who plays tom cruise son in war of the worlds

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who plays tom cruise son in war of the worlds

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Justin Chatwin

Highest Rated: 100% The Scent of Rain & Lightning (2017)

Lowest Rated: Not Available

Birthday: Oct 31, 1982

Birthplace: Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

Justin Chatwin, born and raised on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, did not originally plan to go into acting. When he was 18, on a dare, he went with a friend on an audition. The acting bug bit him, and Chatwin never looked back. His first part was a small one in the television miniseries, "Christy, Choices of the Heart" (ION, 2001), followed by a small role as a rock fan in "Josie & The Pussycats" in 2001. He followed that with a small part in the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries "Taken" in 2002, his first official work with Steven Spielberg. But his first recognizable role was in the miniseries, "Traffic," in 2004, followed by another quirky and memorable role as a youthful and disturbed hitchhiker in "Taking Lives." Justin Chatwin managed to hold his own with the Hollywood big leagues as Robbie, the son of Tom Cruise's Ray in 2005's "War of the Worlds." Also in 2005, he played the part of Billy in the quirky and memorable "Chumscrubber." Chatwin lit up fan message boards online with the announcement of his next role, as an adult film star in "The Pornographer's Poem," set for release in 2006, and in "The Invisible," directed by David Goyer, also set for 2006. Other film roles include "Middle of Nowhere" (2008) and "Dragonball Evolution" (2009). In 2014, Chatwin joined the cast of "Shameless" (Showtime, 2011- 2021) as Steve. In 2018, Chatwin took on the role of Michael Connolly in "The Assassin's Code," then Andy in "Summer Night" (2019) and Terrence in "Die in a Gunfight" (2021). During this time, he was also in the Netflix series "Another Life" as Erik Wallace, along with Katee Sackhoff.

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War of the Worlds (2005)

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War of the Worlds is a 2005 Academy Award -nominated science fiction action film based on H. G. Wells' original novel of the same name. It was directed by Steven Spielberg from a script by Josh Friedman and David Koepp and stars Tom Cruise , Dakota Fanning, and Justin Chatwin . It is one of four film adaptations of the novel, preceded by two straight-to-video versions released in the same year, as well as the original 1953 film version, The War of the Worlds .

1 Background
2.1 The Invaders arrive
2.2 The first strike
2.3 Flight from destruction
2.4 Days of imprisonment
2.5 Captured
3 Quotes from Spielberg
4 Box office
6 Critical reaction
7.1 Tom Cruise, Scientology and the film
7.2 Press coverage and anti-piracy controversy
8.1 2006 Academy Awards
8.2 2005 Golden Raspberry Awards
9.1 Reviews
11.1.1 Differences
11.1.2 Similarities
11.2 1938 radio program
11.3 1953 movie
11.4 Television series
11.5 Other movie references
11.6 Other possible sources
13 DVD info
14 See also
15 References
17 External links

Background [ ]

This film draws elements not only from the H. G. Wells novel, but also the 1938 radio play and the 1953 film . Hence, to place this film in proper historical context as an adaptation requires some knowledge of all three previous incarnations of Wells' story.

As in the original novel, which takes place in and around London, the narrative is told from the point of view of civilians caught up in the conflict. Whereas the novel portrayed the experience of a solitary British journalist early in the twentieth century, this film is, according to Spielberg, purported to show the war "through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it". It is set in the early twenty-first century, and as in the radio play, begins the action in New Jersey, rather than London at first.

The Invaders arrive [ ]

The film opens with the voice of an unnamed narrator (voiced by Morgan Freeman ) who informs us, retrospectively, that Earth was being observed by extraterrestrials with immense intelligence and no compassion. As man dominated the world without doubt, much in the way microorganisms swarm in a drop of water, these beings plotted to take it all from us.

The story begins on any other average day in New Jersey. Ray Ferrier comes home from a shift at the docks, where he is left to take care of his young daughter Rachel, and his teenage son Robbie while his ex-wife Mary Anne is visiting her parents in Boston. It isn't long before Robbie undermines Ray's authority by taking his car without his permission. However, Ray's attention is soon occupied by the presence of a rather large storm cloud, so dark that the streetlights automatically turn on. Following its arrival is a strong wind blowing towards the ambiguous storm, which then suddenly and inexplicably ceases. Then, without the accompaniment of rain nor thunder, the cloud begins unleashing lightning. The earth is struck again and again in the same location, seemingly relentless. It then simply stops, surprisingly.

Assessing the aftermath, Ray finds that the power is out; lights, the phone, and even his watch are all dead. He goes outside to see that vehicles are also paralyzed. Not too far from his house, he finds Robbie. Telling him where he saw the lightning strike, Ray has him stay with Rachel and leaves to investigate.

The first strike [ ]

Ray comes to a crowd surrounding a small hole in the middle of an intersection, punched by the repeated lightning strikes, though the rubble at ground zero is mysteriously freezing cold to the touch. Everyone is then taken aback when they hear a rumbling below their feet. They are forced to move back as the street cracks open. Buildings are then torn apart, and a round portion of the ground begins to shift in a circular motion. This selected patch of concrete heaves and then sinks, making a vast pit in its absence. Then something mammoth emerges, a large tripod machine. The towering giant simply stands where it rose, before letting out a monstrous trumpet, followed by the furnishing of two appendages, the ends glowing a bluish-white. From them, multicolor rays of heat are emitted and target the crowd. Everyone runs for safety, many in futility. As people are turned to ash and buildings are blown to rubble around him, Ray dashes and maneuvers to avoid being struck down himself. Finally, he finds sanctuary off the path of this now moving tripod. When Ray returns home he has Robbie box food and Rachel pack her things while he takes a flashlight and a revolver. His children, still oblivious as to what is going on, are taken from the seeming safety of the house and to a parked minivan. Earlier, the minivan's electrical systems were broken and Ray suggested to Manny the mechanic to replace the solenoid. Ray can only hope it works. Ray tries to get Manny to join them, but he is too stubborn to listen and as the tripod nears their block, Ray has no choice but to leave him to die. They speed off as the block and everyone in it is laid to waste.

Flight from destruction [ ]

Racing down the highway, they are clear of the danger, but Ray refuses to stop until they are assuredly out of harm's path. By nightfall they come to Mary Anne's empty suburban home, completely unaffected by everything that happened in Ray's neighborhood. Ray has them all take shelter in the basement for the night, but something happens while they sleep, and they are awakened by flashes of light and strange noises. As the house shakes and an unearthly screeching sound drops down on them, they take further refuge in a sub-basement room.

In the morning, Ray ventures upstairs to find the scattered remains of a Boeing 747 that has destroyed most everything in sight. Scavenging its food and water are three members of a news crew. From them Ray learns that there is not one but many machines all over the world, each being piloted by whatever came down in the lightning storms. They are also equipped with an impenetrable shield, leaving military forces to fight a losing battle.

The family drive on in the direction of Boston. Approaching the Hudson River, they pass countless refugees, many pleading to be taken along, but Ray can't stop. Inevitably, it turns into a mob, and Ray is forced to give up the minivan.

Trekking now on foot, they come to the Hudson docks, which while crowded, are relatively under control. However, when tripods appear, a panicked stampede erupts. With the stampede getting out of control and tripods approaching, the captain orders the ramp up and stations soldiers to keep more people from getting on, though there is still space. Ray and his children sneak onboard before the ferry is pulled recklessly out of the docks. But soon it is no longer a haven, as another machine rises from the river, overturning the vessel and dropping everyone into the cold water. After escaping the tripods and the boat's propellers, the three reach a nearby shore as they watch tripods harvest survivors out of the water.

Continuing onward among more refugees, they come across military forces fighting an unseen battle just over a hill, and Robbie, instead of fleeing with the other refugees, is determined to fight the machines. Ray pleads with him to come back, but Robbie refuses and Ray relents to save Rachel who is being taken by an over caring person, reluctantly leaving his son behind. The military are unrelenting in their assault, but even their might isn't strong enough to hold back the invaders, and soon the fighting-machines, clad in flames, come up over the hill and descend on the remaining refugees in their path, Robbie seeming to be sucked into the fire.

Days of imprisonment [ ]

Fleeing for safety, Ray and Rachel are called over to a nearby cellar by a man wielding a shotgun. Having taken them in, the stranger introduces himself as Harlan Ogilvy, and shows Ray what's going on just outside: tripods are settling down, making an encampment. It is then that Ogilvy reveals his true agenda for bringing them in. He plots to build a new world, one that will one day strike back at the invaders when they least expect it, right from under their own feet. Ray realizes that he is trapped with a maniac.

Outside there is a constant sound of work emanating from the invaders and their machines. Coinciding with this is the presence of foreign crimson coloured vines that begin growing from outside. Without notice, the machines silence their sounds, and those made recklessly by Ogilvy are a call to their presence. Following on this, a probe is sent into the basement, a snake-like device with an electronic eye that scans its surroundings. They all elude it as it sweeps the cellar. But once it is retracted, a few of the invaders enter. These tripedal creatures begin studying various things before the trumpet of the tripods calls them back outside. They are safe for the time being, but Ogilvy came dangerously close to attempting to shoot them, almost letting the invaders know they exist.

The alien red plant continues to grow rapidly, and soon Ray and Ogilvy learn the horrifying origin of this strange vegetation; the machines are draining the blood of captured human beings, and spraying it over the land like fertiliser for the red weed.

Soon Ogilvy madly begins digging a hole he had begun in the root cellar, planning to tunnel into the city to house an army in the subways and begin anew. When Ray tries to get him to be quiet, Ogilvy strikes him with the shovel. Ogilvy is now clearly too unbalanced, and Ray must protect his daughter. He has Rachel blindfolded, covering her ears and singing "Hushabye Mountain" aloud while he proceeds into the root cellar and shuts the door behind him. After an audible struggle, Ray presumably kills Ogilvy and emerges and slumps down on the stairs. Rachel sits in his lap and wraps his arms around her.

Captured [ ]

Sometime later, the probe comes back while they are asleep, catching them off-guard. As Ray assaults the electronic eye, Rachel runs out of the basement. Looking for her outside, Ray sees that the earth is red as far as his eyes can see. But the machines have not left and one abducts Rachel before Ray can get to her. Taking a belt of grenades from an abandoned Humvee, he throws one at the machine to get its attention. It turns and takes Ray, reuniting him with Rachel in one of two baskets it carries full of other victims.

Though the Earth belongs now to the invaders, they still need human blood. And when a tendril reaches in, Ray covers Rachel to protect her, but it grabs him and attempts to pull him into an orifice-like opening over the basket. He resists, but then surrenders, taking the grenade belt with him. A soldier, however, grabs Ray and with the help of other captives, he is pulled back, with the grenades set to blow inside the tripod. The explosion rips through the machine, dropping at least one of the baskets, freeing Ray and Rachel before it collapses to the ground.

With only one possible aim and direction, Ray and Rachel continue to move on into Boston. The city is also covered in the red weed, but stopping to take a closer look, they see that it's dying. They stray only a few steps before they see one of the mighty machines, immobile, smashed against a building. It seems to be dead as well, but the soldiers admit to no help in its demise. Moving onward, they happen upon soldiers ushering the refugees past an open area with another machine, noticeably weak, but alive. Noticing several birds landing on its head, Ray realises that its shield is down and informs the soldiers. Soldiers quickly take advantage of this and shoot the machine down. Once it's crashed, a hatch opens and one of the creatures inside weakly crawls partly out. It goes limp and visibly dies.

The torment now over, Ray brings Rachel further into an abandoned but otherwise intact Boston neighbourhood. There to greet them is Mary Anne, Tim, and her parents, and in her company is none other than Robbie. He and the man he now calls dad share a relieved hug.

Displayed now before us is the destruction brought on by the invaders, their once powerful machines, now among the ruins. We are then taken back to the sight of swarming microorganisms . It was not any weapon of man, the narrator tells us, that defeated the menace; it was instead these small things in nature that God created that were their undoing. The very bacteria that have plagued man, and to which he had long since been immune, attacked the invaders upon their arrival, sealing their inevitable doom.

