I like how everyone was just standing there waiting to see what it would do. Yeah. As soon as the ground started shaking I would have been out of the country
@@AbysmalRandomn3ss yeee fr, esp in rural areas, imagine having to army crawl through acres of fields in order to not get spotted, only to probably get spotted anyways, fuck that lmao
I always like to picture the alien controlling this tripod getting frustrated trying to wiggle it out and thinking, “We brought these things here thousands of years ago and of course mine gets buried under this heavy- ass intersection!”
I always wonder how the tripods were never discovered by humans if they were here the whole time, how deep exactly were they supposed to be under the surface?
@@JustRememberWhoYoureWorkingFor In the movie it is shown that aliens actually got into that machine with lightning strikes so no that machines run by alien themselves, not auto
@@ZenithalPoint yeah those tripods are "manned" by the aliens but probably those alien crews do other functions, maybe one of them is precisely starting that autopilot, manage the weapons and watch all systems in general.
This giant steampunk tripod emerges from the asphalt, blasts a loud apocalyptic horn, makes the universal “charging-up” sound and I’m gonna just sit there and watch whilst mouth-breathing. Yeah ok!
Maybe they offered themselves up as sacrifice...you know, to offset overpopulation. A sort of noble suicide. (God willing future generations will do the same...)
lol right... once those things came out the ground most people would have bolted before they even stand up.. the acting in this movie was subpar.. even from Tom Cruise.. the Director wasn't getting his best takes nor pressing his staff to perform
When you hear turbines spooling up, whether it's human or alien tech, if you don't know what the machinery is going to do, you'd best be making tracks.
I literally said in my head that any human being knows the sign language of "I will shoot you" if a weapon or unknown machine, pointed straight at them, is making a start up sound which sounds like it can shoot or blow you up, meaning you better scatter or else
For me personally this is one of Tom Cruises most underrated films. I love the fact he isnt a hero in this film. He's just a father trying to keep his kids safe and survive and keep moving forwards, it's not his job to fight the aliens or save the world. Basicly a story that millions of families would be trying to do in such a similar situation.
Definitely not underrated, but I respect the direction of this movie. It’s a thriller and an action film with not over the top fighting scenes, just humans fighting purely for survival against an enemy they can’t hope to win against early on. All they can do is run or hide. Even in the final scenes, Tom’s character doesn’t fight with the army guys, he hides in the tunnel with the rest of the civilians. I think this movie was incredibly well executed, even though at times it was a bit uneven.
Didn't look like he was trying to keep his kids safe while he was standing around watching the monsters in the aliens coming from out of the ground as a father the first thing I've been thinking of was I need to get home to my children was he thinking about getting home to his children didn't too much look like that to me but that's my opinion I'm just some guy
@@jasonleetaiwan uneven usually means one half is way better than the other which most people think about this film. First half great, second half meh.
it looses the plot around mid way through and the ending was a bit too speilburg. tom cruise should of arrived to his wifes parents whole street obliterated, but then a camera pan to all the notes left on a board...
The ants are currently winning the war with man. I would have to kill myself and my neighbors for blocks around to get rid of one fire ant bed in my yard. I'm almost at that point now.
either of you know what chapter in the book this is from. I'm a huge H.G Wells fan and I never really cared for the movies of his works cause the books were so good I didn't want a movie to dictate what I read should look like,the imagination is way better. but since this wasn't my favorite novel of his I wouldn't mind watching this but I wanna read the book again before I do(if I can find it amongst all my boxes of books)
Exactly. I hate that scene in horror movies when the danger can be felt in the air, yet the character still feels the need to check for some reason. It makes the scare afterwards appear so cheap and stupid.
I always thought the cinematography of this and Minority report had such a unique quality to it. Fuzzy, overexposed, lots of backlight... it almost gives the impression that it takes place in a dream.
That’s funny I’m in a video production class right we were just talking about the lighting that Spielberg was using in those films and why it made sense
What's funny in your statement is that, like McTiernan did before him, and European cinema before that, Spielberg, while he loves "dreamy" movies, uses this lighting and the camera work in a very VERY realistic way to expand immersion. To make you believe it, to lure audience into believing this is really happening. So it is, funnily enough, the opposite of oneirism. It *looks* fake, so it *is* real xD Weird, right ?
I like how at the very end that one dad runs through the scene, still carrying his daughter. Dude was keeping up with Tom Cruise, while he was in full Running Mode. Respectable.
This movie in 05 along with Resistance: Fall of Man in 2006 and the early Halo/Gears of War games was such a great time for alien content, I miss those days.
