H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds (2005 film)
Encyclopedia
H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds (also known as Invasion and H. G. Wells' The Worlds in War internationally, or simply as War of the Worlds) is a science fiction
horror
mockbuster
by The Asylum
. It is one of three 2005 film adaptations
of H. G. Wells
' 1898 science fiction novel The War of the Worlds
.
Much like Steven Spielberg
's film version
, War of the Worlds is a modernized adaptation, but was released by independent production company The Asylum, whose budget may be more on par with the Pendragon film version
. No theatrical release date had been planned; instead the film was a direct-to-DVD
release. All three were released in June of the same year.
The story tells the experience of an astronomer, George Herbert (C. Thomas Howell
), who is separated from his wife and son when a Martian army invades the planet, driving massive "walkers". He tries to make his way to Washington, D.C.
to reunite with them as the human race faces extinction
.
Unlike other adaptations, The Asylum intended to make this War of the Worlds film more of a horror film
. It was rated R
in the United States and 15 in the United Kingdom
for strong violence and gore, language and some nudity. Director David Michael Latt describes the film as The Pianist
with aliens instead of Nazis, comparing the tale of one man's story of survival.
The DVD was released on June 28, one day before Spielberg's film, and has a few notable stars including C. Thomas Howell
, Peter Greene
, and Jake Busey
. The alternate title of Invasion is likely for the film's overseas distribution since Paramount
claim to own exclusive film rights to the War of the Worlds title in the European Union
. The film is one of The Asylum's most successful, having sold over 100,000 copies from Blockbuster upon its release. The original poster has a striking resemblance to the Independence Day
poster.
The film was followed with a sequel in 2008, War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave
, directed by C. Thomas Howell.
through the Mars Rover
. Its vision is impaired by the casting of a huge light on the planet's surface. The perspective then shifts to the Herbert household in Queensborough. George is an astronomer, and his wife Felicity and himself are awaiting their 10th wedding anniversary. George and his son Alex watch through their telescope in search of the planet Mars. Instead, they see a meteor
-like object. George is called up by his boss, who wants him to investigate the object. Felicity decides to take Alex to Washington, D.C.
without George, who promises to see them when he's finished his work.
Later, George is driving to work when his radio makes strange sounds. His car then breaks down, before he sees a large, flaming object crashing to the hills ahead of him. He goes to the crash site, where a massive crater houses a large meteor. He finds that all the cars and cellphones have somehow shut down at the same time. A young woman, Audrey, races to George, scared because her boyfriend, has fallen into the pit.
Max, the boyfriend, is seen struggling out of the pit only to fall back in. George attempts to encourage him into climbing out, but the young man is distracted by activity coming from the object. A clawed, metallic tentacle reaches out and pulls Max back in and emerges again to grab other humans before a large, crab
-like Martian walker emerges and fires at the humans with a Heat-Ray
. George manages to escape and makes his way home, where all electrical equipment is deactivated. He decides to walk to Washington and hopes to meet his family at the Lincoln Memorial
. He then packs his bag with a small amount of food and sets off to meet his brother, Matt, a ranger
, at Hopewell.
The next day, George finds a bridge, on which refugees are held back by soldiers. A mother who thinks the Martians are terrorists
tells George that Washington, along with New York City
and Los Angeles
, was invaded first. Suddenly, another meteor crashes, and a walker emerges to fight the soldiers. George is lucky enough to escape sight of the aliens.
George meets a soldier named Kerry Williams, whose whole squad was killed in battle. He agrees to travel with George to Hopewell. Soon, they meet Lt. Samuelson, a soldier outraged at the aliens for killing his family, interested in recruiting George as a scientist. He tells George that Washington was completely wiped out and there are no survivors, not even the President
. He considers George and Kerry as cowards, so he refuses to let them in his army. George and Kerry reach Hopewell, but very shortly the town is invaded by walkers. George and Kerry find Matt, George's brother, underneath the wreckage of a building, fatally wounded. Matt and George exchange their feelings before Matt dies. George and Kerry are separated in the panic, and George manages to escape in a canoe
.
After spending a day drifting downstream, George catches a terrible fever
and spends the next two days in an abandoned car. He is found by an Australian
Pastor
named Victor. They find an untouched neighborhood, and enter the house of a veterinary doctor where they find food and clothes. George and the Pastor hide upstairs from the aliens' poisonous gas
, where they find rabies
vaccines. A sudden crash causes the house to collapse. George wakes hours later to find that a meteor has destroyed the neighborhood. George observes what the aliens are doing in the crater; draining the blood from living humans.