Quotes from Spielberg [ ]

On the web site Dark Horizons , [1] Spielberg described his preferences for long takes in special effect-heavy movies:

He described the story as follows:

Box office [ ]

Despite the controversies detailed below, the movie received positive reviews and made an impressive box-office performance. As of November 22, 2005, (the last day it was at the box office) it has earned $234.3 million domestically and $357.1 million overseas, making the total $591.4 million. It is the 4th highest grossing movie of 2005 (after Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith , The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ).

This is considered to be good news for both Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise. First of all, Spielberg has not seen such a massive success since Saving Private Ryan (1998) — another Paramount/DreamWorks co-production — and the $100-million Minority Report (2002) — his first collaboration with Cruise — earned a reasonable $132 million. In the case of Cruise (whose 43rd birthday coincided with the movie's release), this movie is the biggest blockbuster of his career, since the movie opened its first weekend with $65 million (which is a record-high for Paramount Pictures ), beating Mission: Impossible II ' s nearly $58 million (also from Paramount). By July 31, it had surpassed Mission: Impossible II in terms of total domestic box office receipts, a movie that earned $215.4 million.

In August of 2004, the Internet Movie Database reported that the film was "poised to make history in Hollywood as the most expensive film ever made — surpassing Titanic's $198 million budget." The report quoted an unnamed source that said, "No expense will be spared. Spielberg wants to make it the film of the decade." The New York Times, the original source for this number, ran a correction a few days later that the budget is actually $128 million. The final budget, however, has been confirmed to be $132 million. According to Entertainment Weekly, Tom Cruise earned $10,000,000 for his role in the film, making him one of the highest paid actors ever for a movie.</ref>

Critical reaction [ ]

The film garnered a positive box office response, with reviews being generally positive. Rotten Tomatoes currently has the movie rated at 75% “Certified Fresh”. Some thought otherwise. Critic Roger Ebert regarded it: "...a big, clunky movie containing some sensational sights but lacking the zest and joyous energy we expect from Steven Spielberg."

Reactions to the film though have been heavily polarized, with critics such as Glenn Whip (LA Daily News) and Bruce Westbrook (Houston Chronicle) calling it a near masterpiece. Reviews have praised the film for it's special effects and the direction of Steven Speilberg, but have criticized the film for gaps in logic and holes and inconsistencies in the storyline.

The film has been attacked by some literary experts, arguing that the film has little in common with the original H.G. Wells novel and could be viewed as just a star vehicle for Tom Cruise.

Criticism and controversy [ ]

Tom cruise, scientology and the film [ ].

Press coverage in May and June 2005 leading up to the film's release focused on Tom Cruise's proselytizing for Scientology. Around this time, Cruise had changed publicists, from Pat Kingsley to his sister, Lee Anne DeVette , and spoke to interviewers more frequently about Scientology — and his sudden engagement to actress Katie Holmes — than about the film itself. Some press coverage noted [1] the similarity between the film's promotional poster and the front cover of The Invaders Plan (volume one of Mission Earth ) by L. Ron Hubbard , founder of Scientology . This similarity is not singular to the film, however, as the image of a hand grasping the Earth is a recurring one in science-fiction: it was used, for example, for the 1975 movie Rollerball . Moreover, the image used to promote the 2005 film is very similar to the image that was often used in advertising Paramount's War of the Worlds TV-series during its first season.

Press coverage and anti-piracy controversy [ ]

The press preview of the movie raised severe criticism, as every journalist who wanted to take a look at the movie before it premiered had to sign a non-disclosure agreement . This NDA stated that the undersigned could not publish a review of the movie before its world-wide release on 29 June 2005 . Many people have argued that the movie might not be able to catch up with the great expectations that might have been postulated by such reviewers.

Furthermore, at the New York premiere of the film at the Ziegfeld Theatre , all members of the press were required to check all electronic equipment — including cell phones — at the door, as part of a larger sweeping anti-piracy campaign by the film's producers hoping to keep the film from leaking on the Internet.

Among other efforts to curb piracy, the producers also prevented theatres from screening the movie at midnight the night of June 29, despite the recent success of midnight screenings of such films as Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith . The producers also chose not to screen the film in any DLP -equipped theatres. Some viewers saw these efforts as overreactions, especially the movie fans who enjoy seeing blockbusters such as War of the Worlds as early as possible.

Awards and nominations [ ]

2006 academy awards [ ].

Three nominations:

Achievement in Sound
Achievement in Sound Editing
Achievement in Visual Effects

Central Ohio Film Critics

Best Sound Design

M.P.S.E. Golden Reel Awards

Best Sound Editing in Feature Film - Sound Effects & Foley

2005 Golden Raspberry Awards [ ]

One nomination:

Worst Actor (Tom Cruise)

Reviews [ ]

War of the Worlds - Caillou Pettis Movie Review

Caillou Pettis reviews War of the Worlds.

Ray is a New York Yankees fan. Robbie, like his stepfather, is a Boston Red Sox fan; this is seemingly a form of defiance towards his father.
The plane in the crash scene is an All Nippon Airways (Japan) Boeing 747. The plane-crash set was built on the Universal Studios backlot, right next to the famous Bates house from Psycho . Despite great demand for the location, the studio has decided to keep the crash set intact as a permanent installation on the backlot tour.
The plane's tail fin was repainted in a flat grey tone because it originally bore the colors and logo of a real airline. Pilots flying over the Universal backlot apparently saw the staged wreckage, recognized the colors and symbol on the tail and began calling in plane crash reports to the FAA. The plane parts were then repainted and disguised in order to discourage further false alarms.
In the movie, Ray Ferrier's house is located in Bayonne, New Jersey right near the Bayonne Bridge . The shot of the first tripod coming out of the ground was filmed in the Five corners intersection in the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey . The two places are about 8 miles (13 km) away but in the movie they are a couple of blocks away from each other.
In Ray's house, Rachel watches SpongeBob SquarePants . The audio (which is from the episode " The Secret Box ") does not match up to the video, but is rather a piece of audio layered over various clips from the show.
Right before the Hudson Ferry scene, Ray and his children watch in horror as a locomotive speeds by on fire, and out of control. The train is part of the MTA Metro-North Railroad , which runs in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut . It can be identified by the paint scheme on the side (what's left of it, anyway).
This is the first major motion picture to feature real M1 Abrams tanks, not other tanks dressed up to resemble them as in Courage Under Fire .
The film was a co-production of Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks, which became sister studios after the parent of Paramount, Viacom, purchased DreamWorks in late 2005. The live-action DreamWorks library was sold to a George Soros-led group, but Paramount will retain distribution rights. Since the US DVD was originally released by DreamWorks, Paramount will hold the rights to any reissues .
The film pays a tribute the film Koyaanisqatsi in the introduction, when describing how the world was before the alien arrival. A series of 6 consecutive shots mimic Koyaanisqatsi shots.

Source material [ ]

Differences [ ].

The film's most obvious difference is that it takes place in the early 21st century northeastern United States rather than southern England "early in the twentieth century."
The film's aliens do not land on Earth in giant cylinders before unleashing their war machines. Instead, the machines have already been buried underground, and the aliens arrive in capsules transported via lightning bolts.
The aliens' tripods are more formidable in combat than their novel counterparts: the latter, although deadly, are still susceptible conventional weapons and can be defeated in combat. The film counterparts are fitted with a 'shield' that makes them impervious to attack. The idea of the shields stems from the 1953 film version.
The film omits a prominent element from the novel: the Black Smoke , which was a part of the Martians' deadly arsenal. Writer David Koepp has explained that this was dropped more or less due to lack of time and didn't make it past his first draft, so any sightings of a similar substance are purely coincidence and can be attributed to other sources. The film also does not include the Thunder Child , whose symbol of power but ultimate failure to stop the invaders was represented in the 1953 film by the atomic bomb ; however, there is a vaguely similar scene taking place on land in which military forces fight valiantly in an effort to hold back the tripods until refugees make it to safety.
The film's aliens are drastically different in various designs, featuring more humanoid mouths and also being tripedal , where Wells' Martians have lipless v-shaped mouths and tentacles . Also, the Martians of Wells' book, as well as in the movie, feast on the blood of humans (Wells described the clean skeletons of humans and other animals) but the aliens in the book apparently don't use human blood as fertilizer for their xenoforming project. In the movie the invaders also are uninterested in animals (rats, birds). The alien's design has been the subject of some criticism, considered too cute and humanlike, as opposed to the novel's entirely non-human and rather repulsive aliens.
In the film, Tim Robbins's character, Harlan Ogilvy, plays a synthesized dual role of curate and artilleryman from the novel, while sharing the name of the novel's narrator's friend. The film's Ogilvy has the qualities of the novel's increasingly mad curate, who drives the narrator to fight with him frequently. In the book, the character named Ogilvy is one of the first people killed by the aliens' Heat-Ray . The film's Ogilvy has the qualities of the novel's artilleryman in that he is digging a tunnel for an underground city with the goal of resistance. The novel's curate is taken, and presumably "eaten", by the aliens after being struck in the head and left for dead by the narrator. In both versions, the story does not state outright that the main character killed the man, but the novel narrator does say "the killing of the curate" was "a thing done, a memory infinitely disagreeable but quite without the quality of remorse."
The film never says where the aliens are from, unlike the book, where its declaired that the aliens are from Mars; in 1898, when the book was written, the possibility of life on Mars was considered realistic. This difference in origin shrouds the motive for the attacks on the Earth. In the book, the Martians are escaping from their dissipated planet, searching for a place to continue their brutal civilization, rather than the "extermination" explanation given by a character in the film. It may or may not be coincidence that the red weed produced by the invaders would, if multiplied on a large scale, duplicate an environment of much the same red hue of Mars. Additionally, the prologue makes a few visual references, once while an image of Earth shifts into that of a red stoplight and later when the camera leaves the edge of an outer neighbouring planet of Earth. In Koepp's script, there is a brief shot in the prologue depicting the invaders' homeworld. However, it remains unnamed, referred to only as a "barren planet."
H.G. Wells never had the narrator play the hero. In fact, the story is told as a recount of the war, thus eliminating any doubts about the welfare of the narrator. In the film, the main character, Ray, succeeds in blowing up an alien tripod, creating the idea that heroes can be made in the face of an unbeatable foe, an idea Wells believed was inappropriate for the tone of his story, abandoning an early idea, similar to the film, in which the narrator plans to suicide bomb a tripod (though even in this early idea, the character is not allowed to carry it out). The narrator was not meant to be a hero, but merely a survivor. However, Ray's idea of giving himself over to the invaders is still similar to the novel's narrator after he had lost all hope.
Much like in the 1953 film, the unnamed narrator and main character is not the same as he is in the novel. He is not divorced (although Ray shares a very similar goal of reuniting with his ex-wife), nor does he have a son or daughter to look after.
While Ray has a brother much like the book's narrator, the film does not touch upon anything from this character's point-of-view, as the narrator recites some of what the brother witnessed during the invasion.
In the novel, the narrator becomes trapped in an abandoned house when an alien cylinder lands close by. In the film, Ray, Rachel and Ogilvy are trapped in the house because the tripods are still outside. However, the scene in which the airplane crashes into Mary-Anne's house is similar to the scene in the book when the cylinder lands.
No matter the location, virtually every version of the story tells of an arrival and then assault by what are the first aliens to land on Earth. However, in this version, it is established that the invasion has already begun in other parts of the world, though the main character is oblivious to this until much later in the story. Additionally this scene also gives both the character and the audience their first image of the invaders, something that only happens later in both this and the 1953 film.
The design of the tripods is not the same as their description in the novel. Wells describes the machines as "Walking engines of glittering metal...pieces of intricate rope dangling from it...green gas squirting from its joints...its motion was like a head moving about..." There are also no references to the invaders having any other machines than the known tripods - in the novel, the Martians also had a Handling-Machine (a five-legged machine with three tentacles used to build the tripods), a Digging Machine (an automated tripod-excavator) and a Flying Machine .

Similarities [ ]

Although there are very many differences from the book, there are also various similarities. Some are obvious, and others are noted by the naming of certain scenes in the DVD chapters.