Resistance is one of my favorite forms of alien content, really solid game. Also, there's a great book about ufo sightings from that same time. We had it good back then
I love the little fake-out they do at 2:25 where the tripod first appears. Since they weren't in the trailers, we don't know what they're going to look like or how big they're going to be yet. Since it's War of the Worlds we do know they're tripods. So the first reaction upon seeing those three big legs climbing out of the hole is to think "oh, that's how big they are, those are its legs" and then all three of them swung way up into the air and you realize those aren't the legs of the tripod, those are the TOES of ONE leg of the tripod. 😮
True. I remember when i first saw this scene i was like "oh, the tripods seem to be quite...small". But as soon as his "leg" raised up into the air i had shivers down my spine It was really done well.
Say what you want about this movie, the way they did the tripods were amazing, everything about them from they way they were shot, their design, the way they move, its perfect
I distinctly remember the silence in the theater when we all realized we were seeing this for the first time-as in absolutely none of this was shown in the trailers. We had no idea what to expect and that gave me chills. I wish more movies did this nowadays. Edit: I’m specifically talking about the structure of the scene and the movie’s marketing. I know what WoftheW is, and Cruise and Spielberg etc. all I’m saying is trailers didn’t show this at all at it was cool
Man this STILL looks good and it still holds up today. Easily one of the best alien invasion movies, if not THE best in my opinion. Even Dakotah screaming the whole time is exactly what a little girl would do. Such a good movie.
Seriously? The people in this movie are idiots, the acting’s a bit corny and the second half was poorly done. The only thing good about this movie is maybe the tripods causing destruction lol I’m not even much of a critic but I’d have to be out of my mind to call this the best alien invasion movie
I watched this in the cinema when it was released. Awesome experience. Me and my friends left with our minds blown and that horn sound stuck in our heads. Still love this movie. Watched it a hundred times.
What I really like about this scene, is how brilliant the people are performing as the extras. They all did a great job, and hope they were well treated in the making of the film.Well done to them all.
That's no problem. I just watched the behind the scenes footage on the dvd, and it looked as if Steven Spielberg wasn't really bothered by them. Yes,they could have walked off, but you wouldn't get paid then.
@@mikeybalboa7520 extras actually get paid more than would you think, my cousin got paid 3 grand for some navy movie where he just sat in a class for a couple shots, and another he got paid like 5 grand to drive his car up and down the street in the backround lmao
@@donc7984 it matters how big the movie is and how many people are in the scene with War Of The Worlds they had like 5,000 extras for the one scene one of the most in movie history and b/c it had so many extras in the cast they got paid a little bit less.
The use of reflections on store windows and car windshields is spectacular. The tripods "horn" blaring just before it unleashes hell on earth puts the finishing touches on this amazing scene.
I agree! This is one of my favorite movie scenes for a lot of reasons including the ones you name. I love the light coming through the ruined church window as well.
In the late 1970's Jeff Wayne's war of the worlds album came out. I must have listened to it over 100 times as a kid and now have the CD set. One of my adult daughters was in town recently and stopped by while I was playing it on the stereo. She recorded a minute of it on her phone and sent it to the rest of the family and they said how it reminded them of their childhood since I played it so often.
@@didimean Yeah, I remember when those videos started in 2011 iirc. Theres too many of them in too many different countries and sources to just say its fake. Something weird is hapenning for sure, though I have my guesses at this point.
I still don't get what the point of that horn was. To alert humans what was about to happen? Why would they even do that if the aliens purpose is to just exterminate the humans
i think the scene with that one lady when she gets hit with the beam is the most chilling, there is a single second when the beam hits where she opens her mouth to scream in pain but nothing comes out showing that it doesn't kill instantly but everyone hit with the beam dies painfully but quick enough that a scream does not leave their mouths
My favorite movie in 2005. Even my basic 100$ soundbar rendered the audio and its bass really well just for that incredible sequence! DONT USE YOUR TV SPEAKERS!
Random fact: a friend of mine worked on this movie and brought back one of the jackets Tom Cruise wore on set. I gave it to my father in law in Hungary and watched him wearing it to do the gardening for years. He passed away in 2011 and we kept the coat in a wardrobe and whenever I look at it it makes me smile.
WOTW topic is the creepiest sci-fi concept... Martians just build massive 3 legged machines in order to terraform earth and use human blood/flesh to grow red weeds, for making sure that they maintain Martian wellbeings... This is too horrible...
@@pintorpi333 there is a possible reason why it worked actually. It could have been stored in a "lockup" style back room at an electronics store. Those lock ups can sometimes be set up as basic faraday cages, which would have protected it from the EMP. Same would be true of alot of electronics tbh, depending on the strength of the EMP things inside cars (not the cars themselves) or some types of metal storage containers would have been fine. A sign the EMP wasn't too strong is later in the movie alot of military electronics still work (while alot is hardened against EMP's it has its limits), and there are a ton of cars been used. Same with the boat having its lights on.