Later, George understands that human weapons have failed to stop the invaders, and plans to use a rabies
vaccine against them. When a Martian enters the room, George injects it with the rabies vaccine, and it quickly leaves. The alien soon returns and sprays Victor with the acid, killing him in seconds. George hides silently in the ruins of the house until the aliens abandon the crater days later. He later runs back into Kerry, the soldier George met earlier. He tells George that Washington is lost and his family is surely dead. Samuelson also appears, who has promoted himself to General. Kerry insists that George cannot fight with them, but the enraged Samuelson insists that wars have been won by the efforts of scientists. He then shoots Kerry in the head. George grabs a rock and slams it into Samuelson's skull, killing him instantly.
George finally reaches Washington, where the whole city lies in ruin. George doesn't find his family at the steps and spots a single Martian, and it seems to be looking back at him. George walks to it and offers his life to it, having lost everything to the invaders. The alien stands paralyzed for a few moments and then drops dead. Out of nowhere, a group of human survivors appear and offer George water. They say that the aliens have been dying for several days due to an airborne virus. Alex and Felicity appear among the survivors and they are tearfully reunited.
The Martians have been killed by bacteria, and with most of humanity wiped out, the survivors are left to rebuild. The film ends with a shot over the devastated city, with the war-torn ruins of the Capitol Building
and the reassuring image of overturned walkers.
or the 1988 television series
, but has been a fan of the H.G. Wells novel since childhood) has made it clear that his film has changed certain aspects from the source material outside of the shift of time and location. Most notable is that the tripods
have been changed to six-legged crab-like machines called "walkers" (a conception that mainly stems from allowing the effects team creative freedom).
The aliens are indeed Martians (though the film never states this, but this is confirmed by Latt complete with an opening credit sequence over shots of the Red Planet's landscape), but bear little visual resemblance to their novel's counterparts. Whereas Wells described his invaders as bear-sized tentacle creatures, the film's Martians are insect-like in their appearance with a torso like a green disc and four tentacle-like legs. These aliens also have the ability to spit acid from mouths on their feet, which melts entirely anyone who is unfortunate enough to be attacked. Inside the Martian mouth, three tongues can be seen which closely resemble the Martian fingers from Byron Haskin
's 1953 film version of The War of the Worlds
and the 1988 television series version
. They also have an appetite for humans as in the novel. In the sequel War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave
, it is made clear that the aliens need human blood to survive.
In terms of their military action: the war machines are not tripod
s, but are crab
-like "walkers" with six legs. A Heat Ray is built into the machine's "head", and is fired from a single eye. By all accounts, their fighting machines do not appear to have much heavy protection against modern human artillery (avoiding the "invisible shields" seen in the 1953 film version
and Steven Spielberg
's 2005 film
), leaving their ability to effectively crush resistance unexplained. The aliens do have a substance vaguely similar to the black smoke
, which they distribute in shells, but is more of a green-colored toxic gas with a notable inability to rise above ground level due to a similar density, allowing the characters to escape by getting to high places.
The protagonist of the film is named George Herbert, a reference to H. G. Wells
. Rather than being a writer, as in the novel, he is an astronomer
, perhaps in reference to the character of Ogilvy – in a related deviation, the film does not attempt the voice-over narration that accompanies other versions of the story. The film also leaves the eve of the war storyline and its characters almost completely absent. He also has a son, who is portrayed by Dashiell Howell
, who is actually the son of George's actor C. Thomas Howell
.
Despite these differences, George nevertheless goes through much of what befalls the novel's protagonist, even up to preparing to sacrifice himself to the Martians, only for them to drop dead of infection before he has to do so. He is also separated from his wife and son with whom he tries to reunite once the invasion begins, and, like the novel, she and their son are alive in the conclusion. George's brother, a Ranger
, is less fortunate; he is seen only briefly, after being fatally wounded in the trail of destruction left by the invaders. In the book, the narrator's brother has a much bigger involvement in the story, as the perspective is shifted from the narrator to that of his brother in Book One: The Coming of the Martians.
A major deviation from the text is that the protagonist actually tries to produce a means of stopping the Martians, but the film does not elaborate on whether their eventual downfall is due to these efforts, or whether their deaths simply coincided with his efforts.
The role played by the novel's Artilleryman is here divided into two characters, rather than being a single developing personality. The first time he is seen (as the character of Kerry Williams), he exhibits the initial, defeated status of his novelistic counterpart. He accompanies George as they move to unaffected areas, meeting soldiers oblivious to the danger they will soon face, until they become separated when George takes refuge underwater to elude the Martians. After his ordeal in the ruined house, George encounters Williams again, but the latter remains very much as he was before. Instead, the Artilleryman as he is portrayed in the novel's later stages is signified by another soldier, Samuelson (portrayed by Jake Busey
), who both George and Williams encountered earlier.
