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War of the Worlds [Blu-ray] (2005)

Tom Cruise , Dakota Fanning , Steven Spielberg  |  PG-13 |  Blu-ray
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,088 customer reviews)

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Product Details

  • Actors: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin
  • Directors: Steven Spielberg
  • Writers: David Koepp, H.G. Wells, Josh Friedman
  • Producers: Colin Wilson, Damian Collier, Kathleen Kennedy, Paula Wagner
  • Format: AC-3, Blu-ray, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
  • Language: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese
  • Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese
  • Dubbed: French, Portuguese, Spanish
  • Region: Region A/1 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
  • Studio: Dreamworks Video
  • DVD Release Date: June 1, 2010
  • Run Time: 117 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,088 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B003BJO8KU
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,779 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • Learn more about "War of the Worlds [Blu-ray]" on IMDb

Special Features

  • Revisiting the Invasion
  • The H.G. Wells Legacy
  • Steven Spielberg and the Original War of the Worlds
  • Characters: The Family Unit
  • Previsualization
  • Production Diaries
  • Designing the Enemy: Tripods and Aliens
  • Scoring War of the Worlds
  • We are Not Alone
  • Galleries
  • Theatrical Teaser Trailer HD

  • Editorial Reviews

    Amazon.com

    Despite super effects, a huge budget, and the cinematic pedigree of alien-happy Steven Spielberg, this take on H.G. Wells's novel is basically a horror film packaged as a sci-fi thrill ride. Instead of a mad slasher, however, Spielberg (along with writers Josh Friedman & David Koepp) utilizes aliens hell-bent on quickly destroying humanity, and the terrifying results that prey upon adult fears, especially in the post-9/11 world. The realistic results could be a new genre, the grim popcorn thriller; often you feel like you're watching Schindler's List more than Spielberg's other thrill-machine movies (Jaws, Jurassic Park). The film centers on Ray Ferrier, a divorced father (Tom Cruise, oh so comfortable) who witnesses one giant craft destroy his New Jersey town and soon is on the road with his teen son (Justin Chatwin) and preteen daughter (Dakota Fanning) in tow, trying to keep ahead of the invasion. The film is, of course, impeccably designed and produced by Spielberg's usual crew of A-class talent. The aliens are genuinely scary, even when the film--like the novel--spends a good chunk of time in a basement. Readers of the book (or viewers of the deft 1953 adaptation) will note the variation of whom and how the aliens come to Earth, which poses some logistical problems. The film opens and closes with narration from the novel read by Morgan Freeman, but Spielberg could have adapted Orson Welles's words from the famous Halloween Eve 1938 radio broadcast: "We couldn't soap all your windows and steal all your garden gates by tomorrow night, so we did the best next thing: we annihilated the world." --Doug Thomas

    Product Description

    An ordinary man has to protect his children against alien invaders in this science fiction thriller, freely adapted from the classic story by H.G. Wells. 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 strange lighting storms hit his neighborhood, Ray discovers that a fleet of death-ray robotic spaceships have emerged nearby, part of the first wave of an all-out alien invasion of the Earth. Transporting his children from New York to Boston in an attempt to find safety at Mary Ann's parents' house, Ray must learn to become the protector and provider he never was in marriage. Also starring Tim Robbins, War of the Worlds was directed by Steven Spielberg, who had been planning the project for years, but set it aside until a wave of "alien invasion" films (led by Independence Day) had run its course.

    Customer Reviews

    This movie is just plain bad...don't waste your money on it. red_rover  |  250 reviewers made a similar statement
    The special effects are great. 2 cents  |  164 reviewers made a similar statement
    Most Helpful Customer Reviews
    23 of 27 people found the following review helpful
    5.0 out of 5 stars THIS is how you make an invasion from space movie January 4, 2006
    By AH-1Z
    Format:DVD
    This is a really, really good movie. No, it's not a literal depiction of the H.G. Wells novel, but they never said it was going to be. It's sort of an "Inspired by" version. The basic elements of Wells' tale are here, placed into our time and world. To do that there have to be some changes.

