Change Your Image
TBear477
Reviews
War of the Worlds (2005)
A fun and exciting summer popcorn movie!!
I know there are lots of Spielberg and Cruise haters...but after reading some of the reviews here, I'm wondering if there aren't 2 versions of "War Of The Worlds" released simultaneously the way some have reviewed this movie. It's unfortunate that, in this day and age, most moviegoers have to watch movies, such as this, in those pint size theaters with marginal sound and tiny screens. I saw it at the Ziegfeld Theater which I recommend for anyone living in NYC. That's how I wanted to see this movie as I did Raiders, Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Jaws, Die Hard and Jurassic Park.
The acting was good enough, the visuals were excellent, the sound was incredible (at the Ziegfeld) and I'm truly grateful that Spielberg didn't conform to the "now" style of action directing...which I despise. Nowadays, most action directors continue to use that horrendous flash/quick editing style for the action sequences. Unfortunately you can't tell what the hell is going on, so ultimately it's just distracting.
One of the big pluses of the movie was that it was UNDER 2 hrs....yippee!! I wish more action and sci-fi directors would follow suit. After watching the sleep-inducing and overlong "Revenge Of The Sith" and "Batman Begins", "War Of The Worlds" was a breath of fresh air. There was more suspense and thrills in the first half-hour of "War Of The Worlds" than both of those aforementioned pictures put together. Remember, this is a summer popcorn movie. See, I wasn't looking for something thought provoking or with loads of character development....watch "Crash" if that's what you want.
"War Of The Worlds" was loads of fun, despite the smarmy ending....reminiscent of the 70's and 80's summer flicks.
For all the people who nitpicked this movie apart for unbelievability and plot holes...who cares? Did you do the same to "Die Hard", "Raiders...", "Temple Of Doom", "Jaws" and "Back To The Future"..all great summer popcorn movies with more holes than a 10 ft. wall of swiss cheese.
Lastly and sadly, for all the people who said it's unbelievable that the people in this movie would watch the alien invasion instead of running away...remember 9/11? I was there and everyone was watching the horror and even filming it...no one ran until the buildings started collapsing. Spielberg did it in the movie just as it really happened. And to those nitpickers who keep ridiculously asking why so many people in the film aren't running away from the tripods...well, they've seen people zapped right next to them whether they ran or not...maybe not running is a good thing.
A fun summer blockbuster film!
Tian xia di yi quan (1972)
spectacular kung-fu film of its time!
"Five Fingers of Death" started the American kung-fu movie craze but I remember seeing it for the first time as "King Boxer" in Chinatown, NYC, without the bad dubbing and few Americans. I also was fortunate enough to see the American premiere of "Five Fingers Of Death" on Times Square, NYC. What a contrast this turned out to be...same film but different audiences.
In Chinatown, this film took on a more serious tone to the viewers. It was because of hearing the real voices of the actors(In Chinese) that made this movie more believable. Chinatown theaters were showing violent kung fu films for years(1972's "Boxer From Shantung" beat them all in gore), so the action choreography & story were the main attraction. Rival school plots were not overused yet so the storyline seemed fresh. Every great kung fu film had wonderful, dastardly villains you wanted to see get their comeuppance and FFoD had them too. The star, Lieh Lo, was a known actor in Chinese theaters. The mostly Chinese audience enjoyed this film immensely. The audience buzz while leaving this film gives the final satisfaction to me.
On Times Square, this film was an action comedy...probably unintentionally. I enjoyed it here too but for different reasons. The crowd was ethnic and quite energetic. From the start, the movie made you laugh. As soon as the audience heard those strange British accents come from those Chinese actors the movie turned into a violent and gory cartoon. Most American audiences saw this kind of gore in a horror film not in an action film. The action sequences blew the audience away. Unfortunately, the movie studios saw that they enjoyed it so much that, bad dubbing and unnecessary violence became a kung fu flick formula.
I had fun seeing this movie with an American audience but enjoyed it much more in Chinatown. Some films can pass the test of time but the dubbed version of FFoD can't. The original "King Boxer" is still enjoyable...a CLASSIC!