H.G. Wells War of the Worlds

Written and directed by David Michael Latt who is building a modern B movie empire. This is not the Tom Cruise fueled remake of the original B-movie masterpiece, or even the original masterpiece. This is based on the H.G. Wells book like the others but pretty much made to ride the coattails of the Tom Cruise remake (as are lots of Latt’s  recent productions) This version stars C. Thomas Howell whose career  doesn’t seem to be doing so well as of late.

This version follows a similar story line to the others since they are all based on the same book. Honestly I like the non action parts of this version better than the big budget Tom Cruise remake. Sure the special effects in the big budget version were much better but these for the most part were surprisingly suitable. While not ultra realistic, I found they had a bit of nostalgia feel to them.  C. Thomas Howell was not as bad as I expected him to be and was pretty believable in parts. It is obvious that this was shot quickly and doesn’t have a ton of variation of sets but in an independent movie this is to be expected and they did pretty well for what they had to work with.

So while this movie was made to take advantage of the release and advertising of the Tom Cruise remake, I feel it holds up well and is a pretty decent B-movie. If you are tired of big stories being overshadowed by bigger special effects, then this movie is right up your alley.

Overall 6 (B-movie rating)

Gore 3

Deaths 10+

Fun 5

Ending 5

Rewatch 4

Review by Elvis Lawson

~ by Elvis on November 1, 2007.