This was brilliant and the best scene of the entire movie. As mentioned in other comments, nobody had ever seen the tripods nor any of this in the trailer and we had absolutely no idea what to expect, which put us in the same shoes as those people witnessing that in the movie. The moment those rays fire, the sound was so powerful and the scene so chilling, we were absolutely terrified, much worse than a horror movie, because it felt very real, it felt like Saving Private Ryan's beach scene felt. Spielberg does know how to make the finest horror.
Didn't know what to expect? MF the roads were splitting and a giant metal squid just erupted out of the ground. Were you expecting a hug? The thing audibly charged up for 30 seconds like an anime blast. It's like deer in headlights. Who in their right minds would just stand there and watch!
@@Styder111 I think, he talking about the movie that had the element of surprise. the thing that never describe or being shown through it's trailer. so the audience didn't know what's coming from the movie. it is this element that create terror to the audience. the horror of unknown. before giving a chaotic and powerfull scene that surprise the audience. that's what he talked about. not about standing there and expected a hug.
The horror of it, was that it was to represent 9/11 . People running down street , powder on there face , explosions and seeing death through the glass of the stores . That’s what it was to be a metaphor of .
The tripod horn is iconic and terrifying. And the power-up sound and the laser beam sound effects are equally scary. Spielberg is great at science fiction!
When Tom Cruise first ran from the Tripod, he rounded a corner and stopped to lean against a store window. Then silently, in a brilliant piece of acting, he displayed emotions that went beyond fear. This is someone who has seen the coming of the end of the world, and is mortified with incomprehensible terror.
sadly the people doing the movie adaptations think they can do it better. You can't, simple, stop trying. This particular film had promise but was utterly ruined by an incessantly screaming therapy-dependant child and the cliched divorced father/dis-functional son rubbish that seems to be the core of every other film nowadays. The book is a first person narrative giving a real insight into the experiences and observations of one person, you see it through their eyes without the annoying clutter that the screenwriters of the movies seem to think it needs. It doesn't.
@@stevesargent8731 I listened to a radio adaptation in the UK when I was a kid. Scared me sleepless! And I think it was Orson Welles who did it like a news broadcast here in the States in the 40's - had people panicking in the streets.
That horn noise will forever be the most frightening thing ever… and that’s with human beings creating the sound design. Imagine real life aliens. What could be more terrifying?
@@anmjbfilm To be fair, a "thump thump" sound with a set of low orchestral instruments (cellis, timpani) is one of the best ways to make whatever presence (on or off screen) intimidating.
@@anmjbfilm You said just what I was thinking. When you heard those string violins playing that chord next to the pod reving up, you knew something terrifyingly ominous was about to happen.
For film students it's a great scene to study. It's the work of a master. Scale is there, pace and stillness is there, the naturally maddening curiosity of onlookers is there, our chief protagonist is our chief Observer and the details of something rising from the earth is immaculate - making it feel so real.
There seemed to be allusions to "3" throughout this scene - when the hole first appeared and the crowd began to move back, the circle of people began to clear back and you see a vague 3-sided shape formed by the crosswalk and a shadow, etc. And then the "square" intersection begins to turn, again forming a triangle on the ground right around 1:45. Plus there is the church with the allusion to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Except that if it WAS real most of those people would have been running for the hills when the pavement started cracking and then the ground collapsed. Even Cruise just keeps moving backward 5 or 10 feet at a time and then ..... stopping? I would have been l-o-n-g gone before the shooting started.
One of my favourite shots is the window shot with Tom Cruise on the left with the reflection of the people running on the right. So simple and so clever.
Spielberg's sense of humour is brilliant. The intersection cracks apart, rotates and hundreds of windows shatter,... While the camera pans past a sign saying "No littering". I laughed.
I've watched this scene dozens of times. It's perfect, probably my favorite scene in the film. The effects, the ominous music, the terrifying horn, the sense of scale portrayed in the amazing shots of the tripod rising up first behind the tree and then above the houses. It is such a gripping display of sheer awe.
I can't say "perfect"... At 1:33 We see Tom Cruise on a sidewalk with his back to the building. At 1:50 he's shown at the front of a crowd in the intersection, no building behind him at all. And the intervening overhead shot does not show anyone moving into the intersection from the buildings (the opposite, actually). Good, sure, but my definition of "perfect" includes "lack of continuity errors I can identify on a casual clip watch as I descend into the TH-cam maelstrom."
Death Ray vaporizes people but not their clothes? Just one of dozens of imperfections in this scene. This movie HAD great potential but failed to achieve. Cruise brought nothing to his role, thanks to the writers. The original Day the Earth Stood Still remains #1.
