War of the Worlds (2005)
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A father must navigate a harrowing landscape to protect his children during a devastating extraterrestrial invasion.
The story
Following a mysterious thunderstorm that disables all electronic devices, a man named Ray Ferrier must navigate a chaotic landscape to protect his two children. As massive, high-tech tripod machines emerge from the ground and begin destroying cities, Ray and his children are forced to flee their home. The story follows their desperate journey to reunite the family while facing the overwhelming power of the invaders. Amidst the chaos of a crumbling infrastructure and a panicked public, Ray must make difficult choices to ensure his children's survival as they attempt to reach their mother in a distant city.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The film begins with a narrator explaining that intelligent extraterrestrials have invaded Earth, using massive tripod machines to destroy cities. Ray Ferrier, a dock worker in New York, is separated from his children until they are left in his care by his pregnant ex-wife. A massive electromagnetic pulse caused by a storm disables electronics, and the tripods emerge, incinerating anyone in their path. Ray and his children, Rachel and Robbie, flee to New Jersey, where they encounter a desperate atmosphere. After a failed attempt to reach Boston by boat, they are taken in by a man named Harlan Ogilvy. While hiding, they witness the aliens cultivating a strange red vegetation. After Harlan is killed to prevent him from alerting the invaders, Ray and Rachel are separated when Rachel is abducted by a tripod. Ray follows her into a tripod and destroys it from within using explosives. They eventually reach Boston, where they find the alien vegetation dying and the tripods failing due to Earth's microbes. They finally reunite with their mother and Robbie, who survived the ordeal. The narrator concludes that the invaders were defeated by the very bacteria and viruses that humans have adapted to over millennia.
- First release year
- 2005
- Runtime (minutes)
- 116
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Steven Spielberg
- Writers
- Josh Friedman · screenplay; David Koepp · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Tom Cruise · Ray Ferrier; Dakota Fanning · Rachel Ferrier; Miranda Otto · Mary Ann Ferrier; Tim Robbins · Harlan Ogilvy; Justin Chatwin · Robbie Ferrier; Morgan Freeman · The Narrator
- Genres
- science fiction; action; thriller
- Themes
- survival
- Tone and mood
- thrilling; suspenseful
- Setting
- Modern-day United States, specifically New York, New Jersey, and Boston.
- Premise and plot tags
- alien invasion; survival; disaster
- Source material / true-story basis
- H. G. Wells' 1898 novel, The War of the Worlds
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews, praised for its atmosphere and modern action, and was a commercial success.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 76% · scale: percentage · review count: 265; Metacritic · score: 73 · scale: 100 · review count: 40
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Awards · Best Visual Effects · nomination; Academy Awards · Best Sound Mixing · nomination; Academy Awards · Best Sound Editing · nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was shot in 73 days.; The production used a real, retired Boeing 747 for the crash scene.; The film was kept under a secrecy campaign before its release.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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