Though in a similar vein to the novel there is talk of recapturing the world, the plan to achieve this is by regrouping with military units in the mountains instead of rebuilding civilisation underground. In the pursuit of this plan, George is quickly realized as being more valuable to humanity than either Williams or Samuelson, as the efforts of scientist
s have won many wars before.
The unnamed Curate
from the novel is portrayed in the film by a pastor
(portrayed by Rhett Giles) named Victor. While the two characters are very similar (the pastor mentions his church was rebuilt three years prior to the Martians), the pastor is depicted as being fairly calm and is sure that the invasion is the Rapture
. However, his faith is deeply shaken when he meets a congregate whose loss at the hands of the invaders has her screaming against God
, causing the Pastor to question events and why he himself has yet to be taken.
Unlike the Curate, the Pastor manages to keep his composure when he's trapped in the ruined house with George as he wrestles quietly with his thoughts. Whereas the Curate caused the narrator to subdue him and then taken away by the Martians unconscious, the Pastor regains his faith just before he is killed directly by the Martians.
Some of the chapters on the DVD are given the same name to chapters in the novel, a similar idea used in the Dreamworks version.
were making their own War of the Worlds
film, The Asylum soon began production.
David Michael Latt based the themes of the film (internationally titled Invasion) on the 2002 film The Pianist
, which tells the true story of a Polish
Jew
who struggles to survive the battle between the Wehrmacht
and the a Jewish resistance in the Second World War
. Latt used the similar themes of a man's survival as civilization around him reduces to ruin, stating:
Like the protagonist of The Pianist, the main character of War of the Worlds is not shown to have any kind of resistance or plans to fight back, only a persistance to keep alive. The film is considered by some to be the darkest retelling of Wells' novel, and described by actor Andy Lauer as a "sci-fi noir".
The casting for Andy Lauer was almost sudden, himself having an interest of working with The Asylum. Latt had concerns about Tyranie Van Wyk Loots' casting, assuming she may object to her naked sequence at the beginning of the film. However, Tyranie had no objections and was more than happy in starring in War of the Worlds, being a fan of science fiction
(admitting to have seen "every episode of Star Trek
ever made"). The casting of C. Thomas Howell
seemed to be more complicated, as he was currently starring in an American TV show. David Michael Latt and Andy Lauer were confident in getting Howell in the film, and Howell was happy to read the script and accepted (in fact, he was so happy with the film that he would eventually direct the sequel
). Howell offered his son Dashiell
as a role to play Alex Herbert, when he found that Latt was looking for an eight-year-old to fill in the role. Jake Busey
's audition was successful, having won the role on the first day of auditions. His scenes were all filmed in one day. He tells that one of his favorite films as a child was the 1953 War of the Worlds
.
The development of Invasions plot and characters was a challenge. Adapting the characters and plot faithfully from the novel was tricky to retell for a modern audience, so there are some significant changes. For example, readers will notice that the "eve of the war" arch is almost absent from the film, skipping the novel's earlier characters and details of the "safe and tranquil" world before the invasion begins. This is, however, easy to understand because of the film's length. The film also ignores the sub-plot of Book One: The Coming of the Martians, in which the book's perspective shifts to the narrator's brother, who accompanies two women to safety and witnesses the battle between the aliens and the HMS Thunderchild. A sub-plot would violate the nature of the film, and also increase its length.
, was released. C. Thomas Howell directed the film and reprised the role of George Herbert, and his son Dash Howell reprised the role of Alex. The film also starred Christopher Reid.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
mockbuster
Mockbuster
A mockbuster is a film created with the apparent intention of piggy-backing on the publicity of a major film with a similar title or theme and are often made with a low budget. Often these films are created to be released direct-to-video at the same time as the mainstream film reaches theaters or...
by The Asylum
The Asylum
The Asylum is an American film studio and distributor which focuses on producing low-budget, usually direct-to-video productions. The studio has produced titles that capitalize on productions by major studios; these titles have been dubbed "mockbusters" by the press.-History:The Asylum was founded...
. It is one of three 2005 film adaptations
Adaptations of The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells. It describes the experiences of a character who travels through London as the Earth is invaded by Martians. It is said to be the first story that details a conflict between mankind and an alien race.Following its publication, The War...
of H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
' 1898 science fiction novel The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds is an 1898 science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells.The War of the Worlds may also refer to:- Radio broadcasts :* The War of the Worlds , the 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles...
.
