Susan G
I love this movie. I've watched it every year at Halloween. I've watched it with 5th graders for English class. I've watched it for fun at steampunk themed parties. HG Wells' story is one of my favorites - I'd never miss any adaptation - but, of course this is my favorite. Wells' words pop onto the screen. Their is an eerie, haunting to the film that sticks with you in a fun way, like, maybe this really happened! LOL, very fun. And cutting in golden age movie stars as background players and stunt doubles was a bonus; on second viewing, you can look for the movie stars of a hundred-some-odd years ago as extras during the Martian invasion.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
04/15/24
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Audience Member
This was embarrassingly bad. I was cringing the entire time I watched it. I did try to give it a chance, but I just couldn't stand it.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
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Audience Member
This movie is the most accurate adaptation of H.G. Wells' War Of The Worlds because the original story was written in 1898, and the footage in this movie is from 1900 - - only 2 years AFTER Wells penned the story.
The (1953) War Of The Worlds and the (2005) remake of War Of The Worlds were contemporary with the years that they were made, so they are less accurate telling of the story.
That said, there were a few glaring technical errors in this film - - for instance the howitzers used to battle the Martians were definitely WW I vintage artillery - - they would not have existed for another 15 years. There were other glitches - - Motor vehicles of the era (1900) would have been older than the ones shown.
It seemed cheesy and the acting/dialog is atrocious. This is probably intentional.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/23/23
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Audience Member
Literally looks like someone did this on iMovie. Amateurish and utterly unwatchable. It is not a legitimate production.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
01/20/23
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Audience Member
Timothy Hines is a big fan of The War of the Worlds, make no mistake, this being not his first but second attempted adaptation of HG Wells' seminal alien invasion work, but where his heart is in the right place, his attempts to rescue the dramatic wreck that is his 2005 adaptation hold such heartfelt efforts back considerably.
Make no mistake, his 2005 'HG Wells' The War of the Worlds' (not to be confused with The Asylum's film of the same name starring C. Thomas Howell from that same year) is not a good movie by any stretch. Its attempt to be as faithful as it can to the source material and its exceedingly cheap production values, from the acting to the writing to the editing to the cinematography to the sound to its overused music to its awful effects work and especially its unimaginative direction... everything about the movie comes up short and holds it back from achieving its dramatic aims in every measure. It's so barely watchable that it doesn't even have the accidental virtue of being so bad that it becomes good. You can't take it seriously and you can't take it as a joke, yet alone as a novelty. Mind you, I make these criticisms having watched the director's cut that was a slog to get through at 2 hours and 25 minutes, and not the earlier cut that apparently clocked in at north of 3 hours and was an abject disaster.
As such, the frustration for Hines must've been palpable, especially given that the effort was his first feature film. Years of toil and passion might as well have been squandered. But with years comes maturity, and with that, perspective, and with that, focus. The War of the Worlds: The True Story is the result.
The True Story repurposes and recontextualizes the material shot for the earlier film and redoes numerous of its effects and editing, and frames the story as the reminiscing of the Martian Invasion's last remaining survivor, Bertie Wells, played by Floyd Reichman in the role Anthony Piana played from the earlier 2005 film. This is a similar approach to the History Channel's The Great Martian War 1913-1917 that'd debut a year after this film, and like that effort, it succeeds in making its cheap production values an asset, the pseudo-documentary context giving the tale told focus, better pacing, and drive. The editing and sound are leagues ahead of 2005, and altogether, what's here is thus more assured than Hines' earlier effort. WWhere the previous effort could only be called dull, what's here is considerably more engaging. You can actually watch it and not feel like you wasted your time
Yet, The True Story's shortcomings keep it from being anything more than a novelty. Too much of the bad writing and acting of the earlier effort is retained, as are its poorly directed scenes, and even with Reichman's addition as the older Bertie, indisputably smarter an idea though it is, in execution he comes off for the most part as reciting lines than as a genuine performer. It's just as noble an effort, but still rife with shortcomings.
But for all it's worth, the turd polishing finally pays off. There's a live action adaptation set in Victorian England now that's watchable, and Hines can feel glad his efforts finally shaped themselves into something worth taking pride in. So don't watch the 2005 film. Watch this instead. You may get a kick out of it.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Good movie and good special effects :D
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/15/23
Full Review
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