The lines spoken in the bookends of the film by the narrator are almost verbatim from those written in the novel.
The fighting machines are tripods.
The tripods are armed with Heat-Rays.
A speeding train runs by with every carriage aflame.
The tripods emit a deafening call like a foghorn that is similar to that in the novel.
Tripods are equipped with long tentacles that grab humans and put them into metal carriers or cages, just as in the book, where eventually these human prisoners will be drained of their blood for the use of food for the invaders.
The red weed is spread everywhere the eye can see.
Harlan Ogilvy is a mixture of the artilleryman and the curate.
There is a scene where the characters are trapped in a farmhouse because of the invaders being outside.
Ray's van is taken from them just like in the novel, where the narrator's brother and his two female companion's horse is taken. Ray also uses a revolver just as Miss Elphinstone does to scare off robbers in the novel.
There is a scene where refugees take a ferry to get to safety.
Manny is similar to the Landlord of the Spotted Dog, from whom the main character takes a means of transportion and is then later killed by the invaders. The difference being that Ray steals Manny's car while the narrator plans only to borrow the Landlord's.
The storm in which the invaders arrive is based on the storm in the novel in which the narrator gets his first frightening image of the tripods.
Throughout the film, a flock of birds seem to follow the invaders in their machines, and help give away their inoperative shields. In the novel, birds are seen picking and eating the remains of the dead Martians.
The unearthing of the first seen tripod mirrors the arrival of the first Martian cylinder. From the crowd formed around the "landing" spot to the rotation of the ground, as if to mimick an unscrewing.
The police in the intersection say "something's down there, and it's movin'" just like in the novel when a person declares the Martian cylinder to be moving.
Robbie is thought to be dead, only to return to the main character in the end, similar to the novel's narrator and his wife.
Ray has a brother. However, as mentioned above, no account of what the brother witnesses is included in the film.
The tripods are seen smashing aside pine trees before an attack, as they are seen doing in the novel in their first appearance.
There is a reference to the original novel when a couple of aliens explore the basement that Ferrier and Ogilvy are hiding in, and one of them pauses to spin the wheel of a bicycle hanging on the wall — as if wondering what it is. In H.G. Wells' novel, the narrator discovers that in the alien technology, "the wheel is absent; among all the things they brought to earth there is no trace or suggestion of their use of wheels." The alien's technology is based on elastic organic musculature.

1938 radio program [ ]

Several lines of dialogue, especially those spoken by Tim Robbins' character, are taken directly from Orson Welles ' infamous radio adaptation of the novel. In addition, the film is set primarily in New Jersey as is the radio play.

1953 movie [ ]

Although not considered a remake of the 1953 version of The War of the Worlds , there are several instances where Steven Spielberg makes homage to the original film.

Gene Barry and Ann Robinson from the 1953 original film make a cameo appearance as the grandparents.
In the cellar, note the multi-colored lights just prior to the probe entering. This references the red, blue and green lights from the probe in the 1953 version of the film, though no part of the probe in this film emits any of those colors.
When Ray (Tom Cruise) first encounters the aliens, there is a street sign behind him displaying "Van Buren", the surname of one of the two major characters in the 1953 film.
The news reporter's line, "Once they begin to move, no more news comes out of that area," is taken directly from the original film.
The scenes with the probe examining the basement followed by the inquisitive aliens. Tom Cruise chops the head off the probe with an ax just as Gene Barry did in the original film.
The shot of the dying alien's arm coming down the ramp is a reference to a similar shot in the original film.
The 1953 film ends with the characters taking refuge in a church just before the aliens' attack abruptly stops. In the 2005 film, a church is the first building seen destroyed as the tripod emerges.

Television series [ ]

The film's posters feature a symbolic image of the aliens' three-fingered hand grasping planet Earth. This is very similar to images used for the series' first season, both in the opening and closing of the episodes, as well as promotional material.
The plot device that the aliens had been to Earth before and left behind their tripods is reminiscent of a revelation in War of the Worlds TV series in which a tripod (an "older model" of the war machines in the 1953 film) is unearthed, having been left behind for hundreds to thousands of years.

Other movie references [ ]

There are several references to other movies, mostly movies directed or produced by Steven Spielberg. For example, the bicycle falling from a hook is similar to a scene in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial . The movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind also uses a low reverberating note, although both movies may have gotten the idea originally from the novel. In The Day the Earth Stood Still there is also a universal electrical outage. Quatermass and the Pit features extraterrestrial machines buried underground since prehistoric times. Some also find that the diner scene, where Ferrier and the kids take refuge after the mob captures the minivan, evoke memories of the diner in the original The Blob . Besides the general tone of the film, the extended shot following the family car explicitly evokes Jean-luc Godard's Week End , as does the motif of cannibalism.

Other possible sources [ ]

Ray's successful destroying of a tripod by using grenades , might have been taken from The White Mountains , the first book of The Tripods trilogy of science-fiction novels, which were inspired from H.G. Wells' original novel.

Tom Cruise — Ray Ferrier
Dakota Fanning — Rachel Ferrier
Justin Chatwin — Robbie Ferrier
Tim Robbins — Harlan Ogilvy
Miranda Otto — Mary Ann
David Alan Basche — Tim
Yul Vazquez — Julio
Rick Gonzalez — Vincent
Lenny Venito — Manny
Morgan Freeman — The Narrator

DVD info [ ]

Revisiting the Invasion: Introduction with Steven Spielberg
The H. G. Wells Legacy
Production Diary: Part I — Filming on the East Coast
Production Diary: Part II — Filming on the West Coast
Pre-Visualization
Designing the Enemy: Tripods and Aliens

References [ ]

↑ http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/warworlds.php/ On-Set Interview: Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg
Note: Josh Friedman's name is absent in early trailers, and his credit is most likely for legal reasons. In an interview with Creative Screenwriting magazine, David Koepp says that Friedman wrote a draft before Spielberg brought Koepp on board and that he (Koepp) wrote his script from scratch.

External links [ ]

Official Site
The War of the Worlds Movie Site — Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise
War of the Worlds (2005) at the Internet Movie Database
War of the Worlds at Rotten Tomatoes
Guardian Unlimited: Spielberg and Cruise plan new War of Worlds
First teaser trailer
Interview with Doug Chiang and Rick Carter, designers on the film
Behind the scenes featurette on the film
Los Angeles Times Summer Sneaks Article
Fansite's new images from War of the Worlds
War of the Worlds Movies.info
Movie Review — Mark Sells, The Oregon Herald
War of the Worlds at Tom Cruise Online.com
1 Civil War

The Deeper Meaning Behind Steven Spielberg's 'War of the Worlds'

Intentional or not, 2005's 'War of the Worlds' conjured the specters of 9/11.

The Big Picture

Spielberg's early sci-fi films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. embrace the hopeful and exciting elements of the genre, while his later work grew darker and explored social and political themes.
War of the Worlds is not just a cheesy sci-fi story, but a chilling exploration of a society crippled by a Martian attack, reflecting the trauma and devastation felt after 9/11.
Spielberg channels the American people's trauma through a broken family in War of the Worlds , examining the realistic aftermath of a global crisis and the harsh decisions that have to be made.

Steven Spielberg ’s early developments within science fiction created many of the hallmarks of the genre. There’s a reason that the “Spielbergian adventure” is a term that is so often thrown around. Exciting classic films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial , and Jurassic Park emphasize how hopeful and exciting sci-fi can be. The impact of Spielberg’s work within the genre is evident today, thanks to the near-constant 1980s nostalgia in projects like Stranger Things .

While “Spielbergian sci-fi” is often associated with fun, colorful stories, his output in the 21st century grew much darker. Spielberg transformed A.I. Artificial Intelligence into a heartbreaking twist on the Pinocchio story, analyzed the police state in Minority Report, and even used the nostalgia-centric Ready Player One to satirize the consumer culture and the dominance of corporations. While the announcement that Spielberg was making a version of the War of the Worlds story would have promised a summer spectacle in his early career, his 2005 adaptation of the classic H.G. Wells novel was a chilling parallel to urban terrorism.

War of the Worlds is not a cheesy science fiction story like it’s made out to be; it’s easy to forget how terrifying the book was when it was first released. The history of War of the Worlds is tied to horror due to the infamous Orson Welles radio adaptation that inspired real panic. While the original 1953 film was closer in tone to the B-movies of the era, Spielberg’s War of the Worlds explored the consequences of a society whose infrastructure has crippled. In the wake of 9/11, it felt like an eerie reminder of widespread devastation.

What Is 'War of the Worlds' About?

Spielberg channeled the trauma of the American people by telling the War of the Worlds story through a broken family. Spielberg’s films often deal with complex familial relationships , and War of the Worlds centers on the divorced father Ray Ferrier ( Tom Cruise ) as he attempts to connect with his children. Ray isn’t an action hero like Ethan Hunt from the Mission: Impossible films; he’s a blue collar construction worker who is just trying to make ends meet. Ray emphasizes Spielberg’s affection for the working class. It’s only during a moment of sheer panic that Ray is able to show his true colors.

The Best Disaster Movies of the 21st Century (So Far)

Cruise gives an impressively understated performance for someone who is definitely not a perfect father. Ray is estranged from his ex-wife, Mary Ann ( Mirando Otto ), and uses his children as pawns in their civil conflicts. His daughter Rachel ( Dakota Fanning ) and teenage son Robbie ( Justin Chatwin ) have grown up knowing that they can’t count on their father for anything. Ray even goads Robbie into an uncomfortable game of catch when they first reunite. It’s impressive that someone as inherently charismatic as Cruise was able to play such an unlikeable character .

The strife within the family perfectly sets the stage for the initial Martian attack. Spielberg has always had ties to the horror genre, and he knows better than anyone that there is nothing more terrifying than a faceless attacker. The Martian tripods are mostly seen from the shadows, and confusion sweeps Ray’s community during the initial wave of attacks. It’s chilling to think of the panic that swept the nation only a few years prior; these citizens have no idea why they’re being targeted, or where they can find safety.

'War of the Worlds' Is a Disaster Movie

Spielberg uses this global crisis to examine the realistic aftermath of the situation. It’s not an inspiring call to arms like Independence Day ; an extraterrestrial threat doesn’t suddenly erase all the political and social issues on the planet. In the aftermath of a Boeing 747 crash, Ray tries to drive his children to their mother, despite their protests. It’s not a particularly heroic action; Ray wants to dump his children off on someone else, because he’s not sure how to protect them. He’s both unfit to be a father and absolutely horrified by the thought of losing them. Spielberg generally gets solid child performances out of his younger co-stars, and Fanning’s eerie cries are difficult to erase from your mind.

There’s a pessimism within the later scenes of War of the Worlds that feels like it came from a completely different person than the man who made E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial . Instead of rising to the challenge, the remaining segments of humans scurry into the shadows, desperate to cling to whatever minimal resources they have left. Ray and his family have their car surrounded by an angry mob, which inspires Robbie to join the U.S. Marines. There’s a moment where it’s suggested that Robbie is killed; humans are just as responsible for his death as the Martians.

Chatwin is often criticized for his performance, but Robbie is never meant to be a particularly level-headed character. He’s a moody, rebellious teenager who is still holding on to his childish animosities; like many Spielbergian characters, he’s the child of a broken home who has no father-figure to look up to. While Robbie’s decision to serve his country is admirable, it feels like just another act of defiance. Robbie is trying to prove that he isn’t a coward to both his father and himself.

Spielberg Turned 'War of the Worlds' into a Chilling Commentary

The inclusion of the ambulance worker Harlan Ogilvy ( Tim Robbins ) was a brilliant way for Spielberg to examine the hard decisions that have to be made in the wake of a crisis like this. Harlan is clearly pushing himself past his limits; he’s struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, and Ray is forced to turn to him for help when he has no other options. Harlan’s mental breakdown when he sees the harvesting of human corpses is a grotesque bit of body horror. When Ray is ultimately forced to kill him, it’s an action taken out of both desperation and mercy.

It’s interesting to note that War of the Worlds was released just a few months prior to Spielberg’s second 2005 film, the political thriller Munich . Based on a true story, Munich follows a group of Israeli spies that investigate the perpetrators of the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics within the Palestinian Liberation Organization. It’s one of the most politically relevant films within Spielberg’s filmography , and has a similarly pessimistic view on the senselessness of violence. Both War of the Worlds and Munich feel like they’re begging for an elusive peace.