I love the pace of this movie. They go somewhere, something horrifying happens, next scene. It actually slows at the end in the basement but it is so intense you dont notice
I literally never get tired of the moment at 2:24 when the MASSIVE leg rises out of the ground and smashes down on the car. The sound effects are so terrifying. Like a mechanical yet living beast rising from the ground. This movie has some incredible effects for its time as well
I know this wasn’t the writers intent, but To me this whole scene is sort of symbolic for the antichrist hitting earth. The tripod rising up from below ground, the church being destroyed, the apocalyptic horn, the tripod itself (demonic forces are believed to do things in threes to mock the holy trinity), the advanced technology used to try and take over the planet That’s just me tho. I doubt anyone intended for that type of symbolism but there are a lot of things that scream apocalypse from this scene
@@satan899 I can get behind that, seems like a sound meaning to take from it. I had never thought about it that way, with the church and all. Not to mention the subtle moment when Ray's friend signs a cross on his chest as the tripod is rising. Could add to your interpretation. haha.
I saw this in the movie theatre, and after the Pod emerged and started blasting people, a 10-year-old girl lept from her seat and sprinted up the aisle! A few moments later, a woman, I am guessing her mother, stood up, collected their things, and walked up the aisle after her!
Yeah, some scenes in this movie are way too intense for a child. Or some adults. It's a very scary movie, and underrated in my opinion. This scene and the scene in the basement with the snake thing are both perfectly staged.
I don't know why a parent brought in her child to see a movie called "war of the worlds" I hope that kid didn't get nightmares because of her mother's negligence
One of the coolest things to me even way back when I first saw this in theaters were the visual effects on the people literally turning into ash. The alien death beams aren't straight up vaporizers, they are designed _specifically to vaporize human tissue_ but they leave clothes, personal effects, and literally any non-organic tissue/material behind. The beams popping people and leaving behind a cloud of ash is a neat detail in its own right, but in my opinion it really shines with the added touch of tattered remains of clothing blowing away after the fact. It's taken a step further by making these ash clouds a real thing in the environment. Even if a lot of it was fake and CG, someone somewhere was throwing _real_ dust all over the set while this was shot just to make sure Tom Cruise would _look_ like he ran through a bunch of ashy human remains. The clothing especially is a _REALLY_ amazing detail that just lets your imagination run wild. I mean, think about it: these aliens built weapons _SPECIFICALLY_ to eliminate humans and _NOTHING ELSE_ in as efficient of a method as possible. It makes you wonder exactly how the weapons work or what went on when they were being developed. I feel like if this movie were made today, it would simply be a generic death ray that turns an entire person, everything they are wearing, etc into a pile of goo or something equally lacking in imagination. It would not have the same effect. The way it's done in this movie is just super eerie. A weapon that turns people into ash but leaves all of their clothes behind? That's absolutely terrifying. And it sets up future scenes in the movie where we just see lifeless empty streets, the only thing occupying them are a bunch of tattered clothes and piles of ash. That's some legitimately scary stuff. It reminds you that there _was_ a whole crowd of people in that street. That is some crazy next-level world building, and it's all thanks to one simple idea. As much crap as this movie got, it had some really nice visual effects and they surprisingly hold up even after all these years. Part of what makes them still good to this day is probably thanks to the fact this movie was shot on film in an era where practical effects were still heavily used, the other part is the meticulous attention to the little details, like clothing not getting burnt, items people holding simply dropping wherever they got vaporized, etc. It's a very imaginative and creative take on the generic alien death ray and I love it.
The beam also works weird. We see at 5:38 that when it impacted a person in the car that it also tossed the car, yet when Tom was inside the store at 5:57 the beam went through the window with no damage. Yet later on when the beam was being used against houses at 6:08 it tore the roofs off. Two beam settings maybe? It definitely wasn't a thermal beam, otherwise you would have seen bodies exploding from the water in them being turned into steam. You could even see the lady starting to shriek as the beam 'chain-reacted' her into ash at 5:47
@@toddkes5890 I think though I can not find anything confirming this that it was two different rays. The ray's that blew the house roofs off acted similar to the ones that blew the overpass apart when ray & the kids drove off in the car but definitely wasn't the heat ray.
The shot at 3:45 was always amazing to me. It scales just how massive this thing actually was, If you have headphones on, a soft low rumbling base slowly creeps in when it stands at its full height which adds to the horror. The way it moves and adjusts itself really lets the viewer see just how heavy and large this thing is. and at 5:44 when it gives you a close up of just how people are being vaporized, and how there's only a second of screaming before you puff into ash..probably the most terrifying ideas of alien invasion ever made for cinema.
The 1953 version had the green "skeleton ray". As Dr. Forrester put it, "It neutralizes the meson somehow. They're the atomic glue holding matter together. Cut across their lines of magnetic force, and any object will simply cease to exist. Take my word for it, General, this type of defense is useless against that kind of power." The special effects sounds for the heat ray and that disintegrator ray are some of the most frightening I've ever head.
