H G Wells War of the Worlds (2005 film)

Plot

On the surface of Mars, the Mars Rover is destroyed by an unknown source from the planet itself. Astronomer George Herbert (Howell) and his wife Felicity (Van Wyk Loots) are packing for a trip to Washington D.C. to celebrate their 10-year wedding anniversary. Georges son Alex tries to spot Mars through his telescope, but actually discovers a meteorite entering Earths atmosphere. George is called to work about the incident, and his wife and son leave early for Washington without him. As he drives to work, a crashing meteorite disrupts all technology in the area. An alien "walker" emerges from the meteorite and massacres the witnesses with a Heat-Ray, George barely escaping with his life. George decides to meet with his younger brother Matt in Hopewell before moving on to D.C., leaving as the aliens destroy his hometown.

Despite rumours that D.C. has suffered some of the worst of the invasion thus far, George continues his journey and meets with Sgt. Kerry Williams, the last remaining member of his squad. George and Kerry meet with Lt. Samuelson, a power-mad soldier with unrealistic notions of resistance against the invaders, who rejects George and Kerry as cowards. In Hopewell, the aliens launch a heavy insurrection and George and Kerry find Matt dying in the trail of destruction. George is separated from Kerry in the confusion and escapes the attack. A Pastor, Victor, finds George and describes his belief that the invasion is a form of the Rapture. The two continue on together towards D.C.. Victors faith in Christianity is deeply shaken when a former member of his church curses God for the death of her young children. George and Victor witness the final effort of the military to fight off the walkers who are overwhelmed as the aliens begin using chemical weapons to disperse their opposition.

The two seek refuge in the abandoned house of a veterinarian for food and medical supplies when the neighborhood is flattened by another of the aliens ships. Hiding in the houses ruins deep in the aliens camp, Victor concludes that God has abandoned them before rejecting his religion altogether. Rations become sparse and the aliens begin harvesting humans. George finds rabies vaccines with the hope that it can spread among the aliens and give them a chance to escape. Victor regains his faith after George successfully infects one of the aliens, but only before it kills Victor and leaves. George realizes after a few days that the aliens have left the area and he continues his journey on foot to Washington D.C.. George reunites with Kerry and Samuelson, who has made himself a general and is building a resistance under his own dictatorship. Samuelson senselessly murders Kerry, and George in turn murders Samuelson.

George finally reaches Washington, which is completely destroyed. He offers his life to a lone alien, but it drops dead in front of him. A handful of human survivors emerge and reveal to George that the aliens have been dying from either the Earths air or by a virus. George finds Felicity and Alex alive.

Cast

Adapting the novel

Director/editor/executive producer/co-writer David Michael Latt (who admits to never seeing the Byron Haskin/George Pal version or the 1988 television series, but has been a fan of the H.G. Wells novel since childhood) made it clear that his film changed certain aspects from the source material outside of the time and location. Most notable is that the tripods have been changed to six-legged crab-like machines called "walkers" (a result of allowing the effects team creative freedom).

The aliens are indeed Martians (though the film never states this, but is confirmed with an opening credit sequence using shots of the Red Planets landscape), but they bear little resemblance to their novels counterparts. Whereas Wells described his invaders as bear-sized tentacled creatures, the films Martians are insect-like with four tentacle-like legs. These aliens also have the ability to spit acid from their feet, which melts anything. At the end of the legs three tongue-like appendages closely resemble the Martian fingers from Byron Haskins 1953 film version of The War of the Worlds and the 1988 television series version.

The war machines are crab-like "walkers" with six legs. A Heat Ray is built into the machines "head", and is fired from a single eye. The fighting machines do not appear to have protection against modern artillery (avoiding the "invisible shields" seen in the 1953 film version and Steven Spielbergs 2005 film), leaving their ability to conquer unexplained. The aliens do have a substance similar to the black smoke, but is more of a dense green toxic gas unable to rise above ground level, allowing survivors to escape by getting to high places.

The protagonist is George Herbert, a reference to H. G. Wells. Rather than being a writer, as in the novel, he is an astronomer. The film leaves the eve of the war storyline and its characters almost completely absent. He also has a son, who is portrayed by Dashiell Howell, who is actually the son of Georges actor C. Thomas Howell.

Despite these differences, George goes through much of what befalls the novels protagonist, even in sacrificing himself to the Martians, only for them to drop dead of infection. He is also separated from his family and tries to reunite with once the invasion begins, Like the novel, they are alive in the conclusion. Georges brother, a Ranger, is less fortunate; he is seen only briefly after being fatally wounded in an attack by the invaders. In the book, the narrators brother takes up a major narrative role.

A major deviation from the text is that the protagonist actually tries to produce a means of stopping the Martians, but whether or not he is directly responsible for their downfall is ambiguous. There is a theme of disease throughout - Georges son is seen suffering a mild cold, while George himself suffers a major fever which leaves him incapacitated for two days.

The novels Artilleryman is divided into two characters. The first, Kerry Williams, exhibits the defeated status. He accompanies George as they move to unaffected areas, meeting soldiers oblivious to the danger they will soon face, until they become separated when George takes refuge underwater to elude the Martians. After his ordeal in the ruined house, George encounters same defeated Williams again. Instead, the other personality, portrayed in the novels later stages, is Lt. Samuelson.

The novels unnamed Curate is films Pastor Victor. While the two are very similar, the pastor is optimistic and is sure that the invasion is the Rapture. However, his faith is deeply shaken when he meets a congregate who screams against God for the loss of her family, causing the Pastor to question why he himself has yet to be taken. Unlike the Curate, the Pastor keeps his composure when hes trapped in the ruined house as he wrestles with his thoughts. Where the Curate had to be subdued in the novel, the Pastor regains his faith just before he is killed by the Martians.

The film includes homages to the 1953 film. The aliens hands deliberately resemble those of the Martians of the 1953 film, and the protagonists of each film both actively try to weaken the aliens, another deviation from the novel.

Reception

The film has received mixed reception with a 45% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Everything Action states that the movie generally follows the outline of Wells book, but found that movie is not worth watching as it tries too hard to be taken seriously.

Sequel

On April 1, 2008, a sequel, War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave, was released. C. Thomas Howell directed the film and reprised the role of George Herbert, and his son Dash Howell reprised the role of Alex. The film also starred Christopher Reid.