Spielberg’s classic films will be held up for generations as pinnacles of the genre because they looked to the future. His 21st century output scaled things back, allowing Spielberg to examine the world as he saw it through the guise of sci-fi metaphors. As one of the most quintessentially “American” filmmakers of all-time, Spielberg understood the trauma that his country was feeling, and channeled it into a boldly inventive reworking of a classic sci-fi text.

The Movie Review: 'War of the Worlds'

It's rarely an attractive sight when a lifelong good guy decides it's time to show everyone he can be bad. For most men, such crises of character involve the midlife acquisition of a motorcycle or sports car, though in some cases an electric guitar suffices. (The leather jacket and sunglasses are givens.) The metamorphosis can be particularly disturbing in filmmakers, who after all have more vivid ways of dramatizing their states of mind than mere automobiles and accoutrements. Ron Howard, for example, showed there was more to him (or perhaps less) than "Li'l Opie Cunningham" by directing the unpleasant 1996 kidnapping/revenge flick Ransom . This summer, the Big Daddy of good-guy American filmmakers, Steven Spielberg, made a proportionally larger statement with the alien genocide thriller War of the Worlds .

Just released on video, Spielberg's take on the classic H.G. Wells novel is an exceptionally grim one, drawing on anxieties both primeval (that harm might befall our children) and all-too-current (that another September 11 might take place, on a vastly larger scale). Spielberg knows our buttons and he presses them hard, with the fingers on both hands. There's little humor or joy or sense of adventure in War of the Worlds , just a lot of running and screaming and hiding and dying. The film plays as a kind of queasy hybrid, a serious take on a terribly unserious genre, E.T. re-envisioned as Schindler's List . There are magnificent moments along the way--Spielberg's cinematic eye is as sharp as ever--but ultimately the film is undone by its director's obsession with exploring his dark side.

In this iteration, the story of alien invasion is seen through the eyes of one frightened family. Divorced dad Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a New Jersey dockworker tasked by his ex-wife (Miranda Otto) with taking care of their two kids for the weekend while she and her new, more upscale husband visit family in Boston. Ray is not much of a father. His teenage son Robbie (Justin Chatwin) loathes him; his ten-year-old daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning) looks upon him with a mixture of bemusement and pity. But both get a chance to reassess their dad when, following a freak electrical storm, a 150-foot-tall squid-like alien "tripod" emerges from the ground and begins vaporizing everything in sight. (The extraterrestrial invaders apparently buried it there thousands of years ago on the assumption that, sooner or later, northern Jersey would have to go.)

Ray steals the only working vehicle in the neighborhood--an old wood-paneled minivan, natch--piles the kids in, and takes off. The family first flees to Mom's tony suburban enclave, as yet mercifully untouched by the alien attack. They don't stay there long though because a) Mom isn't there, having already departed for Boston; and b) during the night a 747 crashes into the house, rendering it decidedly less cozy. Ray and the kids hop back in the car and head north toward Boston, along the way encountering more tripods, hordes of angry, frightened refugees, and a basement-dwelling mental case played by Tim Robbins.

The film was inspired in part by September 11, and it is littered with references to that horrific day--the crashed airliner, the ash-like dust of disintegrated corpses (echoes, too, of Schindler ), the bulletin board with names and photos of missing loved ones. The appropriation of these tragic images for a sci-fi blockbuster has more than a whiff of sleaze to it. If a filmmaker with a worse social reputation--say, Jerry Bruckheimer--had done this, he'd have been pilloried. Moreover, the nods to September 11 don't even fit Spielberg's story very comfortably. Why would a passenger plane be in the air so many hours after the aliens began their global genocide? How would refugees in mid-flight stop to set up bulletin boards? The scenes seem shoehorned in, cheap manipulations that make little logical sense.

The same is true of Spielberg's other provocations. Why, for example, does Ray seem to have the only functioning automobile on the Eastern Seaboard? The other cars in his neighborhood were knocked out by an electrical pulse that accompanied the tripod's emergence. But plenty of the places he and the kids go--Mom's house, for starters--haven't been hit by an electrical pulse. Why don't the cars there work? Perhaps because if they did, Spielberg would have no excuse for a scene in which an animalistic mob storms the minivan.

Late in the movie, Spielberg works in a vampiric twist--the aliens, it seems, have come to drink our blood. But if the aliens need blood, why do they spend so much time vaporizing helpless, fleeing civilians? Again, it seems Spielberg is simply tossing in every primal jolt that occurs to him, whether or not they're compatible. This way, he can shock the audience early in the film with the realization that the layer of ash covering Ray's face is people , and then shock us again later with an entire landscape soaked in blood.

Two horrible, agonized decisions that are forced upon Ray feel similarly contrived. Robbie has a desire (underdramatized and highly unconvincing) to join up with army troops fighting the invaders, and at one point his father has to physically pin him to the ground to keep him from leaving. But while Daddy is thus occupied, little Rachel is in danger of being abducted by a well-meaning couple who think she's all alone. The scene plays as a Sophie's Choice -style dilemma in which Ray must choose which child to save. But it's not. Rachel's only a few yards away from Ray and within earshot--a point that's made explicit by the fact that he can hear her hollering. All he really needs to do is shout at the Samaritans to get their paws off his little girl; instead, he releases his son and lets him charge into near-certain death.

Ray's second tragic choice is handled still more preposterously. He and Rachel hide in a basement with Robbins's character, Harlan Ogilvy, a working-class madman who endangers them all with his alternating bravado and terror. (Maybe it's just me, but I find it a bit annoying that liberal multimillionaire actor/director/playwright Tim Robbins has of late made a cottage industry out of playing mumbling blue-collar lunatics .) When Ogilvy's crazed shouting threatens to give away their hiding place, the obvious thing for Ray to do would be to smile comfortingly and wait for the first opportunity to whack him over the head. Instead he warns Ogilvy of his intentions--"Do you understand what I'm going to have to do?"--then goes to Rachel, carefully blindfolds her, and asks her to sing herself a lullaby. Only then, having alerted both his victim and his daughter to the impending violence does he return to "subdue" Ogilvy. It's a truly appalling scene, the worst of many ostentatious exploitations of the little girl's innocence.

The sad thing is that none of this gruesome overreach was necessary. The best scenes in the film--the emergence of the first tripod, an attack on a Hudson River ferry--earn their chills honestly, through masterful design and direction. The tripods are elegant and terrifying creations, far more expressive than the aliens who drive them. The sight of them cresting a hill at night, their central searchlights blazing like cycloptic eyes, is very close to pure cinema. If anything, Spielberg's shabby directorial manipulations--the 9/11 images, the contrived moral dilemmas--distract from the terrible majesty of these nightmare inventions.

Not to worry, though. Spielberg's dark appetites are sated before War of the Worlds is even over. The director is famous for his schmaltzy endings, but in this case the sunny gloss seems nothing short of parody. With ten minutes remaining in the film, the human race is doomed to extermination, without hope or plan. Then, in perhaps the most abrupt and unsatisfying deus ex machina ever committed to film (it's Wells's own familiar ending), the clouds part--literally--the danger is over, and the Ferrier family is reunited and whole. It somehow makes the entire film more distasteful. Spielberg has spent 100 minutes pummeling us with horror and tragedy, much of it seen through the eyes of a child, and then he thinks he can take it all back. Even a character who'd apparently died is miraculously revealed to be alive and well. (Several million other people presumably are not, but hey, they didn't have speaking roles.) The world is once again right and just, and Ray has earned the love and respect of his children. Spielberg is back to being the good guy. Except he's not, quite. He's shown us a bit too much, a streak of crass exploitation or moral triviality, that unlike the tripods won't just go away.

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Risky Business (1983). A classic case in which the studio wanted to finesse (i.e., replace) writer-director Paul Brickman's original, downbeat conclusion, in which Joel doesn't get into Princeton. Both endings were shot and tested, and you can guess which one audiences preferred. Despite the change, Brickman's dark, ironic undercurrents are still palpable. Jerry Maguire (1996). Come on. We know Jerry's not capable of settling down, that the impulsive marriage was just that, that he's built for the sprint and not the marathon. He knows it. She knows it. Why doesn't Cameron Crowe (another director with a weakness for treacly conclusions) know it? Minority Report (2002). Spielberg again. A clever little sci-fi thriller that falls apart utterly in its final act. Instead of fulfilling its destiny in the hotel room with Anderton, the pedophile, and the gun, the movie careens off its tracks, substituting a riotously idiotic conspiracy and trampling the fate-v.-free-choice theme it had developed. The last shot, of a little ocean-side cabin bathed in honeyed sunlight, is so ridiculous it almost seems a cry for help. War of the Worlds (2005). Like Hurricane Katrina, the tripods seem to hit poor and working-class neighborhoods hardest. How else to explain Mom's real-estate good fortune both in the suburbs (at least prior to the airplane) and in Boston's Back Bay? With alien invasion, as with all else, the rule of thumb is apparently location, location, location. This post originally appeared at TNR.com.

War of The Worlds (2005)

On June 29th, 2005, Earth goes to war. From Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures comes "War of the Worlds," directed by Steven Spielberg and starring international superstar Tom Cruise. A contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells's seminal classic, the sci-fi adventure thriller reveals the extraordinary battle for the future of humankind through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it. The film also stars Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin, and Tim Robbins. Cruise stars as Ray Ferrier, a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife (Miranda Otto) and her new husband drop off his teenage son Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and young daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning) for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down. Moments later, at an intersection near his house, Ray witnesses an extraordinary event that will change all their lives forever. A towering three-legged war machine emerges from deep beneath the earth and, before anyone can react, incinerates everything in sight. An ordinary day has suddenly become the most extraordinary event of their lifetimes - the first strike in a catastrophic alien attack on Earth. Ray scrambles to get his children away from this merciless new enemy, embarking on a journey that will take them across the ravaged countryside, where they become caught in the desperate tide of refugees fleeing from an extraterrestrial army of Tripods. But no matter where they run, there is no safety, no refuge ... only Ray's unconquerable will to protect the ones he loves.

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Movie Reviews

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"War of the Worlds" is a big, clunky movie containing some sensational sights but lacking the zest and joyous energy we expect from Steven Spielberg . It proceeds with the lead-footed deliberation of its 1950s predecessors to give us an alien invasion that is malevolent, destructive and, from the alien point of view, pointless. They've "been planning this for a million years" and have gone to a lot of trouble to invade Earth for no apparent reason and with a seriously flawed strategy. What happened to the sense of wonder Spielberg celebrated in " Close Encounters of the Third Kind ," and the dazzling imagination of " Minority Report "?

The movie adopts the prudent formula of viewing a catastrophe through the eyes of a few foreground characters. When you compare it with a movie like "The Day After Tomorrow," which depicted the global consequences of cosmic events, it lacks dimension: Martians have journeyed millions of miles to attack a crane operator and his neighbors (and if they're not Martians, they journeyed a lot farther). The hero, Ray Ferrier ( Tom Cruise ), does the sort of running and hiding and desperate defending of his children that goes with the territory, and at one point even dives into what looks like certain death to rescue his daughter.

There's a survivalist named Ogilvy ( Tim Robbins ) who has quick insights into surviving: "The ones that didn't flatline are the ones who kept their eyes open." And there are the usual crowds of terrified citizens looking up at ominous threats looming above them. But despite the movie's $135 million budget, it seems curiously rudimentary in its action.

The problem may be with the alien invasion itself. It is not very interesting. We learn that countless years ago, invaders presumably but not necessarily from Mars buried huge machines all over the Earth. Now they activate them with lightning bolts, each one containing an alien (in what form, it is hard to say). With the aliens at the controls, these machines crash up out of the Earth, stand on three towering but spindly legs and begin to zap the planet with death rays. Later, their tentacles suck our blood and fill steel baskets with our writhing bodies.

