War Of The Worlds

[Angel Tarragon]

Just out of curiousity does any reccomend that I see the original, as I never have seen it, before seeing the remake?

 

[ender_wiggin]

If I'm not mistaken the original movie follows the book fairly well, which Spielburg clearly does not (no friggin highways in Well's time, duh).

I do, however, recommend reading the book, if you're into that kind of thing, as it might provide some insight while watching the movie. Then again, if you don't know how the aliens are defeated in the book, you may want to *not* read it, because the movie may be spoiled (I don't know what Spielburg is doing; in his movie, they may end up killing all the humans).

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Just out of curiousity does any reccomend that I see the original, as I never have seen it, before seeing the remake?

Yes, it’s an all time classic and for the most part even the special effects work to this day. (Obviously they could be a lot better if redone but they don’t have you busting a gut cause they look fake. With the exception of one or two of them.)

 

[trancejeremy]

Actually, the special effects look realer than many of today, because you can tell it's not computer animation. (Which is getting harder to detect, but still can be obvious).

Anyway, you should see it, since it's a good movie, but it's probably as close to the original book as the new one is. That is, the general gist, but updated for the modern day.

You should though, listen to the rock/disco musical. That is pretty close to the book, and downright catchy...

"The chances of anything coming from Mars, are a million to one he said..."

"But still they come!"

 

[DMH]

If I'm not mistaken the original movie follows the book fairly well, which Spielburg clearly does not (no friggin highways in Well's time, duh).

Spoilers for the book.

You are mistaken. The book follows one survivor through London and the surrounding area. The aliens have 2 weapons (the heat ray and poison gas cannisters), ride in tripods that can be shot down (no force fields and metal legs), and brought along a slave race as food.

I would say that almost everything was changed for the movie; the only exception being the diseases that killed the martians.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

No.

If League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Longest Yard, and various other movies/books have taught us nothing else, they have at least taught us that there is one immutable rule of movie remakes:

Never see the original before you see the remake. Always wait until afterward.

 

[ukgpublishing]

If you want a movie that authentically follows the book you want the Pendragon War of the World released earlier this month.

http://www.pendragonpictures.com/WOTWKEY.html

Its available on DVD from Amazon as well.

What with the Pendragon and Spielburg versions out, that leaves two more to come out this year

 

[Angel Tarragon]

If you want a movie that authentically follows the book you want the Pendragon War of the World released earlier this month.

Thanks! I have placed an order for it, I should have it in my hands in about two weeks!

 

[S'mon]

If I'm not mistaken the original movie follows the book fairly well

Naw. I think the big difference is that in HG Wells' book, it really is a war between rival powers, it's far grittier than the '50s movie. In the movie the aliens are invulnerable to everything due to their magic force fields, as in Independence Day. In the book at one point the hero sees a lucky strike from a British artillery shell destroy a martian Walker. The aliens in the original book would be roughly an even match for WW2 Earth technology and would have little chance against modern Earth militaries unless they had overwhelming numbers since hand-held LAWs would likely be devastating to their lightly-armoured Walkers and nuclear weapons would certainly destroy them.

Edit: The funniest thing about the '50s movie was the last line about "The littlest of God's creatures", the antithesis of Wells's atheist POV.

 

[Shadowdancer]

I've heard really bad things about the Pendragon version from people in Great Britain who have already seen it. The special effects are apparently pretty amateurish, and they had so few extras they kept re-using the same people in crowd scenes, wearing the same costumes, so that someone you recognize as having been killed earlier in the movie suddenly shows up again in a later scene.