    This has both advantges and disadvantages. The latter include that we know already how the story has to end (although apparently some reviewers have never read the book, judging by their comments), but if you're good enough, you can still create suspense and maintain interest throughout the whole picture. Spielberg and Cruise are good enough. To draw a parallel, in the TV show "Smallville", we Know he's going to grow up to be Superman. We Know he's not going to end up with Lana. We Knew the friendship with Luthor couldn't last. Still, they made the journey itself interesting. Same thing here, in spades.

    People have to understand this in order to review the movie fairly. Certain things about anyone doing the War of the Worlds just have to be there. Aliens; We're losing; An everyman who doesn't solve the situation, just survives it; TRIPODS! The 1953 version (which I enjoyed) didn't have them because the FX technology of the time didn't permit them to make them realistically. With what we can do now, any version that didn't have them would be unacceptable; Germs. Accept it, folks. The Titanic sinks at the end. Like it or not, Custer dies. Bruce Wayne is Batman. No one recognizes it's Superman behind Clark Kent's glasses. In Wells' story, we are saved by germs. Spielberg doesn't get to change that and still call it War of the Worlds.

    One clever thing that was done here was that everything was seen from the Earthlings' point of view.
    ... Read more ›
    Was this review helpful to you?
    253 of 329 people found the following review helpful
    3.0 out of 5 stars ACTION MAN July 25, 2005
    The War of the Worlds is a great novel and Spielberg is a director of exceptional talent and accomplishment, so I had been hoping for a lot from this film. In the event, I have got part of what I was hoping for. Very occasionally, a novel can be 'walked' straight on to the screen (The Big Sleep, with a script by Faulkner, is a striking case), and I found myself wondering whether this novel might not have benefited from the same treatment. Some of Spielberg's changes are perfectly reasonable, others less so in my own opinion. It makes perfectly good sense to bring the action forward by a century into the present day, for instance. I suppose there's no harm either in changing the main actors from Wells's scientist with a wife and a brother to a dysfunctional American family, as this may provide enhanced 'human interest' or some such benefit for all I would know. Again, I have no real problem with the way the film combines the roles of the curate and the artilleryman in the book into the single persona of the former ambulance-driver, and I can well understand that Spielberg would have thought it prudent to tone down the socialistic elements in this aspect of the story in order to avoid setting off the wrong types of reaction in American audiences. What I do have a major problem with is the appearance of the Martians themselves. I'm sorry to report that these have far too much in common with a certain wretched TV series. The author's own description is one that stays in the memory, to say the very least, and Wells's Martians look the way they do for very clear reasons that he provides. What was gained by going downmarket in the way Spielberg chooses to do? Nothing that I can think of except perhaps better audience figures from harking back to that ghastly broadcast series.... Read more ›
    Was this review helpful to you?
    253 of 336 people found the following review helpful
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good homage to both Wells' novel and Pal's movie! July 6, 2005
    H. G. Wells wrote the novel over a century ago and Steven Spielberg has done a fantastic job of incorporating some of the literary tale's elements into his version: the tripods and their ear-shattering "ULLA!", the heat ray, the retaining baskets, the growth of the "red weed," the demented "Ogilvey" (Tim Robbins), the devastating onslaught from the invaders, man's futile efforts to defend himself, and the final "solution," among other parts familiar to fans of the book.

    The director also paid tribute to producer George Pal's 1953 Technicolor classic by using a similar "probe" into the basement occupied by Cruise and daughter Fanning, the destruction of a church, an American setting, and a brief appearance by the earlier film's stars: Gene Barry and Ann Robinson.

    There are many tense scenes, making this film not quite suitable for younger audiences. The sound is loud and abrasive, befitting the on-screen destruction. Surprisingly, John Williams's score is quite subtle and, on occasions, is barely audible.

