War of the Worlds
Published August 2, 2025
Film info
- Title War of the Worlds
- Director Steven Spielberg
- Year 2005
- Run time 1hr 57m
- Genres Science Fiction, Thriller, Adventure
- Tagline They're already here
Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son and young daughter for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 2:56 | All films should have an intro by Morgan Freeman. |
| 9:33 | It might be noisy, but I do like the view of the big bridge over the garden. |
| 14:59 | I would not be running outside into that wind. |
| 24:33 | Funny to think how this would be all over TikTok if it happened now. |
| 26:30 | How is that video camera still working? |
| 32:24 | Going in and around the car is incredible. |
| 36:20 | Food for the apocalypse - just a load of condiments. |
| 41:35 | Oh damn, it was such a nice basement. |
| 51:39 | The people with the horse are smart, could be useful. |
| 55:54 | As always it’s not the aliens, it’s the people. |
| 59:33 | I like that the alien things come with their own trailer noise. |
| 1:09:18 | He’s an idiot, but sort of old enough to be making decisions at this point. |
| 1:23:55 | The mirror is genius. |
| 1:29:01 | “You and me, I don’t think we’re on the same page.” |
| 1:38:04 | Should we really be throwing grenades at our daughter? |
Thoughts
We would never have watched this if it wasn’t for the second series of Light & Magic, which talked in detail about some of the CG efforts that went into making it look good. Roll on a few weeks, and we saw there was an Ice Cube remake on Prime, so figured it was worth watching this one first before muddying the water with the remake.
It was so good! The first half was so tense and well done, showing that one of the biggest threats is people and panic, rather than the alien invasion itself. The second half wasn’t quite as good, the son was annoying and then disappeared and was barely thought of again, and Cruise’s character came up with a way to fight back but only did it once and then never told anyone else about it. Weird.
It’s a tricky proposition, adapting this story, because there’s no big American hero saving the day, which is refreshing, but equally it’s a bit of an anti-climax that the aliens all just power down on their own. Still, the graphics were incredible and the film-making worth watching, so no major complaints here!
Rating: 4 / 5