War Of The Worlds (2 Disc Special Edition) [2005] [DVD]

RRP: £24.99
Our Price: £0.46 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

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 (such as Jaws or 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, Amazon.com

Do not bother
Review date: 2010-08-07 Rating: 2 out of 10

Just awful quality, doesnt even look like a dvd quality let alone blu-ray more like a video copy. They have ruined this great film.. awful transfer.

Reviews

Strong PQ/AQ presentation for a nice reimagining of a classic
Review date: 2010-07-20 Rating: 10 out of 10

The movie: 4.5/5
A reimaginging of a classic sci-fi movie, this version succeeds in keeping to the original's intent all while updating the movie for a more modern audience. As much as I loved the original, the new alien invaders feel much more threatening in this movie. Tom Cruise turns in a strong performance as a father who shows a brave face to his children but is clearly in over his head. Definitely a must-see movie for sci-fi fans.

The picture: 4.5/5
The visual representation of this feature is near flawless. Yes, the colors might seem a bit faded but that was a directional intent, not an error in this transfer. All details are nicely preserved and there's a thin layer of grain which might spike a bit in the darkest scenes but never feels obtrusive or unnatural. Overall, I think this is the best this movie can look and it's a definite step up over the DVD version.

The audio: 5/5
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track caries a lot of weight and sounds superb through a home theater setup than can decode the lossless track. The sound of the invaders' machine 'horn' pierces through the listening area, every step of the tripods carries with it the necessary power and weight, toppling of buildings and big structures make the room shake and explosions woosh through the sound field. Just as importantly, the sound is accurate and there are a lot of little ambient effects as well like the rustling of leaves in the wind. This is definitely the highlight of this release!

The extras: 3.5/5
There are some interesting documentary features to be found on the development of the movie, the visual style of the invaders and how it all relates to the original. Unfortunately, no BD-Live or Blu-ray specific extras but the features are well worth watching

Overall: 4.5/5

Great Jacket, Shame About the Film
Review date: 2010-07-10 Rating: 6 out of 10

It's a bit of an odd one. I'm just not convinced that such advanced aliens would walk around on three legs and have snake-like fixed probes with only tv cameras and headlights instead of fancy motion, heat and gas detector flying drones. Equally, despite all the devastation, there was always a road cleared for Tom's car, even when a plane had just crashed in a busy neighbourhood.

Despite the questions over the storyline, the effects are pretty impressive, with the bass knocking over one of our picture frames which is always a good sign. The video quality was nothing special for blu-ray, however.

The ending was the disappointingly sentimental, with the suicidal son miraculously walking from the middle of a fiery bloodbath in the middle of nowhere to a fairly untouched Boston.

The film's main claim to fame is the great Belstaff jacket Tom wears, which has 54 pages dedicated to it on []. I liked it so much I bought one, although unfortunately my face still looks the same.

Blue Ray details
Review date: 2010-07-06 Rating: 6 out of 10

Much has been said about this film , but this is about the High Def trasfer to Blu-Ray.
It is fair to say that a film that is in all truth not all that old should be imressive enough when made "High Def" , and with Steven Spielberg directing this film, all should be well.
Not the case here , I am guessing too much digtal compression and low grade film stock has made the blue ray trasfer dissapointing to say the least.
Sound wise ,the 5.1 DTS HD master sound hits the mark superbly , it is crisp with nothing lacking to shake the room during all the best action scenes in the movie.
but the color is very toned and even though detail is sharp ,clearly the picture suffers like any image you turn up the sharpness on , and becomes very grainy and pitted.
There are many to bee seen through out this Blu-Ray , and the most obvious picture errors are when Ray (Tom Cruise) is chasing Rachal after she is taken by a tri-pod and he first see's the red weed covering the landscape for miles , the two trees in the forground have yellow halo lines around there edge as poor CGI and additional matt work make this picture look like a home Computer photo-shop hash togther. Too much digital rendering was done to the finished print back in day's before Hi-def would ever take off , and it has left this film very marked. So in short, with out re-mastering the origianl negative it will never be improoved on Blu-ray no matter how great your TV.
So , if you have the standard DVD and are thinking of upgrading as I did , don't bother as you will not get anything better than what is alrady out there.
I only hope when the rest of the Speilberg cataloge is "blu-ray'd" that better work is available to make the Hi-def exsperiance more worth while.

H.G Wells classic turned popcorn movie.
Review date: 2010-06-23 Rating: 6 out of 10

War of the worlds is one of those movies where you need to go in not expecting much, and enjoy the ride. If you're looking for an intelligent film which requires 100% viewer concentration and thinking, you won't find it here and be sorely disappointed. Also, if you're one of these people who believe original is always best, and feel a remake must stick 100% to it's original text, again you're going to be disappointed.

With that out of the way..

Spielberg's adaption of the classic is, at best a solid popcorn movie with a few thrills and incredible effects.
The story in short follows Ray (Tom Cruise) A dock worker in new jersey, whom, has his children (Dakota Fanning)&(Justin Chatwin) dropped off on him by his ex-wife (Miranda Otto) Things take a turn for the worse When mechanical tripods erupt from below the city and begin 'farming' the Earth of it's population so to speak.
Unfortunately this is far as the story stretches, there are a few undertones of the true side of human nature such as the scene where a riot begins for the ownership of Ray's only working vehicle, And the seemingly 'crazy' Harlan Ogilvy. As well as the theme of parenthood with Ray struggling to bond with his children, which, in my opinion could have been expanded on and handled so much better, they really are just underlying, undeveloped idea's which could have been used in a far more interesting way if only expanded upon.

So why did i give this Three stars you ask?
Well, the film does do a few things well, for a start the special effects are incredible and believable (maybe with the exception of the 'actual' aliens). The acting, for the most part, is decent, with a few exceptions here and there. The sets are huge and detailed (Plane crash scene) And, by far the most important feature, the Tripods are eerie and menacing, throughout the movie you can almost 'feel' their presence with their distant bellowing 'fog horn'.

So, in conclusion, this makes for an enjoyable movie to watch with friends or family on a Friday night, Just don't think too much into it and enjoy it for what it is. Oh, and if we learned anything from Spielberg, it's that if evil towering death machines invade the Earth, Boston is the place to be.

Product Details/Specifications

Actor(s):
Tom Cruise
Dakota Fanning
Miranda Otto
Justin Chatwin
Tim Robbins

Creators:
Tom Cruise (Primary Contributor)
Dakota Fanning (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

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Recording label: Paramount Home Entertainment (UK)
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment (UK)
EAN: 5014437888334
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: Anamorphic, PAL,
Release date: 2005-11-14
Universal product code (UPC): 501443788833
Number of discs: 2
Aspect ratio: 16:9 - 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 112 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2005-06-29
Language: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired)
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)