Much like Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's film version
War of the Worlds (2005 film)
War of the Worlds is a 2005 American science fiction film adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp. It is one of three film adaptations of War of the Worlds released that year, alongside The Asylum's version and...
, War of the Worlds is a modernized adaptation, but was released by independent production company The Asylum, whose budget may be more on par with the Pendragon film version
H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (2005 film)
H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is one of three film adaptations of H. G. Wells' classic novel released in 2005, about a Martian invasion of Earth...
. No theatrical release date had been planned; instead the film was a direct-to-DVD
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
release. All three were released in June of the same year.
The story tells the experience of an astronomer, George Herbert (C. Thomas Howell
C. Thomas Howell
Christopher Thomas "Tommy" Howell , known by his stage name C. Thomas Howell, is an American actor and film director. He starred in the films The Outsiders as Ponyboy Curtis and in The Hitcher as Jim Halsey. He has appeared in The Da Vinci Treasure,Soul Man, Red Dawn, Secret Admirer, Gettysburg, H. G...
), who is separated from his wife and son when a Martian army invades the planet, driving massive "walkers". He tries to make his way to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to reunite with them as the human race faces extinction
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
.
Unlike other adaptations, The Asylum intended to make this War of the Worlds film more of a horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
. It was rated R
R rating
R rating may refer to:*R - Motion Picture Association of America film rating system*R-value...
in the United States and 15 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
for strong violence and gore, language and some nudity. Director David Michael Latt describes the film as The Pianist
The Pianist (2002 film)
The Pianist is a 2002 biographical war film directed by Roman Polanski, starring Adrien Brody. It is an adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman...
with aliens instead of Nazis, comparing the tale of one man's story of survival.
The DVD was released on June 28, one day before Spielberg's film, and has a few notable stars including C. Thomas Howell
C. Thomas Howell
Christopher Thomas "Tommy" Howell , known by his stage name C. Thomas Howell, is an American actor and film director. He starred in the films The Outsiders as Ponyboy Curtis and in The Hitcher as Jim Halsey. He has appeared in The Da Vinci Treasure,Soul Man, Red Dawn, Secret Admirer, Gettysburg, H. G...
, Peter Greene
Peter Greene
Peter Greene is an American character actor.A native of Montclair, New Jersey, Greene did not pursue a career in acting until his mid 20s...
, and Jake Busey
Jake Busey
William Jacob "Jake" Busey is an American actor, musician and film producer. He is sometimes credited as "Jacob Busey" or "William Busey".-Personal life:...
. The alternate title of Invasion is likely for the film's overseas distribution since Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
claim to own exclusive film rights to the War of the Worlds title in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. The film is one of The Asylum's most successful, having sold over 100,000 copies from Blockbuster upon its release. The original poster has a striking resemblance to the Independence Day
Independence Day (film)
Independence Day is a 1996 science fiction film about an alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4 – the same...
poster.
The film was followed with a sequel in 2008, War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave
War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave
War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave is a 2008 direct-to-DVD science fiction film starring and directed by C. Thomas Howell....
, directed by C. Thomas Howell.
Plot
The film starts (without the book's intro/prologue quote) with shots of the surface of MarsMars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
through the Mars Rover
Mars Rover
A Mars rover is an automated motor vehicle which propels itself across the surface of the planet Mars after landing.Rovers have several advantages over stationary landers: they examine more territory, they can be directed to interesting features, they can place themselves in sunny positions to...
. Its vision is impaired by the casting of a huge light on the planet's surface. The perspective then shifts to the Herbert household in Queensborough. George is an astronomer, and his wife Felicity and himself are awaiting their 10th wedding anniversary. George and his son Alex watch through their telescope in search of the planet Mars. Instead, they see a meteor
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
-like object. George is called up by his boss, who wants him to investigate the object. Felicity decides to take Alex to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
without George, who promises to see them when he's finished his work.
Later, George is driving to work when his radio makes strange sounds. His car then breaks down, before he sees a large, flaming object crashing to the hills ahead of him. He goes to the crash site, where a massive crater houses a large meteor. He finds that all the cars and cellphones have somehow shut down at the same time. A young woman, Audrey, races to George, scared because her boyfriend, has fallen into the pit.
Max, the boyfriend, is seen struggling out of the pit only to fall back in. George attempts to encourage him into climbing out, but the young man is distracted by activity coming from the object. A clawed, metallic tentacle reaches out and pulls Max back in and emerges again to grab other humans before a large, crab
Crab
True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
-like Martian walker emerges and fires at the humans with a Heat-Ray
Heat-Ray
The Heat-Ray is the primary offensive weapon used by the Martians in H. G. Wells' classic science fiction novel The War of the Worlds and its offshoots.- In the novel :...