I like the shot immediately after the standing up scene as well; you see Tom looking up at it and it happens to turn towards the same direction as he's going. It reminds me of nightmares I had where some unstoppable monster was coming after me and no matter what I did, it always knew where I was
This scene when my brother and our friends and I went to see this movie and everyone in the whole movie theater was blown away by this one scene. This is truly my favorite part of the movie and one of the greatest ambushes in movie history. Plus, the music is creepy as hell as well.
It’s not an ambush it’s a fucking massacre an ambush is people strategically planning to surround and attack you and set you up this was just one pod who came up and freaking destroyed everybody
How about the train crossing scene? Everyone in movie was like whatever. For me and family we took Amtrak to Chicago from flagstaff prior to seeing this movie in Chicago
4:41 - the smartest and most likely the people whose are alive are well capable of realizing the massive craft arisen from underground and blasted a foghorn is terrible news and started running for their very lives and you can see several people actually start to run only second after the tripod emerges those were the people who will survive the whole alien appocalypse On the other hand this movie is seriously underrated the effects the music the themes are all amazing especially for its year 2005
@@hildemel The charging sound of the weaponry should be more than enough to make people realize that Oh No this is Bad This is terribly terribly bad gotta Run Thought something happening like this probably stunned people
Everything about this whole sequence is perfect as 'monster reveals' go. From the film's outset we get hints of their inevitable arrival, then we see the tremors, then the ground and buildings collapsing, and even after it emerges we see it from the view of people on the ground in that compressed focal length, its "eye" dominating the frame at one point, before finally standing upright, revealing that glorious long shot of the tripod standing tall, totally dominant, the music kicking in only when the pilot is ready to sound its war horn to signal the start of hell on Earth. The fact the sound design and CGI still largely holds up to scrutiny today is a testament to how well this film was made. It still gives me the creeps, and watching it in the cinema as a teenager was a great movie memory I won't forget.
The heat ray as seen nearer the end of this clip, shaving off the rooftops of houses is closest to the heat ray as imagined in the book. It is a wide, invisible ray of such intense heat that it dissolves all it touches. The book has several mentions of clear places where the heat ray quickly shaved across a town and left nothing but slag and molten rubble in its wake. It ran across a row of houses and they collapsed instantly as the parts hit just dissolved. That's terrifying, even moreso I'd say, than thin, visible laser beams.
@@arnoldhernandez1910 By H.G. Wells, written in the 1800's. It was the very first alien invasion novel and it captivated a nation. It was so impressive that we've been trying to adapt it ever since, with various levels of success. Though no movie or series ever really got it right, sadly.
I love the part in the book where the narrator is submerged in water and the heat ray instantly boils the water and he's surrounded by scalding hot water and steam.
The sound of that horn in the theater was almost deafening. The fact that NONE of what the tripods looked like, nothing had been seen in the trailers at all. Everyone who was there was seeing it all for the first time. No giving anything away like they do constantly in trailers now.
This whole clip was filmed in Down Neck Newark. The church, St. Stephen's, sits at the fork with Wilson Av. on the right of the screen and Ferry St. on the left. I live 4 blocks from the filming and it was a blast. Tom Cruise acted like a gentleman. The whole crew was a pleasure to watch! Come visit. You'll love the food! ps. The church is still here and it looks like new!
Yep. Not just fancy shots but composition, flow of information, the interplay between the various moving elements. Idk how to explain it, but it feels like a lost art.
Best part is they held off on the music for a good long while, letting the scene itself build the tension and sell the emotion. They did the same thing during the initial attack scene in Independence Day. 2 minutes 20 seconds from when he says "Time's up" to the next music you hear, and it's powerful.
LMAO literally I'd be running a mile away the second that crevasse opened up. No way I'm gonna stand there while some massive mech bursts out of the ground
Fun fact: The guy wearing the blue jacket with a white hood and black beanie at 1:17 behind Tom Cruise while the church is splitting apart is Channing Tatum
I was out walking my dog one day. I lived in SW Louisiana at the time. And all of a sudden I heard that same sound those pods make. That trumpet, metal sounding. It was really loud and You couldn't tell what direction it come from. There was nothing in my area for miles and miles that could had possibly made that sound. It was like it coming from the sky. I looked around on the internet and started seeing vids of that same trumpet kind of sound people were hearing. It's burned into my brain. It sounded just like these damn things. Craziest shit I ever heard.
Yo, I’m currently living in Southwest Louisiana, myself. But the sound you’re describing is something I’ve never heard of or known about. Did you ever find out what it was that you heard?
