07-03-2005, 09:43 PM | #41 (permalink) |
Little known...
Location: Brisbane, Australia
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Yeah yeah yeah...
I went into this expecting it to suck bigtime, and it didn't... But it wasn't very good either... Firstly, thanks to Uncle Steve, we knew that Spoiler: Robby would miraculously survive his sojourn over the ridge of death, despite some kind of napalm strike seconds after he departed. Because as if Speilberg would have a sad ending, not to mention the oh so subtle symbolism of the statue at the end there... Secondly as everyone's already pointed out the plot had some absolutely ridiculous aspects. The only excuses I can come up with are really stupid ones like Spoiler: the aliens planted the machines there, kind of like combine harvesters, and were waiting for complex life to develop so they could 'farm' us. But frankly, I think a set up like the Matrix would probably be a lot more efficient, and safe. and so on... Lastly, the aliens I found fairly unimpressive, their weapons were... in inefficient to say the least. The only scenes that made me squirm were the Spoiler: people killing other people in desperation, which is an aspect of the 'end of the world' scenario that I think is the scariest of all. The British version of Threads for instance, scared the crap out of me as a youngster. The dude climbing through the windshield with his bare hands, ugh... All in all, worth the price of admission, if you're a student or senior... :P |
07-03-2005, 10:04 PM | #42 (permalink) |
32 flavors and then some
Location: Out on a wire.
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Part of what made the aliens scary was that
Spoiler: We don't know why they planted the machines, or why the activated them now. The motive was, well, alien. But I completely agree with you about the human element being even scarier: Spoiler: The scariest part being when the mob attacks the van, and Cruise has to take it back at gunpoint, and then has it taken from him at gunpoint, and then that man is murdered for it. It had a Lord of the Flies quality to the savagery shown.
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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that. ~Steven Colbert |
07-03-2005, 10:13 PM | #43 (permalink) | ||||
Free Mars!
Location: I dunno, there's white people around me saying "eh" all the time
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Looking out the window, that's an act of war. Staring at my shoes, that's an act of war. Committing an act of war? Oh you better believe that's an act of war Last edited by feelgood; 07-03-2005 at 10:20 PM.. |
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07-04-2005, 04:50 AM | #44 (permalink) |
Insane
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I just saw this yesterday. I thought it was just okay the ending and plot irks have alreay been brought up. Was it entertaining? Yes, but I guess I expected more from the movie. I do love that little Dakota Fanning though she's going to be a really good actress as she gets older.
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07-04-2005, 09:27 AM | #45 (permalink) | |||
Watcher
Location: Ohio
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--Spoiler: Somehow they have this super advanced tech, but no biology. Okay...I can't blame Steve S. for that though, it's an old book. --Spoiler: Son surviving. Given the movie's overall tone of realism, that was a distinct knock against that theme. Why bother to be (overall) a realistic view of an alien invasion, then throw in straight BS happy ending? The kid ran into a firestorm per some unexplained shmarmy internal thing "he had to do." Well, that was just a cheap plot device to put big Tom in the position of choosing his young daughter or his estranged son. It was poor form, especially from Speilburg. Generally speaking, when people run into a battle line that is completely decimated by an overwhelming force, they don't live. True realizm would be an orbital bombardment or a virus engineered to attack humans. War against technology high enough to travel the stars does not need to include anything landing on earth, period. If you want our land, but not us, at all, there's no reason not to nuke a planet senseless from orbit. Or, use kenetic projectiles big enough to destroy cites but not leave radiation. If one has to fly by a asteroid belt to get to earth, why not snag one or two? Or, you problably have biology skills sufficient enough to exterminate us via disease. Either way, there's simply no reason to come mop us up personally. That whole concept is driven by the need to make a movie where humans have a chance. If you can fly the stars, it's likely you can destroy us from orbit, but that would make a shitty movie. Quote:
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I'm just going to 2nd that, and move on. It was not a "bad" movie, but it was far from "good." I think this makes the first time I went to see a Spielburg movie and left it feeling truely let down.
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I can sum up the clash of religion in one sentence: "My Invisible Friend is better than your Invisible Friend." Last edited by billege; 07-04-2005 at 09:34 AM.. |
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07-04-2005, 10:06 AM | #46 (permalink) | |
Free Mars!
Location: I dunno, there's white people around me saying "eh" all the time
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Looking out the window, that's an act of war. Staring at my shoes, that's an act of war. Committing an act of war? Oh you better believe that's an act of war Last edited by feelgood; 07-04-2005 at 10:16 AM.. |
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07-04-2005, 11:01 AM | #47 (permalink) | |
Watcher
Location: Ohio
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Yeah, I caught that. My point is that I don't understand the point in burying superadvanced fighting machines deep in the earth, then leaving them there for untold (but implied to be) lengths of time. <i>Then</i> come back via lightening storm so much later. I suppose one can explain that by saying "their motivation is truley alien" so we're not supposed to understand. But, that's lame. Why an alien species could take over the planet, but chose to bury machines and wait 1000 years, is beyond me.
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I can sum up the clash of religion in one sentence: "My Invisible Friend is better than your Invisible Friend." |
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07-04-2005, 11:13 AM | #48 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: Toronto
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what is ID4? |
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07-04-2005, 11:19 AM | #49 (permalink) | ||
Free Mars!