. George manages to escape and makes his way home, where all electrical equipment is deactivated. He decides to walk to Washington and hopes to meet his family at the Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the main statue was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior...
. He then packs his bag with a small amount of food and sets off to meet his brother, Matt, a ranger
United States Army Rangers
United States Army Rangers are elite members of the United States Army. Rangers have served in recognized U.S. Army Ranger units or have graduated from the U.S. Army's Ranger School...
, at Hopewell.
The next day, George finds a bridge, on which refugees are held back by soldiers. A mother who thinks the Martians are terrorists
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
tells George that Washington, along with New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, was invaded first. Suddenly, another meteor crashes, and a walker emerges to fight the soldiers. George is lucky enough to escape sight of the aliens.
George meets a soldier named Kerry Williams, whose whole squad was killed in battle. He agrees to travel with George to Hopewell. Soon, they meet Lt. Samuelson, a soldier outraged at the aliens for killing his family, interested in recruiting George as a scientist. He tells George that Washington was completely wiped out and there are no survivors, not even the President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. He considers George and Kerry as cowards, so he refuses to let them in his army. George and Kerry reach Hopewell, but very shortly the town is invaded by walkers. George and Kerry find Matt, George's brother, underneath the wreckage of a building, fatally wounded. Matt and George exchange their feelings before Matt dies. George and Kerry are separated in the panic, and George manages to escape in a canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
.
After spending a day drifting downstream, George catches a terrible fever
Fever
Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...
and spends the next two days in an abandoned car. He is found by an Australian
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
Pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
named Victor. They find an untouched neighborhood, and enter the house of a veterinary doctor where they find food and clothes. George and the Pastor hide upstairs from the aliens' poisonous gas
Black smoke
The black smoke, or black powder is a fictional poisonous gas in H. G. Wells' science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, used by the Martians to eliminate groups of humans remotely, especially artillery crews, before they could fire. The rockets from which they explode are fired from a "black...
, where they find rabies
Rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
vaccines. A sudden crash causes the house to collapse. George wakes hours later to find that a meteor has destroyed the neighborhood. George observes what the aliens are doing in the crater; draining the blood from living humans.
Later, George understands that human weapons have failed to stop the invaders, and plans to use a rabies
Rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
vaccine against them. When a Martian enters the room, George injects it with the rabies vaccine, and it quickly leaves. The alien soon returns and sprays Victor with the acid, killing him in seconds. George hides silently in the ruins of the house until the aliens abandon the crater days later. He later runs back into Kerry, the soldier George met earlier. He tells George that Washington is lost and his family is surely dead. Samuelson also appears, who has promoted himself to General. Kerry insists that George cannot fight with them, but the enraged Samuelson insists that wars have been won by the efforts of scientists. He then shoots Kerry in the head. George grabs a rock and slams it into Samuelson's skull, killing him instantly.
George finally reaches Washington, where the whole city lies in ruin. George doesn't find his family at the steps and spots a single Martian, and it seems to be looking back at him. George walks to it and offers his life to it, having lost everything to the invaders. The alien stands paralyzed for a few moments and then drops dead. Out of nowhere, a group of human survivors appear and offer George water. They say that the aliens have been dying for several days due to an airborne virus. Alex and Felicity appear among the survivors and they are tearfully reunited.
The Martians have been killed by bacteria, and with most of humanity wiped out, the survivors are left to rebuild. The film ends with a shot over the devastated city, with the war-torn ruins of the Capitol Building
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
and the reassuring image of overturned walkers.
Cast
- C. Thomas HowellC. Thomas HowellChristopher Thomas "Tommy" Howell , known by his stage name C. Thomas Howell, is an American actor and film director. He starred in the films The Outsiders as Ponyboy Curtis and in The Hitcher as Jim Halsey. He has appeared in The Da Vinci Treasure,Soul Man, Red Dawn, Secret Admirer, Gettysburg, H. G...
as George Herbert - Andy Lauer as Sgt. Kerry Williams
- Rhett Giles as PastorPastorThe word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
Victor - Tyranie Van Wyk Loots as Felicity Herbert
- Jake BuseyJake BuseyWilliam Jacob "Jake" Busey is an American actor, musician and film producer. He is sometimes credited as "Jacob Busey" or "William Busey".-Personal life:...
as Lt. Samuelson - Peter GreenePeter GreenePeter Greene is an American character actor.A native of Montclair, New Jersey, Greene did not pursue a career in acting until his mid 20s...
