We went to see Senor Spielbergo’s latest epic last night, and mighty good I thought it was too.
It’s obviously had the hollywood treatment, but I think H.G.Wells would have recognised his story without too much trouble. All the key plot points were there (the attack on the Thunder Child, the nutter who wants to live underground – excellent cameo by Tim Robbins and the red weed) although the action has shifted to the other side of the Atlantic and the central character now has his two kids in tow. We also never found out where the invaders had come from, presumably Mars is stretching credibilty too much these days?
The special effects are stunning (I’m sure Wells would have approved of the tripods!) and the tension builds throughout the film, although I suspect that if you don’t know the story you may be a bit disappointed by the ending. Having said that, I’d have been disappointed if they’d tried to do the hollywood thing to it – but I guess Spielberg knows better than to mess with things like that.
Definitely merits a four out of five in my book, far more watchable than George Lucas’ recent efforts – and I quite liked them!
The Bambers 