I heard something similar many years ago! I was in town and had stopped somewhere, next thing there's this who-knows-what noise... I think it was just the brakes of a bus/HGV though, or at least i hope it was! 😂 The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, they say...
How this whole scene was choreographed is just simply miraculous. Amazing. How much of it was CGI? Obviously the pods were, but very seamless editing between graphics and reality. Plus perfect accompanying music. What a chilling scene. I never get tired of it.
I agree. The CGI was very good. There are a few actors out there (Tom C being one of them, regardless if you like him or not) who can really acclimate their physical movements, their dialogue....seamlessly with CGI.
@@austinh9389 I know. There are still idiots out there who fault him for his beliefs and overlook that he is an incredible actor as proven in this movie and all the others.
This scene was filmed at the intersection of Merchant St & Wilson Ave in Newark, NJ. The church and flower shop are still there, although the roads there have been redesigned slightly. It looks almost the same today. Other locations on Polk and Ferry streets are still there, like the Portuguese jewelry store, Ourivesaria. All the destruction of roads and buildings was CGI.
Actually none of this was CGI. People like to discredit him because he's a scientologist but you have to admit Tripod gave an amazing performance and was even willing to vaporize people on camera for his craft.
The best realization of the tripods ever, the ray weapon also extremely well done. What makes the initial scenes so good is the lack of music. Movies need to be made without music.
In some cases, music can absolutely improve a scene (see the "Welcome to Jurassic Park" scene, or Anakin vs Obi-Wan in Revenge of the Sith for example), but if you're trying to build up suspense, then this type of silence works best
@@cynicalpenguin those movies are 9 hours of strings music concert with a long music video attached. I couldn't manage it. Totally overdone. Haven't seen them but my roommates are huge fans and i can hear the sound track from my room and its just nonstop. No time to breathe! I wish movies came with two tracks that allows the viewer to disable the music.
I honestly thought this was one of the most terrifying movies I'd ever seen, as sci-fic apocalypses go. The friends I saw it with at the theater hated it and to this day, I can't imagine why.
This sequence is both very well shot and has genuine tension: it’s one of the very few times you genuinely feel like Tom Cruise will not make it out alive, even though you know he will in the back of your mind.
I saw this in the theatre and it made me queasy, pale, turning green almost felt like I was going to faint. Other people in the theatre were screaming and acting like they saw death! No other movie in the history of film in my opinion has done this by captivating the audience maybe Interstellar and the black hole scene, that was amazing to. But to me this is Tom Cruise’s best movie and a cinematic masterpiece!
@@battistaverardi1240 I can relate . We saw this in I- max and my wife and I were so terrified that we left the theater. Something about this scene seemed so real .
I was on premiere as well, when the Tripod was down and that alien being came out of it, people were screaming "behead it and impale it's head on a tree"... I never ever saw public react in such a violent way.
I love the colour palette of this film, just like a lot of Spielberg epics, it seems ‘washed out’ but it really adds to the atmosphere. Then when the whole ground rotates it just gives you that initial moment where you realise that whatever is down there is so much more dangerous and powerful than any of the people understand
I read the book many years before this movie and I was skeptical at the beginning but I must say I was wrong. Spielberg really knows how to shake you to the core and create true fear and even when I am not Tom Cruise fan I recognize he did a great job here, so I applaud this movie and this scene is one of my favorites😀
This movie was super intense, seeing it in theaters. Really had you at the edge of your seat. I saw it as a kid. You really wanted Ray and the kids to make it to the moms place, and if it was still there.
I don’t know why this is in my Recommended, but I remember being excited to see this when it came out. The street this was filmed on is Ferry Street in Newark, NJ. I was born no Newark and lived on Van Buren St until I married (you can see it over Cruise’s shoulder at about 5:00 mark). My HS was also on that street, and the Church they ‘destroyed’ was at the juncture of the Five Corners. Great memories 🥰
That horn that tripod did was a communication signal meant to alert the other tripods that there are humans in the vicinity. This tripod is said to be part of the first wave of the invasion, so the majority are most likely still buried and are offline during this very attack
And yet...the notion that aliens have been buried beneath the surface for - how long, centuries? is ludicrous. The whole movie seems to be Spielberg's poison pen letter to humanity. Everyone is horrible. This movie still makes me feel disgusted and enraged by Spielberg.
@@grantc61 Except that first point you just mentioned isn’t Spielberg’s work. It’s H. G. Wells’s. I’ll admit this movie is no where close to being a masterpiece, but in terms of doing justice to the book and original film, it accomplishes that fantastically well.
This movie frightened me to death! It still does a little. I think it’s the fact the pods were already on earth that got me. And the siren noise freaks me out too!