as Matt Herbert - Dashiell HowellDashiell HowellDashiell Howell is an American child actor, son of C. Thomas Howell. Dash is best known for portraying Alex Herbert alongside his father in The Asylum's science fiction horror film H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, one of three 2005 film adaptations of the novel by H.G. Wells...
as Alex Herbert
Adapting the novel
Director/editor/executive producer/co-writer David Michael Latt (who admits to never seeing the Byron Haskin/George Pal versionThe War of the Worlds (1953 film)
The War of the Worlds is a 1953 science fiction film starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It was the first on-screen loose adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic novel of the same name...
or the 1988 television series
War of the Worlds (TV series)
War of the Worlds is a television program that ran for two seasons, from 1988 to 1990. The series is an extension of the original 1953 film The War of the Worlds, using the same War Machine, often incorporating aspects from the film, radio adaptation, and original novel into its mythology.Though...
, but has been a fan of the H.G. Wells novel since childhood) has made it clear that his film has changed certain aspects from the source material outside of the shift of time and location. Most notable is that the tripods
Tripod (The War of the Worlds)
Tripods or fighting-machines are a type of fictional three-legged walker from the H. G. Wells' classic science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, used by Martians to invade Earth.-Novel:...
have been changed to six-legged crab-like machines called "walkers" (a conception that mainly stems from allowing the effects team creative freedom).
The aliens are indeed Martians (though the film never states this, but this is confirmed by Latt complete with an opening credit sequence over shots of the Red Planet's landscape), but bear little visual resemblance to their novel's counterparts. Whereas Wells described his invaders as bear-sized tentacle creatures, the film's Martians are insect-like in their appearance with a torso like a green disc and four tentacle-like legs. These aliens also have the ability to spit acid from mouths on their feet, which melts entirely anyone who is unfortunate enough to be attacked. Inside the Martian mouth, three tongues can be seen which closely resemble the Martian fingers from Byron Haskin
Byron Haskin
Byron Conrad Haskin was an American film and television director. He was born in Portland, Oregon.He is remembered today for directing 1953's The War of the Worlds, one of many films where he teamed with producer George Pal. In his early career, he was a special effects artist, with a number of...
's 1953 film version of The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds (1953 film)
The War of the Worlds is a 1953 science fiction film starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It was the first on-screen loose adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic novel of the same name...
and the 1988 television series version
War of the Worlds (TV series)
War of the Worlds is a television program that ran for two seasons, from 1988 to 1990. The series is an extension of the original 1953 film The War of the Worlds, using the same War Machine, often incorporating aspects from the film, radio adaptation, and original novel into its mythology.Though...
. They also have an appetite for humans as in the novel. In the sequel War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave
War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave
War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave is a 2008 direct-to-DVD science fiction film starring and directed by C. Thomas Howell....
, it is made clear that the aliens need human blood to survive.
In terms of their military action: the war machines are not tripod
Tripod (The War of the Worlds)
Tripods or fighting-machines are a type of fictional three-legged walker from the H. G. Wells' classic science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, used by Martians to invade Earth.-Novel:...
s, but are crab
Crab
True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
-like "walkers" with six legs. A Heat Ray is built into the machine's "head", and is fired from a single eye. By all accounts, their fighting machines do not appear to have much heavy protection against modern human artillery (avoiding the "invisible shields" seen in the 1953 film version
The War of the Worlds (1953 film)
The War of the Worlds is a 1953 science fiction film starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It was the first on-screen loose adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic novel of the same name...
and Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's 2005 film
War of the Worlds (2005 film)
War of the Worlds is a 2005 American science fiction film adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp. It is one of three film adaptations of War of the Worlds released that year, alongside The Asylum's version and...
), leaving their ability to effectively crush resistance unexplained. The aliens do have a substance vaguely similar to the black smoke
Black smoke
The black smoke, or black powder is a fictional poisonous gas in H. G. Wells' science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, used by the Martians to eliminate groups of humans remotely, especially artillery crews, before they could fire. The rockets from which they explode are fired from a "black...
, which they distribute in shells, but is more of a green-colored toxic gas with a notable inability to rise above ground level due to a similar density, allowing the characters to escape by getting to high places.
The protagonist of the film is named George Herbert, a reference to H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
. Rather than being a writer, as in the novel, he is an astronomer
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, perhaps in reference to the character of Ogilvy – in a related deviation, the film does not attempt the voice-over narration that accompanies other versions of the story. The film also leaves the eve of the war storyline and its characters almost completely absent. He also has a son, who is portrayed by Dashiell Howell
Dashiell Howell
Dashiell Howell is an American child actor, son of C. Thomas Howell. Dash is best known for portraying Alex Herbert alongside his father in The Asylum's science fiction horror film H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, one of three 2005 film adaptations of the novel by H.G. Wells...