To what purpose? Why zap what you later want to harvest? Why harvest humans? And, for that matter, why balance these towering machines on ill-designed supports? If evolution has taught us anything, it is that limbs of living things, from men to dinosaurs to spiders to centipedes, tend to come in numbers divisible by two. Three legs are inherently not stable, as the movie demonstrates when one leg of a giant tripod is damaged, and it falls helplessly to the ground.

The tripods are indeed faithful to the original illustrations for H.G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds, and to the machines described in the historic 1938 Orson Welles radio broadcast. But the book and radio program depended on our imaginations to make them believable, and the movie came at a time of lower expectations in special effects. You look at Spielberg's machines and you don't get much worked up, because you're seeing not alien menace but clumsy retro design. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to set the movie in 1898, at the time of Wells' novel, when the tripods represented a state-of-the-art alien invasion.

There are some wonderful f/x moments, but they mostly don't involve the pods. A scene where Ray wanders through the remains of an airplane crash is somber and impressive, and there is an unforgettable image of a train, every coach on fire, roaring through a station. Such scenes seem to come from a kind of reality different from that of the tripods.

Does it make the aliens scarier that their motives are never spelled out? I don't expect them to issue a press release announcing their plans for world domination, but I wish their presence reflected some kind of intelligent purpose. The alien ship in "Close Encounters" visited for no other reason, apparently, than to demonstrate that life existed elsewhere, could visit us, and was intriguingly unlike us while still sharing such universal qualities as the perception of tone. Those aliens wanted to say hello. The alien machines in "War of the Worlds" seem designed for heavy lifting in an industry that needs to modernize its equipment and techniques. (The actual living alien being we finally glimpse is an anticlimax, a batlike, bug-eyed monster, confirming the wisdom of Kubrick and Clarke in deliberately showing no aliens in "2001").

The human characters are disappointingly one-dimensional. Cruise's character is given a smidgen of humanity (he's an immature, divorced hotshot who has custody of the kids for the weekend) and then he wanders out with his neighbors to witness strange portents in the sky, and the movie becomes a story about grabbing and running and ducking and hiding and trying to fight back.

There are scenes in which poor Dakota Fanning , as his daughter, has to be lost or menaced, and then scenes in which she is found or saved, all with much desperate shouting. A scene where an alien tentacle explores a ruined basement where they're hiding is a mirror of a better scene in " Jurassic Park " where characters hide from a curious raptor.

The thing is, we never believe the tripods and their invasion are practical. How did these vast metal machines lie undetected for so long beneath the streets of a city honeycombed with subway tunnels, sewers, water and power lines, and foundations? And why didn't a civilization with the physical science to build and deploy the tripods a million years ago not do a little more research about conditions on the planet before sending its invasion force? It's a war of the worlds, all right -- but at a molecular, not a planetary level.

All of this is just a way of leading up to the gut reaction I had all through the film: I do not like the tripods. I do not like the way they look, the way they are employed, the way they attack, the way they are vulnerable or the reasons they are here. A planet that harbors intelligent and subtle ideas for science fiction movies is invaded in this film by an ungainly Erector set.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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War of the Worlds (2005)

Rated PG-13 for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and disturbing images

116 minutes

Miranda Otto as Mary Ann

Tom Cruise as Ray Ferrier

Justin Chatwin as Robbie

Tim Robbins as Harlan Ogilvy

Dakota Fanning as Rachel

Directed by

Steven Spielberg
Josh Friedman
David Koepp

Based on the novel by

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Ray Ferrier

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Raymond "Ray" Ferrier ( Tom Cruise ), is the main protagonist in the 2005 film War of the Worlds .

Character Information

A Tripod emerged in his neighbourhood after a lightning storm and completely destroyed it but Ray and his children escaped in a working van. Ray witnessed the demise of his three close friends Manny , Vincent, and Julio. They then moved to Mary Ann (Ray's ex wife) and Tim's (Mary Ann's new husband) house, but they were not there. That night they slept in the basement and a plane crashed nearby, extinguishing most life in the neighbourhood.

In the morning, Ray went to investigate the crash and met Max, a deaf news cameraman who took him meet the producer, who told Ray that there were multiple tripods on multiple continents. Additionally, she revealed that they were piloted by invaders from space . Ray rejoined children and drove to the Hudson River Ferry so they could join Mary Ann and Tim in Boston. At the ferry, they learned that there was no communication with the rest of the world and that society had collapsed. Ray's van was stolen by an armed man, who was killed shortly afterwards by the mob. Moving to board the ferry on foot he met his friend Cheryl and her daughter Nora but when the tripods attacked he and his children were seperated from them. Once on the ferry a tripod surfaced from beneath the water, capsizing the ferry and harvesting the survivors. Again Ray and his children escape and they join a column of refugees moving towards Boston.

While moving through the countryside the refugees pass a large battle and while most kept moving, others wanted to see the tripods get destroyed. Ray learned from the news producer that the tripods have a shield and are nearly impervious to conventional weapons, meaning that anyone going over the hill will probably die. Robbie however, joins the charge forcing Ray to chase him leaving Rachel behind. Robbie refuses to come back as Rachel is being taken away by a family of well meaning people who think that she has been abandoned. When forced to choose he decided to help Rachel and when he returned for Robbie his son was gone. A gigantic explosion incinerated the other side of the hill, where Robbie seemed to be though some humvees escaped Ray held hope that Robbie escaped with them.

Ray and Rachel hid in a farmhouse with a man named Harlan Ogilvy . Ogilvy had lost his entire family to the tripods and was driven mad by his need for revenge. Over the next few days, Ogilvy explained his plans for a resistance movement to ray and also informed him that through unknown means, the Japanese have defeated the tripods. After hiding from a tripod's camera and the aliens Ray becomes wary of Ogilvy, who has is quickly becoming a liability. They discover Red weed growing and see what aliens do with captives: Use their blood as fertilizer for red weed. Ogilvy loses his mind and Ray is forced to kill him. He and Rachel then drift into a deep sleep.

They wake up with a Tripod's camera watching them panicking Rachel who flees the basement and is taken by a tripod. Ray finds some hand grenades in a wrecked humvee and, with nothing left to live for after losing his children, attacks the tripod. The tripod notices him and picks him up in its basket where he discovers Rachel and, with the help of a captured soldier, manages to destroy the tripod with his remaining grenades. Ray, Rachel, and the others from the basket then press on towards Boston.

After meeting up with another stream of refugees being escorted by soldiers, Ray and Rachel enter Boston and see that the red weed is dying, and a tripod died on its own. Ray sees a tripod and notices that its shield is down and informs the soldiers, who kill it quickly. Ray and Rachel move on towards Mary Ann's parents' house, and meet Mary Ann, Tim, Mary Ann's parents, and Robbie, who miraculously survived the massacre on the hill. What happens next to Ray is unknown, but possibly he has decided to stay in Boston to be as close to his children as he can be.

1 Fighting-Machine
2 Aliens (Steven Spielberg)

War of the Worlds

Film details, brief synopsis, cast & crew, steven spielberg, dakota fanning, tim robbins, miranda otto, justin chatwin, technical specs.

The extraordinary battle for the future of humankind through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it. Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son Robbie and young daughter Rachel for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.

Rick Gonzalez

Kent faulcon, david weinman, robert cicchini, eric zuckerman, julie white, ana maria quintana, maggie lacey, adam lazarre-white.

Ann Robinson

Daniel eric gold, marlon young, camillia sanes, mariann mayberry, jeffrey hutchinson, suanne spoke, yul vazquez, david alan basche, michael brownlee, dempsey pappion, columbus short, miguel antonio ferrer, mark manley, lenny venito, stephen gevedon, dendrie allyn taylor, jonathan bobbitt, david harbour.

Morgan Freeman

Peter gerety, omar jermaine, rafael sardina, bruce w derdoski, benny ciaramello, john n morales, kirsten nelson, daniel jacobs, shanna collins, joaquin perez campbell, becky ann baker, travis aaron, john eddins, jennifer lagura, sharrieff pugh, michael arthur, vito d'ambrosio, juan carlos hernández, ed vassallo, james dumont, johnny kastl, christopher evan welch, asha r nanavati, january lavoy, marianni ebert.

Lisa Ann Walter

Booker t washington, jerry walsh, clay bringhurst, laura zoe quist, jorge-luis pallo, art chudabala, melody garrett, david p conley, thomas guiffre, elizabeth jayne hong, ty simpkins, kevin collins, john michael bolger, lorelei llee.

Daniel Franzese

John scurti, takayo fischer, ellen barry, lauri johnson, kenneth bryant, erika lavonn, craig abele, lauren abrams, eddie acuna, g. a. aguilar, george aleco-sima, sande alessi, bradley alexander, catherine middleton allebe, charles alleneck, bill almeida, gregory alpert, christian alzmann, lawrence amanuel, audrey anzures, fred arbegast, bruce armstrong, nina armstrong, scott armstrong, vic armstrong, lori arnold, laurie arnow, donald aros, michael ashby, okan ataman, joann atwood, roy augenstein, steve austin, michael auszura, michael babcock, mark bachman, charles bailey, christopher baker, sarah baker, bart barbuscia, sharon barneby, william barr, monica barraza, jayce alexander basques, dugan beach, michael b beaudin, samantha becker, anna behlmer, joel behrens, tim belsher, jeffrey benedict, todd bennett, tony bennett, colin benoit, lori berlanga, laura berning, giovanni bianchini, jessica biggins, george billinger iii, pete billington, duncan blackman, richard l blankenship, david blitstein, kathryn blondell, andrew bock, paul bogdan, ben bohling, jeanne boisineau, lisa bojarski, marek bojsza, scott bonnenfant, william f boone, matthew bouchard, kevin bowers, amanda braggs, steve braggs, major j todd breasseale, patrick brennan, leslie bricusse, connie brink, shannon brock, michael broomberg, phil brotherton, tripp brown, richard bucher, jamie buckner, chris buddy, richard burden, gary burritt, cathy burrow, lois burwell, dorian bustamante, kela cabrales, michaela calanchini-carter, ed calderon, charlie campagna, colin campbell, candice campos, paul candrilli, jennifer caputo, mickey carleton, derrick carlin, jimmy carmickle, nicholas carr, rick carter, derek casari, lori casler, leo c castellano, william catania, lanny cermak, paul cheponis, john cherevka, todd cherniawsky, vanessa cheung, doug chiang, david childers, terry chostner, eric christensen, steve christensen, roger christian, ryan church, paul churchill, bryan clements, peter clores, robert clot, thomas cloutier, james clyne, zachary cole, brian connor, audrey a conrad, caitlin content, eric p cook, kyle cookmeyer, andrew cooper, terence corliss, ken coronet, david corral, damacio cortez jr., kathy cossu, martin coven, patrick crane, david crank, don crawford, douglas crosby, kevin cross, mike cuevas, james d'amery, jayesh dalal, lenny dalrymple, lauren dandridge, sandy de crescent, michelle dean, jerry decarlo, joseph m deluca, carol demarti, richard demolski, dominick derasmo, david devlin, michael dicomo, richard bryan douglas, lois drabkin, mitch dubin, richard ducker, roderic duff, young duk cho, john duncan, michael n dupuis, yanick dusseault, randal m dutra, kent sverre dysthe, c michael easton, mikey eberle, selwyn eddy, omari edwards, award nominations, best sound editing, best visual effects, miscellaneous notes.

Winner of the 2005 Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in Feature Film - Sound Effects & Foley by the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE).

Winner of three 2005 awards including Best Single Visual Effect of the Year, Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Compositing in a Motion Picture by the Visual Effects Society (VES).

Released in United States Summer June 29, 2005

Released in United States on Video November 22, 2005

Based on the H.G. Wells novel "War of the Worlds" published by Heinemann in 1898. The story inspired the 1938 radio performance by Orson Welles' Mercury Theater which inspired the film "War of the Worlds" (USA/1953) starring Gene Barry, Ann Robinson and Les Tremayne.

Film features cameos by Gene Barry and Ann Robinson.

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War of the Worlds

I f you're making a movie about aliens who've insinuated their way on to planet Earth there's one person you've obviously got to cast: scary blonde robo-moppet Dakota Fanning. At just 11 years old, Hollywood's supreme child actor looks like the love child of Shirley Temple and Chucky. Sadly, however, Dakota here only plays a human: the screaming daughter of Tom Cruise, being carried with her punky older brother to safety, away from vast alien tripod-monsters who are marauding across a scorched landscape of wrecked cars and crashed planes.