Location: I dunno, there's white people around me saying "eh" all the time
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Looking out the window, that's an act of war. Staring at my shoes, that's an act of war. Committing an act of war? Oh you better believe that's an act of war Last edited by feelgood; 07-04-2005 at 11:21 AM.. |
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07-05-2005, 12:44 PM | #50 (permalink) | |
<Insert wise statement here>
Location: Hell if I know
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It was stated in the movie that the machines were buried a long time ago and that the aliens rode the pods down into them so that they could control them and destroy all humans (and cows). The writers/producers/director could have kept the aliens method of travel from mars to the earth the same as it was in the book, and had the movie make a whole lot more sense. Which for those of you who don't know: The aliens shot over in large cylindrical objects, had the machines unscrew the lid on it (from the inside, the machines and aliens where both inside the cylinders), and proceeded to do what they did best. Would have fixed so many plot holes. Cause it takes a really, really, really^extremely, powerful telescope to see something the size of a bacteria on another planet.
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Apathy: The best outlook this side of I don't give a damn. |
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07-06-2005, 07:56 PM | #52 (permalink) |
Psycho
Location: Salt Lake City
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how could it be id4 when it was a remake of a movie that was done IN THE 50's!!!! seriously (btw i know you don't actually think it's a sequel you jsut think it was really alike) ID4 was cheesy and more humerous than WotW. Which i liked more about wotw is it was more serious and dark.
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The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish your feelings. Words shrink things that seem timeless when they are in your head to no more than living size when they are brought out. -Stephen King |
07-07-2005, 09:17 PM | #53 (permalink) | |
Little known...
Location: Brisbane, Australia
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07-08-2005, 05:53 AM | #54 (permalink) |
Who You Crappin?
Location: Everywhere and Nowhere
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ok, i'm not reading this thread again until I see the movie. You people need to use the spoilers option. What's the point of answering spoiler questions without a spoiler tag?
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"You can't shoot a country until it becomes a democracy." - Willravel |
07-08-2005, 07:49 AM | #55 (permalink) |
Guest
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I loved the movie, very close to the original text indeed.
I could have done without the whole errant father nonsense, but thought the rest of the film was absolute classic Speilberg fare. I too was confused as to why they changed the original version of the story and Spoiler: had the machines buried underground long before the aliens turned up to drive them but imagine it was made that way Spoiler: as an excuse to show a block get demolished by an emerging tripod. Also, Spoiler: the TV crew bit was unnesessary, knowing that the aliens rode lightning bolts into the earth didn't add anything, and may have actually detracted from the sense of dark mystery that should exist about an alien invader that's planned man's destruction for millenia - it kind of cheapened it Anyway, I reccommend you read the text of the story, at some point - it's really incredible to think that such a contemporary idea was conceived over 100 years ago. |
07-09-2005, 03:45 PM | #56 (permalink) |
Rookie
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Spoiler: I'd assume that everyone realises that we've got it figured out that the aliens come bursting out of the ground, but just in case I'll make this a spoiler. Anyway, my beef is that dropping aliens into pods that have been buried for millenia would be a bit like dropping us into a maggot town (as the analogy goes) with rocks and sticks instead of guns, flame throwers, etc. With ten thousand years of evolution and using our brains the weapons we have now have... uh... progressed a bit.
I'll give this movie 0 stars of 5. I hated it. The first scene happened and I sat there wishing it was over. Probably the scene with the lightning was the scariest, then it was all the same thing over and over again. Now two and a half hours later I'll grateful that I'm not there.
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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well." Emo Philips Last edited by Gatorade Frost; 07-09-2005 at 07:39 PM.. |
07-29-2005, 09:50 AM | #57 (permalink) |
is awesome!
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I thought the purpose of this movie was to offer an opposite view of alien encounters from Speilberg's earlier work on Close Encounters and E.T. and in many respects it did. But then we get to see the actual aliens Spoiler: they're cute and chirpy with big doe eyes. It just doesn't match their behavior of frying every human they see.
Tom Cruise was horrible as usual, the man has no business acting. We're supposed to believe he's some kind of gritty longshoreman while he looks like he just stepped out of an abercrombie ad (I supposed to Cruise that would be slumming it). A lot of empathy I might of had for this character was sacrificed at the altar of Cruise's ego, making him look good. I was unclear on what the hell was going on with the spray and the red fungus. I figured the spray was some kind of anti-bacterial effort and the fungus was nature's response. Kind of like if you boil something it will grow much nastier mold than if you cook it at a lower temperature. You're naturally selecting only the toughest nastiest bacteria to grow and flourish without competition. The happy ending was ridiculous. With 3/5 of all humans on the planet dead somehow their mom is fine, her new husband is fine, apparently both sets of grandparents make it, and then the snotty teenager who we just saw run into certain death is fine. I rationalized the "machines buried a million years ago" thing by figuring that machines could be sent through space faster than living creatures. So they sent the machines ahead to wait for their pilots. Aside from the wrecked plane fusilage (how didn't that burn their house up?) I didn't find it to be exploitive of our 9/11 memories. Speilberg was certainly using things he saw from 9/11, but for the most part these things were not unique to that instance. He was trying to portray life during wartime and I'd say he did a good job, streams of refugees, missing persons boards, panic and chaos in the streets. He's made three of the best war movies of all time (Empire, Saving, Schindler) and I thought he did a good job of tapping that repository of images. Great action and effects, atrocious acting, zero empathy for the characters, I'll give it two of five stars. |
10-16-2005, 07:24 AM | #58 (permalink) |
Location: up north
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wow... everyone hated it.
i fucking loved it!! who cares if they dont explain it all? it's still fucking great. i'd see it again. edit: i just reread the book and it follows it prefectly. i mean the church going down? that's in the book, etc... i could name a few more.
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Last edited by MexicanOnABike; 10-17-2005 at 03:36 PM.. |
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