, who is actually the son of George's actor C. Thomas Howell
C. Thomas Howell
Christopher Thomas "Tommy" Howell , known by his stage name C. Thomas Howell, is an American actor and film director. He starred in the films The Outsiders as Ponyboy Curtis and in The Hitcher as Jim Halsey. He has appeared in The Da Vinci Treasure,Soul Man, Red Dawn, Secret Admirer, Gettysburg, H. G...
.
Despite these differences, George nevertheless goes through much of what befalls the novel's protagonist, even up to preparing to sacrifice himself to the Martians, only for them to drop dead of infection before he has to do so. He is also separated from his wife and son with whom he tries to reunite once the invasion begins, and, like the novel, she and their son are alive in the conclusion. George's brother, a Ranger
United States Army Rangers
United States Army Rangers are elite members of the United States Army. Rangers have served in recognized U.S. Army Ranger units or have graduated from the U.S. Army's Ranger School...
, is less fortunate; he is seen only briefly, after being fatally wounded in the trail of destruction left by the invaders. In the book, the narrator's brother has a much bigger involvement in the story, as the perspective is shifted from the narrator to that of his brother in Book One: The Coming of the Martians.
A major deviation from the text is that the protagonist actually tries to produce a means of stopping the Martians, but the film does not elaborate on whether their eventual downfall is due to these efforts, or whether their deaths simply coincided with his efforts.
The role played by the novel's Artilleryman is here divided into two characters, rather than being a single developing personality. The first time he is seen (as the character of Kerry Williams), he exhibits the initial, defeated status of his novelistic counterpart. He accompanies George as they move to unaffected areas, meeting soldiers oblivious to the danger they will soon face, until they become separated when George takes refuge underwater to elude the Martians. After his ordeal in the ruined house, George encounters Williams again, but the latter remains very much as he was before. Instead, the Artilleryman as he is portrayed in the novel's later stages is signified by another soldier, Samuelson (portrayed by Jake Busey
Jake Busey
William Jacob "Jake" Busey is an American actor, musician and film producer. He is sometimes credited as "Jacob Busey" or "William Busey".-Personal life:...
), who both George and Williams encountered earlier.
Though in a similar vein to the novel there is talk of recapturing the world, the plan to achieve this is by regrouping with military units in the mountains instead of rebuilding civilisation underground. In the pursuit of this plan, George is quickly realized as being more valuable to humanity than either Williams or Samuelson, as the efforts of scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
s have won many wars before.
The unnamed Curate
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
from the novel is portrayed in the film by a pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
(portrayed by Rhett Giles) named Victor. While the two characters are very similar (the pastor mentions his church was rebuilt three years prior to the Martians), the pastor is depicted as being fairly calm and is sure that the invasion is the Rapture
Rapture
The rapture is a reference to the "being caught up" referred to in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, when the "dead in Christ" and "we who are alive and remain" will be caught up in the clouds to meet "the Lord"....
. However, his faith is deeply shaken when he meets a congregate whose loss at the hands of the invaders has her screaming against God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, causing the Pastor to question events and why he himself has yet to be taken.
Unlike the Curate, the Pastor manages to keep his composure when he's trapped in the ruined house with George as he wrestles quietly with his thoughts. Whereas the Curate caused the narrator to subdue him and then taken away by the Martians unconscious, the Pastor regains his faith just before he is killed directly by the Martians.
Some of the chapters on the DVD are given the same name to chapters in the novel, a similar idea used in the Dreamworks version.
David Michael Latt and producing War of the Worlds
David Michael Latt often expresses his fascination for H.G. Wells' novel in the DVD's Audio Commentary and Behind the scenes features. He had written a script for War of the Worlds a year before production of the film, and upon learning that DreamworksDreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
were making their own War of the Worlds
War of the Worlds (2005 film)
War of the Worlds is a 2005 American science fiction film adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp. It is one of three film adaptations of War of the Worlds released that year, alongside The Asylum's version and...
film, The Asylum soon began production.
David Michael Latt based the themes of the film (internationally titled Invasion) on the 2002 film The Pianist
The Pianist (2002 film)
The Pianist is a 2002 biographical war film directed by Roman Polanski, starring Adrien Brody. It is an adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman...