It’s bloody abstract art then. This is barely war of the worlds. He could literally just name it something else and it would finally make sense in its own way. I’m not disagreeing with you on the cinematography, because that’s spectacular but it’s just shameful to call it war of the worlds. Nothing personal by the way, just sharing a view.
Started out strong but it really fell off after the halfway point. Which is a shame because this is the best alien invasion movie we've gotten and probably will ever get .
I like how everyone was just standing there waiting to see what it would do. Yeah. As soon as the ground started shaking I would have been out of the country
Zero survival instincts
Nah some people left before this. Probably didn’t survive regardless though.
@@AbysmalRandomn3ss yup, though it definitely helps your chances lmao
@@charliec.3518
True dat. Imagine trying to run from a thing that covers that much ground in such a short amount of time. Geez.
@@AbysmalRandomn3ss yeee fr, esp in rural areas, imagine having to army crawl through acres of fields in order to not get spotted, only to probably get spotted anyways, fuck that lmao
That Tripod horn sound is still one of the most terrifying noise I've ever heard. That shit instills fear to your very core.
Sounds a lot like the horn of the original Queen Mary.
@@Dallas_K or Inception
Agreed, this sound scared me the first time I saw this movie, I knew that Ray needed to run ASAP.
@@calebramos7902 Ray wasn't running, he was prancing and dancing away! Such a drama Queen.
@@MichaelGiordano777 😂😂😂😂
The bit where Cruise comes home and realizes he's covered in the ashes of the dead is haunting.
Ashes of the dead sounds very like sea of thieves
@@archieoutdoors3340 Zoomers try not to reference a video game anywhere challenge impossible
@@camblongkaras782 cope, mald, ratio
Ashes of the dead is a good band name.
@@detritus3676 How about you get off your Roblox block game 12 hours a day unfunny buzzword looking ass and go outside
I always like to picture the alien controlling this tripod getting frustrated trying to wiggle it out and thinking, “We brought these things here thousands of years ago and of course mine gets buried under this heavy- ass intersection!”
It most likely has autopilot
I always wonder how the tripods were never discovered by humans if they were here the whole time, how deep exactly were they supposed to be under the surface?
maybe when the pilots arrived, their capsules rapidly built it out of local materials using advanced space magic?@@justNiko_91
@@JustRememberWhoYoureWorkingFor In the movie it is shown that aliens actually got into that machine with lightning strikes so no that machines run by alien themselves, not auto
@@ZenithalPoint yeah those tripods are "manned" by the aliens but probably those alien crews do other functions, maybe one of them is precisely starting that autopilot, manage the weapons and watch all systems in general.
This giant steampunk tripod emerges from the asphalt, blasts a loud apocalyptic horn, makes the universal “charging-up” sound and I’m gonna just sit there and watch whilst mouth-breathing. Yeah ok!
+TraceurDoc1 in all honesty there were several actually wise people who immediately started running off when the foghorn is tuned down
Maybe they offered themselves up as sacrifice...you know, to offset overpopulation. A sort of noble suicide.
(God willing future generations will do the same...)
lol right... once those things came out the ground most people would have bolted before they even stand up.. the acting in this movie was subpar.. even from Tom Cruise.. the Director wasn't getting his best takes nor pressing his staff to perform
@@getsome4806 darwins award or natural selection happens everyday.
And the guys staying in the raised hydraulic lift. Brilliant!
When you hear turbines spooling up, whether it's human or alien tech, if you don't know what the machinery is going to do, you'd best be making tracks.
Good point.
I literally said in my head that any human being knows the sign language of "I will shoot you" if a weapon or unknown machine, pointed straight at them, is making a start up sound which sounds like it can shoot or blow you up, meaning you better scatter or else
Whatever it is, it just destroyed a city block just by popping out of the ground, so maybe it's not safe to be around regardless of its intentions.
Sounds more like an out of tune didgeridoo
Because whoever wrote this POS script is an idiot and an Ahole…
For me personally this is one of Tom Cruises most underrated films. I love the fact he isnt a hero in this film. He's just a father trying to keep his kids safe and survive and keep moving forwards, it's not his job to fight the aliens or save the world. Basicly a story that millions of families would be trying to do in such a similar situation.
NOT REALLY UNDERRATED BEING IT WAS ONE OF THE BIGGEST GROSSING MOVIES OF THAT YEAR AND WAS VERY POPULAR.
Definitely not underrated, but I respect the direction of this movie. It’s a thriller and an action film with not over the top fighting scenes, just humans fighting purely for survival against an enemy they can’t hope to win against early on. All they can do is run or hide. Even in the final scenes, Tom’s character doesn’t fight with the army guys, he hides in the tunnel with the rest of the civilians. I think this movie was incredibly well executed, even though at times it was a bit uneven.