But when the time comes to reveal the sinister extra-terrestrial intelligence directing these engines of death, perhaps we could hope for a glint in Dakota's preternaturally clear eyes. No. Director Steven Spielberg is content to make her his all-American kid-heroine. I remember an interview he gave around the time of ET; questioned about Drew Barrymore's easy charm, he said, "If you over-rehearse kids you risk a bad case of the cutes." But Dakota is an evolutionary leap forward from Drew. There's no question of over-rehearsing her. She is beyond cute, and makes a disconcerting double act with Cruise: eerily calm, even when she's screaming, in contrast to Tom's earnestly pumped-up high-energy performance.

Spielberg's version of the classic HG Wells novel is based squarely around the pre-tech motif of those clanking metal tripods. They have apparently been buried under the ground long, long ago by aliens who now resurrect them with a lightning storm, sending their pilots down inside blinding bolts of electricity - a process conveniently explained to the pop-eyed Tom by a TV news reporter, using a slo-mo video monitor. Why oh why could they not have just taken possession of planet Earth in the first place, and saved us all a lot of grief and indeed embarrassment? Maybe the sadistic critters just wanted to see us suffer.

Spielberg boils up a lot of classic elements from classic films: many of them his own. There's a dab of ET in the way his extra-terrestrials try fooling around with a bicycle and nervously recoil when it falls over. There's a hint of Alien, a bit of King Kong, a smidgen of The Birds, a dollop of Titanic; there's something of the cattle-truck scenes from Schindler's List and he partly recycles the denouement from Jaws. Underneath it all is a straight-ahead storyline of obstacles overcome and life lessons learned. In a crisis - and what a crisis - Tom learns to be a proper dad.

The opening sequence, in which the Earth's crust slowly cracks open in a New York street and sends buildings, churches and cars hither and thither, is undoubtedly impressive, but all Tom Cruise can do is look stunned and smudgy-faced and then run away, to show that it's scary - but also keep looking defiantly back, to show us he's not a wuss. It would be easier for him to run slowly backwards in a sort of Chuck Berry duckwalk of courage. The metal three-legged thingies, when they emerge, emit a deafening synthesised honk in the key of C and zap folk with a death-ray, vaporising everything but the victim's trousers. The aliens' appearance is the cue for the film's one good line. Cruise's stunned son asks his dad if they're terrorists. "No, they're from some place else," says Cruise and the boy gasps: "You mean, like Europe?"

Soon the terrified populace is on the move, straggling in the opposite direction from columns of grimly unsympathetic troops. Some of the civilians have put up a 9/11-style "missing" gallery of pictures. But they're mostly just dazed. What's not to be dazed about? An aeroplane crashes on the house which Cruise and his kids are hiding in. Why? Was it the aliens who shoved it out of the sky? It's not clear - but it sure does make a spectacular scene. A train roars by with flames spilling out of every window: another semi-intentional moment of surreal catastrophe.

The real low point comes when Tom and Dakota have to hide out in a cellar owned by a crazed survivalist, sweatily played by Tim Robbins. The terrified little girl asks Tom to get her to sleep by singing Hushabye Mountain from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Tom chokes up; he doesn't know it - what kind of a dad is he? - so in a low and tearful voice he sings the Beach Boys' Little Deuce Coupe instead. Which is, like, the only song he knows. Not an uncurled toe in the house. It's a truly horrendous irony-free moment for which everyone involved deserves to appear in front of a UN tribunal. To top it off, Dakota lip-quiveringly sings Hushabye Mountain herself later, in circumstances too horrible to mention.

War of the Worlds is a fundamentally unambitious and often quite dull film, compared to Spielberg's great alien romances ET and Close Encounters. It's not simply that those were about "nice" aliens rather than "nasty" aliens. They were interesting aliens, dramatic aliens, alien aliens. These bug-eyed bores are just Area 51 cliches. For aliens, they are very, very familiar. The whole film is a non-war of non-worlds: pseudo-aliens unequally matched with ersatz earthlings, and finally experiencing a reversal that apparently didn't affect them when they came to plant the underground tripods. Orson Welles's listeners thought they were experiencing the real thing. Viewers of this movie will think they are watching a demo for the tie-in video game.

The Ending Of 2005's War Of The Worlds Explained

Blockbuster king Steven Spielberg has made dozens of films over the course of his prolific career, so you'd be forgiven for not remembering what happens in every one of them. In 2005, Spielberg released his adaptation of the classic H.G. Wells novel "The War of the Worlds," starring Tom Cruise and a young Dakota Fanning. Though it wasn't totally embraced by critics and is often sidelined by Spielberg's other, more iconic films, it was a box office smash at the time and is definitely worth revisiting .

The film follows Ray (Cruise), a divorced dock worker and dad to two kids, Rachel (Fanning) and Robbie (Justin Chatwin). The kids are staying with Ray for the weekend while their mother (Miranda Otto) is away, and they soon find themselves in the midst of an apocalyptic alien invasion. In classic Spielbergian fashion, the story is as much about family dysfunction as it is about extraterrestrial events. The terrifying action sequences are impeccably done and the performances from both Cruise and Fanning are incredible, but the thing that has stuck with audiences most over the years is the film's divisive ending.

"War of the Worlds" is filled with so much destruction and carnage that, to some, the ending feels like something of a cop-out — but perhaps there's more to that story. What does the ending really mean within the broader context of the narrative? What does it mean for the characters themselves? And how does Spielberg himself feel about it? Keep reading to have all of your questions about the film's ending answered.

Why did the aliens invade earth?

One of the most interesting things about "War of the Worlds" is how much of a departure it is from Spielberg's previous films, especially his previous films about aliens. Think about "E.T.," in which the alien in question is a harmless creature being hunted by greedy humans. Even the aliens in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," eerie as they are, basically come in peace. That is most certainly not the case in "War of the Worlds," which depicts a very different relationship between humans and aliens.

In The H.G. Wells book, the aliens that invade Earth are known as Martians — meaning they are from Mars, obviously — and numerous details about their species are included. In Spielberg's film, very little is known about the aliens, and they are never actually referred to as Martians. What we do know is that they planted devices called tripods in numerous locations around the globe, likely thousands of years ago. The aliens themselves traveled to Earth (using a lightning storm as a conduit) in order to man the tripods and attack humankind.

We're not given any indications about why the aliens have invaded earth, but it becomes clear that their main goal is colonization and terraformation. They kill most of the humans they come into contact with, but we also learn they need blood and tissue from humans in order to fertilize the extraterrestrial plants they are growing on Earth. The fact that we don't know much about these aliens actually makes them all the more terrifying, and, for most of the film, it seems like nothing will be able to stop them — until something totally unexpected does.

A parable about 9/11

While it's often said that H.G. Wells' 1897 novel was inspired by the horrors of European colonialism, Spielberg's adaptation emerged in a very different landscape. Released four years after 9/11 and two years after the start of the Iraq War, these events clearly influenced the making of the film. The allusions to 9/11 are fairly obvious throughout.

As the tripods begin attacking, they turn people to dust with their lasers. Those who are lucky enough to survive find themselves covered in ash as they scramble around in confusion. People begin putting up signs showing their missing loved ones, another piece of imagery that alludes to real-life events. While the ash falling from the sky and the New York/New Jersey setting make the 9/11 connection clear enough, the threat of terrorism is actually mentioned in the film itself. As Ray and his children flee the city, his daughter Rachel asks him if they're being attacked by terrorists.

It's pretty clear, looking back, how much of the film is a commentary on the aftermath of 9/11, but screenwriter David Koepp was worried that the connection would be too obvious. He told Empire that he considered taking out the "is it the terrorists" line that Dakota Fanning says, but Spielberg told him to keep it in. "No, she's 11, it's 2005, she's going to say that," Spielberg said, according to Koepp. With this parable in mind, "War of the Worlds" becomes a story about how life goes on in the wake of a tragedy like this and the things that are lost in the process.

It's no Independence Day

Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" differs from the typical alien invasion film in some pretty fundamental ways. The main thing that sets it apart from other films of this ilk is the kind of characters it focuses on. Think of " Independence Day ," which focuses on how the military and scientists react to the crisis. Even in contemporary monster films like "Godzilla" and "Kong: Skull Island," the main characters are primarily soldiers or scientists. "War of the Worlds" eschews this formula, instead focusing on working-class civilians as they struggle to survive.

This focus on Ray and his family makes the film even more compelling. They have no special skills that would help them have a better chance than anyone else, and thus it seems nearly impossible that they will be able to survive this apocalyptic situation. There is a fairly strong military presence in the film, and while it's by no means an anti-military film, we do see that the military are fairly useless when it comes to stopping the alien invaders.

The odds that Ray and his kids survive the situation aren't greater than anyone else's odds, which makes the film even more stressful to watch. It doesn't seem likely that any of these people will make it out alive, especially because it doesn't seem like anyone in power has come up with any viable solutions. By the time we reach the last act of the film, the remaining survivors know full well that nobody is coming to save them.

Ray isn't exactly the most reliable dad

Like many of Spielberg's films, "War of the Worlds" is about family dysfunction. Divorce is a common theme in the director's work — as we see in "The Fabelmans," this interest comes from his own family history — and in "War of the Worlds" he finds a way to work these ideas into the emotional journey of the characters. One of the first things we learn about Ray is that he isn't necessarily a great dad to his kids. Neither of his children really feel they can rely on him for anything, and his ex-wife, Mary Ann, is hesitant to even leave them with him for the weekend.

He has an especially strained relationship with his teenage son. Robbie doesn't trust his dad and feels he's failed as a father, and this creates a lot of conflict between the two. He gets along better with Rachel, who is still a child, but she doesn't have much faith in him either and is much closer to her big brother. Spielberg himself even went as far as to call Ray a "deadbeat dad," but noted that what's really important is how he behaves in a crisis. He called the alien invasion "very informative as to who Tom Cruise's character really is." While the overarching narrative of the film is the fight to survive this alien invasion, Ray's personal character arc is just as important.

Humanity begins to crumble

While the biggest threat to humankind's continued existence in "War of the Worlds" is the aliens themselves, the citizens of Earth also begin to lose their humanity as the apocalypse wears on, an effect that is just as devastating as the invasion itself. Ray and his children see this occur in real time as they try to escape the city in a stolen van. Ray has realized that the car is a hot commodity, so he's been taking back roads in order to avoid other people. But, eventually, they stumble upon a group of stranded people, and that's when things get ugly.

In one of the most upsetting scenes in the film, Ray and the kids are surrounded by an angry mob who are willing to do anything — including killing one another — to gain control of the car. People start breaking through the windshield with their bare hands and someone even grabs Rachel, who sits terrified in the back seat. Ray eventually gives up the car to save his kids, but the damage has been done. We've seen how quickly human beings fall back on their animalistic instincts to survive, thinking of no one else but themselves. The question then becomes this: If civilization does somehow survive the invasion, what will be left of our humanity?

Robbie tries to prove he's not like his father

The tension between Ray and Robbie is one of the central forces of the film, and even as Ray does everything he can to protect his kids, Robbie still doesn't quite trust his father. It also seems as if Robbie is worried he will grow up to be like his father, which would explain his rebellious actions throughout the course of the film. Though Robbie is forced to finally listen to Ray as they find themselves in life-threatening situations, he's still desperate to prove he's a better man than his dad.

We see these tensions come to a head in the film's third act as the family finds themselves fleeing the aliens on foot. Ray, Rachel, and Robbie come upon a group of Marines fighting the aliens on a hillside. Ray decides the family should run in the opposite direction, but Robbie has it in his head that the best thing to do is stay and fight. He wants to join the Marines in their futile battle against the invaders, and Ray is strongly against the idea. Ray even tries to tackle Robbie to the ground in order to prevent him from leaving, but he eventually lets Robbie go when he realizes he needs to protect Rachel as well.