, which tells the true story of a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Jew
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
who struggles to survive the battle between the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and the a Jewish resistance in the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Latt used the similar themes of a man's survival as civilization around him reduces to ruin, stating:
Like the protagonist of The Pianist, the main character of War of the Worlds is not shown to have any kind of resistance or plans to fight back, only a persistance to keep alive. The film is considered by some to be the darkest retelling of Wells' novel, and described by actor Andy Lauer as a "sci-fi noir".
The casting for Andy Lauer was almost sudden, himself having an interest of working with The Asylum. Latt had concerns about Tyranie Van Wyk Loots' casting, assuming she may object to her naked sequence at the beginning of the film. However, Tyranie had no objections and was more than happy in starring in War of the Worlds, being a fan of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
(admitting to have seen "every episode of Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
ever made"). The casting of C. Thomas Howell
C. Thomas Howell
Christopher Thomas "Tommy" Howell , known by his stage name C. Thomas Howell, is an American actor and film director. He starred in the films The Outsiders as Ponyboy Curtis and in The Hitcher as Jim Halsey. He has appeared in The Da Vinci Treasure,Soul Man, Red Dawn, Secret Admirer, Gettysburg, H. G...
seemed to be more complicated, as he was currently starring in an American TV show. David Michael Latt and Andy Lauer were confident in getting Howell in the film, and Howell was happy to read the script and accepted (in fact, he was so happy with the film that he would eventually direct the sequel
War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave
War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave is a 2008 direct-to-DVD science fiction film starring and directed by C. Thomas Howell....
). Howell offered his son Dashiell
Dashiell Howell
Dashiell Howell is an American child actor, son of C. Thomas Howell. Dash is best known for portraying Alex Herbert alongside his father in The Asylum's science fiction horror film H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, one of three 2005 film adaptations of the novel by H.G. Wells...
as a role to play Alex Herbert, when he found that Latt was looking for an eight-year-old to fill in the role. Jake Busey
Jake Busey
William Jacob "Jake" Busey is an American actor, musician and film producer. He is sometimes credited as "Jacob Busey" or "William Busey".-Personal life:...
's audition was successful, having won the role on the first day of auditions. His scenes were all filmed in one day. He tells that one of his favorite films as a child was the 1953 War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds (1953 film)
The War of the Worlds is a 1953 science fiction film starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It was the first on-screen loose adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic novel of the same name...
.
The development of Invasions plot and characters was a challenge. Adapting the characters and plot faithfully from the novel was tricky to retell for a modern audience, so there are some significant changes. For example, readers will notice that the "eve of the war" arch is almost absent from the film, skipping the novel's earlier characters and details of the "safe and tranquil" world before the invasion begins. This is, however, easy to understand because of the film's length. The film also ignores the sub-plot of Book One: The Coming of the Martians, in which the book's perspective shifts to the narrator's brother, who accompanies two women to safety and witnesses the battle between the aliens and the HMS Thunderchild. A sub-plot would violate the nature of the film, and also increase its length.
Sequel
On April 1, 2008, a sequel, War of the Worlds 2: The Next WaveWar of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave
War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave is a 2008 direct-to-DVD science fiction film starring and directed by C. Thomas Howell....
, was released. C. Thomas Howell directed the film and reprised the role of George Herbert, and his son Dash Howell reprised the role of Alex. The film also starred Christopher Reid.
See also
- War of the WorldsWar of the Worlds (2005 film)War of the Worlds is a 2005 American science fiction film adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp. It is one of three film adaptations of War of the Worlds released that year, alongside The Asylum's version and...
, Steven Spielberg's 2005 blockbuster which is also a contemporary adaptation of H. G. Wells novel. - H.G. Wells' The War of the WorldsH.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (2005 film)H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is one of three film adaptations of H. G. Wells' classic novel released in 2005, about a Martian invasion of Earth...
, a more faithful, lower-budget film adaptation of the novel. - The PianistThe Pianist (2002 film)The Pianist is a 2002 biographical war film directed by Roman Polanski, starring Adrien Brody. It is an adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman...
, a 2002 film that inspired this film's themes. - The Day the Earth StoppedThe Day the Earth StoppedThe Day the Earth Stopped is a 2008 direct-to-DVD science fiction film made by American studio The Asylum, directed by and starring C. Thomas Howell...
, another Asylum film starring C. Thomas HowellC. Thomas HowellChristopher Thomas "Tommy" Howell , known by his stage name C. Thomas Howell, is an American actor and film director. He starred in the films The Outsiders as Ponyboy Curtis and in The Hitcher as Jim Halsey. He has appeared in The Da Vinci Treasure,Soul Man, Red Dawn, Secret Admirer, Gettysburg, H. G...
that features an invasion by extraterrestrials.
External links
- H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds Official page.