    Actingwise, Cruise, contrary to his behavior off-screen, asserts himself well as the estranged father of two kids who must now do all that he can to save his children, as well as himself. Fanning's strong performance shows why she is one of most popular child performers today. And Robbins is appropriately creepy as the man with the plan to bring down the invaders.

    While megahit "Independence Day" toured similar ground, "War of the Worlds" is more the work of a master storyteller and his name is Steven Spielberg.

    That alone makes it a film not to be missed!
    Was this review helpful to you?
    Most Recent Customer Reviews
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good remake
    I've always been a fan of the 1953 WAR OF THE WORLDS film as well as the published story and 1938 radio broadcast. Read more
    Published 12 days ago by Rob
    3.0 out of 5 stars War of the worlds
    The movie is ok, interesting effects, not TC best performance but not the worst either. Nor sure if is a keeper after a seeing it a few times.
    Published 13 days ago by juandiego salazar
    1.0 out of 5 stars Poor Movie Quality
    The quality of the movie was very poor. It was dark, grainy, and unclear through out. No problems playing other movies.
    Published 13 days ago by Kimberly M. Ree
    5.0 out of 5 stars steelbook is cool
    the steelbook is just great it did get to my house super fast but with a small ding on the side but its ok no big deal the steelbook still looks great
    Published 28 days ago by Kelly .R
    4.0 out of 5 stars WAR Delivers the Goods, Despite Some Hard Knocks
    If Amazon had a ten-point scale, WAR OF THE WORLDS would be a 7...but I'm giving it a 4 because I don't feel its 3.2 rating here on Amazon is fair... Read more
    Published 29 days ago by Brian D
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great movie - Will make you think!
    I grew up on the original "War of The Worlds" and loved it. This latest version exceeds the original in every way but one - the kids. Read more
    Published 1 month ago by Bill M.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great
    Love it .....OK 18 words are required so what more do you want me to say the movie is a good remake and blah blah blah
    Published 1 month ago by Michael Jeffrey Pirrung
    1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible Movie, Hidden Motives?
    Pathetic horrible excuse for entertainment. Virtually every last character is so without merit and so annoying that I wonder if this is not some cloaked message that the world and... Read more
    Published 1 month ago by W. Dancer
    5.0 out of 5 stars As far as I am concerned it's a modern day classic!
    Ok I admit the first time I saw this I was only marginally impressed. I was expecting something different. Tons of battle sequences I think and more aliens vs man battles perhaps. Read more
    Published 1 month ago by Natja Kristy
    1.0 out of 5 stars Misleading
    This movie is NOT a true widescreen but merely made to fit the common screen dimensions of the typical flat panel TV. Read more
    Published 1 month ago by Indey
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    Topic From this Discussion
    Is the two disc version worth it?
    Widescreen version is definitely worth it. The features on the bonus disc were surprisingly light in my opinion (think it's less than hour of material- don't know why they didn't just put it on one disc). Interesting to see the design ideas behind the tripods, other than that I wouldn't... Read more
    Sep 22, 2008 by Robert S. |  See all 3 posts
    What were the red weeds for?
    all the blood from the dead humans...supposedly
    May 22, 2010 by jsnchrry |  See all 4 posts
    There is another version of WAR OF THE WORLDS set in the correct period.
    Best dramatic pretension of WOTW is Jeff Wayne's musical version. Not only is it very well done it's faithful to HG Wells, AND it's got Richard Burton.

    http://www.amazon.com/Jeff-Waynes-Musical-Version-Worlds/dp/B0009MAPUO
    Dec 26, 2012 by DeWitt |  See all 4 posts
    These negative reviews are hilarious!!!
    Well, as I have said on many occasions. I have enjoyed SOME remakes. But this movie wasn't a remake--it was a total re-write of a classic novel by some movie makers who think they can do it better. They couldn't. They didn't. There is a reason Wells' novel has never been out of print since it was... Read more
    Jan 8, 2009 by Cassandra A. Morrison |  See all 20 posts
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