It may seem like a pretty ridiculous move on Robbie's part, but it's clear his hatred of the aliens is so strong that he feels it's something he must do. Robbie also wants to prove that he's his own man and that he's braver than his father, even if it costs him his life.

The destruction of Rachel's innocence

The alien invasion is obviously hard on everyone involved, but the person who is arguably most changed by the events of the film is Rachel, the youngest in the family. Though we follow all three family members for most of the film, we're often seeing the events they experience through Rachel's eyes. She's often screaming and crying — as any child would be in this situation — and her reaction to the invasion hits closest to home.

It should be noted that what makes Rachel such a compelling character is the incredible performance by a young Dakota Fanning. A lot is asked of her in the film and her performance never feels over the top or forced. Seeing the events of the movie through her big, observant blue eyes makes the story even more emotionally devastating.

Though Rachel's character arc isn't as overt as Ray's, the experiences of her character are just as important. Essentially, what we see with Rachel's character is the loss of innocence. She was already a wise, fairly mature child at the start of the film, but by the end, any illusions she had about the wonder and the beauty of the world around her have been dimmed, if not snuffed out altogether. Despite the relative optimism of the film's conclusion, it's clear that no one — and perhaps Rachel most of all — will ever be the same again.

Making difficult choices in a crisis

One of the ideas that is brought up time and time again in the film is the notion that crises like these can not only destroy lives, but also destroy the person you once were. While there are brief moments of heroism and selflessness, the citizens of Earth are by and large shown to be only out for themselves. Ray does his best to help others when he can, but his main goal is to protect his family. As the film goes on, we see just how far he is willing to go to keep his family safe, even at the expense of his own humanity.

One of the more harrowing scenes in the film occurs when Ray and Rachel take shelter with a former ambulance driver named Harlan Ogilvy (Tim Robbins). Ray quickly realizes that Harlan is not all there — he's probably suffering from some sort of PTSD — and he does his best to placate the man while keeping Rachel safe. They hide from the aliens for a while, but then Harlan has a mental breakdown. Ray is afraid that Harlan's exclamations will alert the aliens to their presence, so he shoots and kills him.

Ray's actions here are understandable, but killing someone like that is not the kind of thing that a person can get over easily. If we thought the angry mob trying to hijack the car earlier in the film were desperate, Ray shooting Harlan proves that a person will do anything to protect themselves and their loved ones, even when it costs someone else their life.

Ray proves himself as a father

Ray begins the film as something of a deadbeat dad, but, as it progresses, he proves that he will do anything to protect his children. The reason Ray is such an engaging character is because he's not at all set up to be a hero. If his kids don't trust him enough to take care of them for a single weekend, how can he protect them in the face of a literal apocalypse?

As it turns out, an alien invasion is exactly what it takes for Ray to prove that he can be the father his children need after all. Though he still has a long way to go in terms of actually getting to know his kids properly, he proves to them and to himself that he can show up for his family when they really need it. Though one might question his decision to let Robbie go and fight with the military, the main reason he did it was so he could continue protecting Rachel, who needed him the most. And, in a strange way, it took strength to let his son go and be his own man.

Ray's hero's journey is one of redemption, as he eventually shows his family that he's not a no-good waste of space like they all thought he was. It's also important that he proves to himself that he can be the type of dad his kids can rely on. While many of the characters shown in the film illustrate the underlying selfishness that drives them, Ray embodies the opposite — he's a person who will do whatever it takes to protect his loved ones.

Life goes on

In what probably came as a surprise to many viewers, "War of the Worlds" ends on a fairly optimistic note. After escaping one of the alien tripods with Rachel by blowing it up with grenades, Ray travels on foot to Boston to Mary Ann's parents' house. He's not sure what he'll find there, but when he arrives, he's shocked to find Mary Ann at the door alongside Robbie, who has improbably survived the attack. Robbie is reunited with Ray, while Rachel runs to hug her mother.

Meanwhile, a voiceover explains what became of the aliens. While their plan was to take over Earth by terraforming it, they were stopped in their tracks by the unlikeliest of Earth's defenses: bacteria. Essentially, the aliens' immune systems were unable to fight the microbes present on Earth, microbes that human beings are naturally acclimated to after so many years. The tripods' defenses fell, allowing the military to shoot them down, and the aliens themselves perished from disease.

Despite the destruction that occurs in the film, the conclusion offers hope, though it's clear nothing will ever go back to the way it was. Considering that the film was at least implicitly in conversation with world events like 9/11 and the Iraq War, the ending reassures viewers that even the greatest tragedies cannot stamp out our will to live. Whether or not the film's ending is a good one, well, that's still up for debate.

A divisive ending

There's a lot to love about Spielberg's ambitious "War of the Worlds" adaptation. The action sequences are beautifully choreographed, the aliens are terrifying, and the performances are gut-wrenching. But even many fans of the film struggle with the ending, which seems to wrap everything up in a too-tidy bow. To be fair to Spielberg, the film's ending is exactly the same as the ending in the book, but that hasn't stopped viewers from complaining about it over the years.

In a Den of Geek article arguing that "War of the Worlds" is Spielberg's most underappreciated movie, writer Kayti Burt concedes that "it is an ending that manages to be both unexpectedly optimistic and desperately unsatisfying at the same time." Bloody Disgusting critic Tyler Eschberger, who also contends that the film is underrated, argues that the inexplicable reunion "is a hollow note that sadly does sour the relentless ride up to that point."

There are also viewers who find the ending unbelievable for other reasons. There is an entire Reddit thread dedicated to discussing whether or not the ending of the film makes sense from a logical standpoint. As u/Monkeywrench1234 asked, "how could a spacefaring, tech superior alien race possibly not understand biology and the danger of (to them) alien microbes?" It's a fair question, and it's one of several qualms audiences have had with the film's ending over the years. Either because it's too cheesy or doesn't make enough sense, it appears that not many people are convinced by it.

Spielberg himself wasn't satisfied with the ending

There have been plenty of viewers over the years who have taken issue with the end of "War of the Worlds," and, as it turns out, Spielberg is actually one of them. Spielberg explained his thoughts about the ending of the film in the 2018 book "James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction," reports Digital Spy . "The film doesn't have a good ending. I never could figure out how to end that darn thing," he says in the book.

The ending of Spielberg's film is a direct adaptation of the ending of the H.G. Wells book, so one could argue that the problem lies in the source material. As Cameron says in the book, "I don't think H.G. Wells could figure it out. The common cold takes out the bad guys."

The one saving grace for the film's ending, according to Spielberg, was the inclusion of Morgan Freeman. Though he's not a character in it, Morgan Freeman narrates the film , including the explanation at the end as to why the aliens eventually perished. "I had Morgan Freeman help me with it with his narration," Spielberg said. "Morgan always makes everything sound better." It may not be the ending everyone wanted, but the two hours leading up to it are pretty excellent, so we're inclined to give Spielberg a pass on this one. Plus, a little Morgan Freeman never hurts.

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Characters / War of the Worlds (2005)

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Ray Ferrier

Portrayed By: Tom Cruise

Action Survivor : He's never been martially trained but still manages to survive a lot of dangerous situations in which countless other people die by the hands of the aliens.
Amicably Divorced : He and his ex seem on pretty good terms, despite things not working out between them.
Berserk Button : Don't threaten his kids.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold : At first. He has trouble relating to his kids, as when he plays catch with Robbie and reacts to his son's criticisms by throwing the ball at a window (which didn't help their relationship ). However, despite his selfish behaviour and lack of presence in his kid's lives, it's clear that he loves his children and as the film goes on, he loses the "jerk" part and goes to great lengths to protect them during the invasion, including killing a man.
Manly Tears : Ray tries to be strong for his children, but the stress of their situation eventually gets to him. Whilst taking refuge in a diner, Ray begins unashamedly crying in front of his kids after their car is stolen by a desperate mob of refugees, who soon begin murdering each other to get at it. He also has tears in his eyes when singing a lullaby to Rachel, and sheds a single tear when she falls asleep.
Papa Wolf : He'll do anything to protect his children, especially Rachel.
Parents as People : He comes to realize that he knows very little about being a father, and does his best to make up for it over the course of the film.
Pragmatic Hero : He'll do anything to protect his kids, even if it means committing morally ambiguous acts such as killing a man .
Shoot the Dog : He kills Ogilvy to keep him from drawing the aliens' attention.

Rachel Ferrier

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rachel_dakota_fanning.jpg

Portrayed By: Dakota Fanning

Actual Pacifist : She finds any violence or fighting upsetting, shows no desire for revenge on the aliens, and is distressed when Ray is about to kill Ogilvy despite understanding why he's doing it .
Admiring the Abomination : She's fascinated by the aliens while they're exploring the basement, despite obviously being scared of them.
All Girls Like Ponies : She rides horses, and has won an award in a competition.
All-Loving Hero : She's willing to help people she doesn't even know, innocently asking Ray if they can give a ride to a man who's attacking their car. She's also distressed when Ray is about to kill Ogilvy , despite him being a threat to her.
Children Are Innocent : Her reactions are pretty accurate for a ten-year old. She often doesn't understand what's happening or why, and Ray is very intent on keeping her from seeing the more traumatic events.
Also occurs in two earlier scenes. While leaving her mother's basement through the remnants of a plane crash that took out more than half the building , Ray briefly has her close her eyes to get in the car. Slightly later, Ray covers her eyes as he pulls her away from a grizzly scene at a river full of corpses . Unfortunately, in the second instance, she'd already seen far too much .
Cute, but Cacophonic : Her screams are quite ear-piercing.
Daddy's Girl : She evolves into this as the film goes on, becoming much more open and trusting toward Ray, who in turn would do anything to save her.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold : She has blonde hair, and is the most innocent character in the film.
Harmful to Minors : She's quite traumatized by what she goes through.
Heroic BSoD : She has quite a lot of these, such as when she sees the start of the aliens' attack, or when she's captured in the tripod basket.
Innocent Inaccurate : When Ray kills Ogilvy , Rachel seems aware that something went down and goes to comfort him, but it's unclear if she fully understands what happened, and doesn't question him at all.
I Want My Mommy! : She screams this as soon as the aliens begin their invasion.
Little Miss Snarker : She gets quite a few snarky lines.
Meaningful Name : Her name can mean “one with purity” which fits her innocent nature.
Nice Girl : She's rather aloof from Ray at first, but is very innocent and sweet.
Troll : She smiles mischievously as she tells Ray that Robbie "borrowed" his car, likely knowing Ray won't be pleased about this.
Wise Beyond Their Years : She's played by Dakota Fanning, so this is to be expected. She's more mature than Ray at times, she seems aware to an extent that a fatal fight has occurred when she comforts him after he killed Ogilvy (to protect her) , and her theory about her splinter ends up predicting the aliens' defeat.

Robbie Ferrier

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bmtc1mjcwnja1nl5bml5banbnxkftztcwnte3ndazmw_v1_sy1000_cr006511000_al.jpg

Portrayed By: Justin Chatwin

Big Brother Instinct : It's very apparent he cares deeply for his sister. He's able to calm her down when she's panicking when their dad can't. A very telling moment is when Robbie and Ray get into an argument about their plans and Robbie's desire to go with the military to fight, Rachel says this. Rachel : Robbie! Where are you trying to go? What are you trying to do? Who's gonna take care of me when you go?
Calling Parents by Their Name : Because of his anger towards his father he calls him 'Ray' most of the time. He eventually does call him 'Dad' when he tries to get his attention.
Leeroy Jenkins : He's determined to go off and fight the aliens, despite Ray pointing out that this won't end well.

