Summer Throwback Series - “War of the Worlds” (2005)

Two decades ago, the Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise “War of the Worlds” was released on June 23, 2005. Despite it receiving a mixed reaction from critics and audiences, this 2005 movie grossed $234.2 million domestically and $604 million worldwide. So, let’s see if this iteration of “War of the Worlds” still holds up!

Dockworker Ray Ferrier struggles to build a positive relationship with his two children, Rachel and Robbie. When his ex-wife, Mary Ann, drops them off at Ferrier’s house, it seems as though it will be just another tension-filled weekend.

However, when electromagnetic pulses of lightning strike the area, the strange event turns out to be the beginning of an alien invasion, and Ferrier must now protect his children as they seek refuge.

I remember checking this movie out on the big screen when it was initially released twenty years ago and initially thought that it was a really great movie. Over the years, I have checked it out again a few times and haven’t really re-visited this Spielberg alien movie in some time. Since this movie has recently hit the twenty year milestone, it was time to see if this iteration of “War of the Worlds” is still pretty good.

For the most part, the Steven-Spielberg-directed adaptation of “War of the Worlds” does deliver some really thrilling and, even suspenseful moments. The beginning moments of the alien invasion, starting with the lightning storm to the reveal of the alien crafts, is one of the most thrilling segments of this movie and still be rather gripping.

Unlike some disaster movies that involves alien invasions, this adaptation dives more into the emotional and psychological toll of the invasion on individuals and families

rather than the typical visual spectacle. One thing that this movie should’ve done to make it more exciting and gripping is add more military presence and show more of their side to the alien invasion.

While the ending of this movie stayed true to the original H.G. Wells novel, it did seem to end rather abruptly. But, nonetheless, this movie’s ending did give the main family’s journey a satisfying conclusion.

Overall, “War of the Worlds” is a visually impressive and (most of the time) thrilling adaptation of the original novel that updates the original story. While things can slow down a bit during the latter half of the movie, it’s still an entertaining sci-fi flick.

Trivia: Director Steven Spielberg owns one of the last copies of the Orson Welles radio script, which he purchased at an auction. He wanted to make the movie years ago, but

decided against it when “Independence Day” was released. The wide shot of the bridge exploding, followed by a tanker crashing into a group of houses as the minivan escapes, was conceived of, and shot, only one month prior to its footage premiering during the Super Bowl, effects ready and all.

MPA; Rated PG-13 for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and disturbing images   (runtime 117 minutes)

You can currently stream the 2005 movie adaptation of “War of the Worlds” on Paramount Plus or rent it from various PVOD streaming platforms.

• When the aliens are investigating the junk in the basement, one of them plays with a bicycle wheel. This is a reference to the original book; the main character observes that, with all the advanced technology the aliens possess, they do not use any wheels, and wonders if the alien life form had skipped the invention of the wheel.

• One scene shows Ray running out of the house to find Robbie while dozens of people are right outside his house photographing the lightning storm. To film the scene, producers hired people on the street to come to the street at the time of shooting with a camera and film so they could get pictures of Tom Cruise for free.

• The crew started filming only seven months prior to the movie's release, after a pre-production phase that lasted a mere 3 months (almost half of a normal schedule). Filming was done for 72 days spread out over 4 months, and in order to finish all 500+ CGI effects in time, Steven Spielberg did all the big action scenes in the early stages of shooting. From start to release, the movie was basically finished in 10 months, an unusually short time for such a big and special-effects-driven film.

• An actual out-of-use Boeing 747 was bought to be used as the crashed plane.

• Due to Steven Spielberg's last minute post-production work, he had to drop out of a scheduled appearance with Tom Cruise to promote the film on The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986). This was the episode of Cruise's highly publicized "couch jumping" incident.

• Steven Spielberg owns one of the last copies of the Orson Welles radio script, which he purchased at an auction. Spielberg wanted to make the film years ago, but decided against it when Independence Day (1996) was released. However, he wanted to work with Tom Cruise again after Minority Report (2002), and when an adaptation of Hampton Sides' book 'Ghost Soldiers' fell through (it was already filmed as The Great Raid (2005)), they picked War of the Worlds (2005) as their next project.

• Before David Koepp was hired, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise asked J.J. Abrams to write the script. But, he had to turn it down, as he was working on the pilot for "Lost (2004)" at the time.

• In 1987, Paramount made its first attempt to remake "The War of the Worlds (1953)" with George A. Romero slated to direct. The project was quickly redeveloped into the television series "War of the Worlds (1988)," a sequel to the 1953 film, and talks of a remake stayed dormant until 2002, when Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise chose the project as a follow-up collaboration to "Minority Report (2002)."

• After her actions in the film, Dakota Fanning's character was voted 'most useless thing to have in an apocalypse' by MTV