge (very coincidential I'm sure) and the movie resumed shortly. Case in point, I'm sure you'll see this movie being turned into an attraction at that Paramount park in FL

Another observation - I just saw this when looking up their names in IMDB - all of their names starts with 'R.' Not sure if there is some significance behind this.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie despite the inconsisties. I didn't read the book yet (better to see the movie first and then read the book ), so I did see the movie with an open mind.

 

[EyeAmEye]

Saw the film this weekend and certainly wasn't expecting it. I knew from what I had read about the film it wasn't typical family friendly Spielberg, but I was shocked at just how dark and grim it actually was.

Solid film throughout. Sure, there are some potential plot holes if you dig for them, but what movie doesn't have them? I especially liked the very abrupt ending, instead of Hollywood's typical long drawn out and spectacularly ridiculous endings. It kept things simple. A few questioned why aliens advanced enough to travel here and implant tripods in the earth for millions of years would be stupid enough not to figure out they couldn't handle earth-bound viruses, but that's part of what made the film good. It shows that despite their intelligence, they overlooked something that was perhaps rather obvious (humans do it all the time). Again, a simplicity in story telling (some may find that stupid), which is a refreshing change from the normal 800 hundred twists and "betcha didn't see that coming?" hollywood scripts.

 

[archosman]

You all should be ashamed for missing the most obvious...


Saw it again today and noticed that Tom's stereo was all NAD equipment! Looks like a 541i on top. Could be a 542 for all I know...