Questions about War of the Worlds (2005)

August 8, 2008 9:20 PM

So, I just finished watching War of the Worlds 2005 with Tom Cruise and I have some questions.

I flipped around while the movie was on and missed parts of it, plus when it was on I wasn't always paying complete attention so I think I missed some key plot points.

1) The end, where Tom Cruise, shows up to his ex-wife's house and the street is not damaged at all, and she and her grandparents are still alive, and his son somehow managed to survive the earlier battle and beat him back to the house, that was a dream sequence or something right? I mean we aren't actually supposed to believe that that happened?

2) What was all the red stringy stuff that showed up outside after Tom and Dakota holed up in Tim Robbin's house. Was that people? I think it might have been people but I'm not sure. And if was people why did the aliens switch from death rays to to taking people apart?

3) There was a scene where the aliens held some dude down and took all his blood. WTF? What did they want with his blood?

4) Why did the aliens go from incinerating people to capturing them in "buckets" under their tripods?

posted by nooneyouknow to media & arts (9 answers total)

1- Not a dream. I know, it's lame.
2- A weird plant made of human blood.
3- I think they feed out of human blood. I know, not the most succulent food around but there's plenty on Earth now that we're almost 7 billion people.
4- I think they just wanted to scare humans a bit, let them know that party was over. Then, once they were all set up and ready, they eat them.

Funny, it was on tv tonight and I thought hey! I'll watch it again, but I couldn't make it to the end.
posted by ddaavviidd at 9:37 PM on August 8, 2008

1. Yes, it happened.
2. Yes, it's people. Human blood was fertiliser for the Red Weed.
3. See 2.
4. See 2.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 9:40 PM on August 8, 2008

1. Not a dream, but very much like the book (also note that he didn't go back to his ex-wife's house. I believe that was supposed to be a grandparent's house). In the book he finds his wife (has no children) amazingly at the end -- even though they had gotten separated and as far as he knew she had died in a town that got completely destroyed.
2. The red weed is a plant from the alien's planet.
3. The aliens also consume blood in the book (in the book they die becuase they consume human blood and catch our diseases). The character in the book that Robbins' role was based off actually predicts that the aliens (martians) would eventually keep humans as cattle and pets.
4. First step is shock and awe to destroy the humans' ability to respond, then they can get around to changing the planet to their liking.
posted by R343L at 9:46 PM on August 8, 2008

Thanks everybody! I should probably read the book. Sounds interesting, with the redweed and blood fertilizer and all.
posted by nooneyouknow at 11:09 PM on August 8, 2008

How alien spacecraft existed underground for so long with no one finding them would have been on my list, along with these. :)
posted by Brocktoon at 8:49 AM on August 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

Keep in mind the book is a hundred years old, but the movie makes a hell of a lot more sense after you read it. I had read the book previous to watching the movie. Usually when people talk about movies, I just mention "I haven't seen it please don't mention it to me." But with this movie, I happily entered converastions and cleared things up for people when I hadn't even seen it yet.
posted by P.o.B. at 1:04 PM on August 9, 2008

The spaceships didn't survive underground in the book. that part is one of the silliest gaffs in the movie.

That along with the sudden surge of bodies floating down the river. Where did they come from? Earlier the aliens were vaporising everyone, and then later harvesting them.


Anyway, an OK movie. Could have been much better.
posted by Mephisto at 8:13 PM on August 10, 2008

That along with the sudden surge of bodies floating down the river. Where did they come from?

I thought the same thing, then realized it could have been any number of things. Bridge collapse, boat overturned, a bunch of people running off a cliff like lemmings, etc. Obviously it was done for dramatic effect if you really think about it though.
posted by P.o.B. at 12:37 AM on August 11, 2008

I liked how the electromagnetic pulse knocked out every electronic device for miles, except for that one guy's video camera. Because if we couldn't have had that shot of the alien ships through his shitty two-inch viewscreen, then that movie would have sucked.
posted by nushustu at 9:28 AM on August 11, 2008