Harlan Ogilvy

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bmtc1mzgwmtu1m15bml5banbnxkftztcwnzg2ndazmw_v1_sx1500_cr001500999_al.jpg

Portrayed By: Tim Robbins

Adaptational Villainy : He shares the name of Ogilvy the astronomer in the book, who isn't around for long but is portrayed as a more sympathetic and amiable character.
Asshole Victim : He's selfish and antagonistic to Ray, even telling Rachel to her face that her father might die, and keeps recklessly putting them at risk of capture . When he goes off the deep end, he even says that he doesn't care if Ray and Rachel are killed by the aliens. It's hard not to feel relief when Ray decides to kill him .
Ax-Crazy : He goes into this territory after discovering the aliens are harvesting humans. This gets him killed.
Composite Character : He's a combination of two different characters from the original book, and gets the name of a third.
Death by Irony : He's determined not to be killed by the aliens, and tells Ray that they'll die if they "lose their heads". He ends up being killed by a human after snapping when he sees a Tripod draining human blood.
Et Tu, Brute? : He looks rather betrayed when he realizes Ray is about to kill him .
Face Death with Dignity : Subverted. He tries to invoke this by calmly facing Ray with shovel in hand, but the last we hear is him screaming in fear .
Foil : He's one to Ray, having lost his family in the invasion. While Ray has become more selfless and caring for his family, Ogilvy has become embittered and self-absorbed.
Green-Eyed Monster : Having lost his own daughter, it's suggested that he wants to get Ray out of the way so he can have Rachel to himself. This gives Ray an additional reason to kill him .
Hidden Disdain Reveal : He spends his final moments wishing death on Ray and Rachel .
He tells Ray they “can’t lose their heads” if they want to survive, but he starts acting irrationally and putting Ray and Rachel in danger.
He taunts Ray for being afraid, but he's afraid to die himself, as he screams as Ray kills him .
Jerkass : He becomes increasingly hostile to Ray, taunting him for not having a plan, and attacks Ray for trying to reason with him. He spends his final moments stating that the aliens can take Ray and Rachel for all he cares .
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk : He offers Ray and Rachel shelter in order to drag them into his fight with the aliens.
Large Ham : He gets more and more hammy as his mental state deteriorates.
Laser-Guided Karma : He’s killed by the father of the girl he’s endangering .
Madness Mantra : "Not my blood!"
The Millstone : His actions keep putting Ray and Rachel in danger. Ray decides to kill him as a result .
Oh, Crap! : When he realizes Ray is about to kill him.
The Social Darwinist : He seems to think that the strong are the ones who survive, telling Ray that when he was a paramedic those who lived kept their eyes open. Ironically he’s the one who loses his mind from the trauma he’s been through, leading Ray to see him as a liability and kill him .
Sole Survivor : He's the only one of his family who survived the aliens' initial attack. In the end, he also dies.
Sound-Only Death : We don't see how Ray kills him. We only hear the sounds of the fight while Rachel sings to herself so she won't hear.
Tragic Villain : He becomes a threat to Ray and Rachel, but it's because he's gone insane from witnessing the invasion and losing his entire family, including his young daughter.
Undignified Death : He's gone completely insane by the time he dies, ranting that Ray and Rachel can die for all he cares, and he screams in fear as Ray kills him .
Tempting Fate : He rants that Ray and Rachel are going to be killed, shortly before being killed himself .
The World's Expert (on Getting Killed) : He tells Ray that they'll die if they "lose their heads." He ends up getting killed for that reason himself .
Would Hurt a Child : Indirectly at least. He doesn't care that his actions are putting Rachel in danger, and when Ray tries to reason with him and stop him from making noise, he rants in the background that the aliens can kill her for all he cares. This removes any doubt that he's too far gone, and makes it more sympathetic when Ray kills him .

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5c2a20994ed3515a6b6b1e20507b63b9.jpg

Aliens Are Bastards : They're on a planet-wide genocide. They start off by massacring a crowd of innocent people, and keep going from there.
Asshole Victim : They all die from being infected by bacteria, but it's impossible to feel sympathy for them .
Bizarre Alien Biology : They have three main limbs with three fingers on each, two little limbs with two gingers on their torso, and a head shaped like a Ceratopsian's head crest.
Bizarre Alien Limbs : These creatures provide the image for the trope page. On top of having three legs (which they use both to get around and to interact with their environment), there are their two smaller arms, used to pick things up with more finesse and to draw them closer to the alien's body.
The Greys : Their skin is grey.
Karmic Death : They die from exposure to bacteria, the lowliest of Earth's organisms .
Too Dumb to Live : They get out of their tripods on Earth, wearing no protective gear, rummaging through dirty stuff in a damp basement, and one of them even drinks water from a broken pipe. No wonder they all got sick .
Weaksauce Weakness : They were so advanced and germophobic that they wiped out all microbial life on their native planet. This meant they had no means of developing immunities when they invaded Earth, and died in droves due to simple microbial diseases that humans have no problem surviving.
Would Hurt a Child : It's clear that they would kill any child in their path, including 10-year old Rachel.
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Two versions of ''War of the Worlds'' debut

Two versions of ''War of the Worlds'' debut -- The Tom Cruise version is competing with a straight-to-video release by ''Outsider'' costar C. Thomas Howell

Scott Brown writes the Hit List for EW and is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio -- he has the tote bag to prove it

The world will end twice this July 4 weekend. Tom Cruise faces apocalyptic competition from his Outsiders costar C. Thomas ”Ponyboy” Howell. Cruiseâ??s version of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds hit theaters June 29 (see review on page 45), while Howell’s was released straight to video June 28 (distributor Asylum marvels at the ”coincidence”). Here’s a comparison.

CRUISE dashes from pricey set piece to pricey set piece. HOWELL , no doubt due to budget considerations, runs around the same tree several times and cries. CRUISE totes a daughter, played by Dakota Fanning, who lights up the hellscape with her uncanny precocity and floodlight eyes. HOWELL gets separated from his kid (real-life son Dashiell HOWELL ), who, like Fanning, seems to have been made by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. CRUISE has a hot ex-wife, played by international sensation Mirando Otto. Yeah, the Aussie looker from The Lord of the Rings . HOWELL has a hot wife played by international sensation Tinarie Van Wyk-Loots. Yup, Tinarie Van Wyk-Loots. It’s. . .international. And she’s naked for the first few minutes. Just. . .naked. What were we talking about again?

CRUISE Right, right. Um. . .there are absolutely no antidepressants in this film. HOWELL None here, either. It’s 100 percent uncut depressing. He kills aliens with a rabies vaccine!

CRUISE faces down a giant tripod. Lives hang in the balance. HOWELL lands facedown more than once, carefully trying not to upset the tripod on which the camcorder is precariously balanced.

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War of the Worlds (2005)
War of the Worlds (2005) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Menu. ... Tom Cruise Lynn Johnson ... set medic Adam Jordan ... production assistant Steve Karnes ... weapons armorer Lorna Jean Katz ... stand-in Gregg Kawecki ... production assistant Elyse Klaits ...
War of the Worlds (2005)
War of the Worlds: Directed by Steven Spielberg. With Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin. An alien invasion threatens the future of humanity. The catastrophic nightmare is depicted through the eyes of one American family fighting for survival.
Justin Chatwin
Justin Chatwin (born October 31, 1982) is a Canadian actor. He began his career in 2001 with a brief appearance in the musical comedy Josie and the Pussycats.Following his breakthrough role as Robbie Ferrier in the blockbuster War of the Worlds (2005), Chatwin headlined studio films such as The Invisible (2007) and Dragonball Evolution (2009), an action-adventure feature based on the manga ...
War of the Worlds (2005 film)
War of the Worlds is a 2005 American science fiction action-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp, based on H. G. Wells' 1898 novel, The War of the Worlds. Tom Cruise stars in the main role alongside Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, and Tim Robbins, with narration by Morgan Freeman.It follows an American dock worker who must look after his ...
Robbie Ferrier
War of the Worlds. This article is a stub, you can help by expanding it. Robert "Robbie" Ferrier is the son of Ray and Mary Ann Ferrier, and the brother of Rachel Ferrier. While fleeing with his family he becomes determined to fight the aliens by joining the army. He joins the charge before being obscured by an explosion.
Justin Chatwin
Justin Chatwin managed to hold his own with the Hollywood big leagues as Robbie, the son of Tom Cruise's Ray in 2005's "War of the Worlds." Also in 2005, he played the part of Billy in the quirky ...
War of the Worlds (2005)
Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a dockworker living in New Jersey, divorced from his first wife Mary Ann (Miranda Otto) and estranged from his two children Rachel and Robbie (Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin), of whom he has custody on weekends. On one such visitation, looking after the kids becomes a little more difficult when, after a series of ...
War of the Worlds (2005)
War of the Worlds is a 2005 Academy Award-nominated science fiction action film based on H. G. Wells' original novel of the same name. It was directed by Steven Spielberg from a script by Josh Friedman and David Koepp and stars Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, and Justin Chatwin. It is one of four film adaptations of the novel, preceded by two straight-to-video versions released in the same year ...
War of the Worlds (2005)
Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son and young daughter for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down. Steven Spielberg. Director. H.G. Wells. Novel.
War of the Worlds (2005)
Tom Cruise stars as Ray Ferrier, a divorced dockworker and absentee father. Soon after his ex-wife (Miranda Otto) and her new husband drop off his teenage son Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and young daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning, Taken) for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down. At an intersection near his house ...
WAR OF THE WORLDS Trailer (2005)
Official trailer from "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin | Available on Digital, Blu-Ray and DVD | For more clips & trail...
The Deeper Meaning Behind Steven Spielberg's 'War of the Worlds'
Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise features the confusion, tragedy and horror that we all felt on 9/11. Intentional or not, 2005's 'War of the Worlds' conjured the specters of 9/ ...
The Movie Review: 'War of the Worlds'
Divorced dad Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a New Jersey dockworker tasked by his ex-wife (Miranda Otto) with taking care of their two kids for the weekend while she and her new, more upscale husband ...
War of The Worlds (2005)
Summary. On June 29th, 2005, Earth goes to war. From Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures comes "War of the Worlds," directed by Steven Spielberg and starring international superstar Tom Cruise.
War of the Worlds movie review (2005)
Steven Spielberg. "War of the Worlds" is a big, clunky movie containing some sensational sights but lacking the zest and joyous energy we expect from Steven Spielberg. It proceeds with the lead-footed deliberation of its 1950s predecessors to give us an alien invasion that is malevolent, destructive and, from the alien point of view, pointless.
Ray Ferrier
Raymond "Ray" Ferrier (Tom Cruise), is the main protagonist in the 2005 film War of the Worlds. A Tripod emerged in his neighbourhood after a lightning storm and completely destroyed it but Ray and his children escaped in a working van. Ray witnessed the demise of his three close friends Manny, Vincent, and Julio. They then moved to Mary Ann (Ray's ex wife) and Tim's (Mary Ann's new husband ...
War of the Worlds (2005)
Based on the H.G. Wells novel "War of the Worlds" published by Heinemann in 1898. The story inspired the 1938 radio performance by Orson Welles' Mercury Theater which inspired the film "War of the Worlds" (USA/1953) starring Gene Barry, Ann Robinson and Les Tremayne. Film features cameos by Gene Barry and Ann Robinson.
War of the Worlds
At just 11 years old, Hollywood's supreme child actor looks like the love child of Shirley Temple and Chucky. Sadly, however, Dakota here only plays a human: the screaming daughter of Tom Cruise ...
The Ending Of 2005's War Of The Worlds Explained
The film follows Ray (Cruise), a divorced dock worker and dad to two kids, Rachel (Fanning) and Robbie (Justin Chatwin). The kids are staying with Ray for the weekend while their mother (Miranda ...
War of the Worlds (2005) / Characters
Characters from War of the Worlds (2005). Ray FerrierPortrayed By: Tom Cruise The main protagonist. Action Survivor: He's never been martially trained but still manages to survive a lot of dangerous situations in which countless other people die …
Tom Cruise's Son wants to fight aliens
Tom Cruise disapproves of his son joining the army, but he has to let him go... This is the saddest scene from War of the Worlds 😥😥🔥 Buy or rent the movie...
War of the Worlds (2005)
Yes. As far as War of the Worlds (1898) is concerned, the most well-known of the movie adaptations is The War of the Worlds (1953), but there have been several others, including War of the Worlds (2005), and The War of the Worlds (2005). In addition, a TV series, War of the Worlds (1988), ran from 1988 to '90. Each of the following other novels ...
Two versions of ''War of the Worlds'' debut
Two versions of ''War of the Worlds'' debut -- The Tom Cruise version is competing with a straight-to-video release by ''Outsider'' costar C. Thomas Howell. The world will end twice this July 4 ...

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