Didn't look like he was trying to keep his kids safe while he was standing around watching the monsters in the aliens coming from out of the ground as a father the first thing I've been thinking of was I need to get home to my children was he thinking about getting home to his children didn't too much look like that to me but that's my opinion I'm just some guy
@@michaeltipler5674 way too much standing around, 'let's hide behind this door, (massive event), better get behind the bumper'
I think the film would have been so much better if Cruise had been killed with one of those first heat-wave light beams.
People running away from an intersection only to find themselves still at the same intersection 10 minutes later.
The best line -- used in the first movie and paid homage to in this one -- is "Once the machines start moving, no more news comes from that area."
especially if you're making a movie thats aimed at children and has a cartoon rabbit in it that steps in the poopy
@@imweird.6147 What
@@BYRDIIM Something about Root Beer. I don't know. 🤷♀️
@@imweird.6147 Yeah the name, gotcha
@@Eadadykk We have to girl who was in my your own home you face
I know this film gets critized for being uneven, but the first part of it is absolute cinematic excellence and profoundly terrifying
Uneven? Like it ended too easily and quickly?
What do you mean by uneven?
I agree. The beginning was great and the river scene. But, I’ve always felt the second half was poorly done.
@@jasonleetaiwan uneven usually means one half is way better than the other which most people think about this film. First half great, second half meh.
it looses the plot around mid way through and the ending was a bit too speilburg. tom cruise should of arrived to his wifes parents whole street obliterated, but then a camera pan to all the notes left on a board...
“This isn't a war," said the artilleryman. "It never was a war, any more than there's war between man and ants.”
― H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds
Which is ironic considering the original novel is the one where humans are able to fight back the most
The ants are currently winning the war with man. I would have to kill myself and my neighbors for blocks around to get rid of one fire ant bed in my yard. I'm almost at that point now.
either of you know what chapter in the book this is from. I'm a huge H.G Wells fan and I never really cared for the movies of his works cause the books were so good I didn't want a movie to dictate what I read should look like,the imagination is way better. but since this wasn't my favorite novel of his I wouldn't mind watching this but I wanna read the book again before I do(if I can find it amongst all my boxes of books)
The common cold: “I’m about to do what’s called a pro gamer move.”
Oh hey isn’t this what the EMT said later on in the movie?
If I heard some alien looking thing whirring and powering up, I would assume it was its weapon systems and get the hell out of there
4:41 That one guy who didn't stick around and made a mad dash like a Bat Outta Hell is a smart lad.
Guy was like: Nope, nope, nope fuck this
my favourite is the jumper
Exactly. I hate that scene in horror movies when the danger can be felt in the air, yet the character still feels the need to check for some reason. It makes the scare afterwards appear so cheap and stupid.
He knows what a good sounds sounds like. That was not a good sound.
Hope he made it out.
I always thought the cinematography of this and Minority report had such a unique quality to it. Fuzzy, overexposed, lots of backlight... it almost gives the impression that it takes place in a dream.
Don't forget A.I.
That’s funny I’m in a video production class right we were just talking about the lighting that Spielberg was using in those films and why it made sense
That's Janusz Kamiński style.
What's funny in your statement is that, like McTiernan did before him, and European cinema before that, Spielberg, while he loves "dreamy" movies, uses this lighting and the camera work in a very VERY realistic way to expand immersion. To make you believe it, to lure audience into believing this is really happening. So it is, funnily enough, the opposite of oneirism.
It *looks* fake, so it *is* real xD Weird, right ?
Spielberg called it "The Camelot"
Cause of how beautiful it looks.
I like how at the very end that one dad runs through the scene, still carrying his daughter. Dude was keeping up with Tom Cruise, while he was in full Running Mode. Respectable.
Probably a cameraman on his day off
Probably a cameraman on his day off
Well Tom Cruise does run slow because of his short legs.
Running Cruise its a fckng mem 😂 😂 😂 Big marathon 🏃 - US, Russia, Arabia, China, Australia, Europe.
@@cynicalpenguin l
This movie in 05 along with Resistance: Fall of Man in 2006 and the early Halo/Gears of War games was such a great time for alien content, I miss those days.
Fr,
This movie, Gears 1, and the first Resistance Game was such a vibe
I miss the 2000s gaming era 😭
and half life 2 in 2004
@@Opinareyeah the tripods reminded me of the ones in HL2
Resistance is one of my favorite forms of alien content, really solid game. Also, there's a great book about ufo sightings from that same time. We had it good back then
I love the little fake-out they do at 2:25 where the tripod first appears. Since they weren't in the trailers, we don't know what they're going to look like or how big they're going to be yet. Since it's War of the Worlds we do know they're tripods. So the first reaction upon seeing those three big legs climbing out of the hole is to think "oh, that's how big they are, those are its legs" and then all three of them swung way up into the air and you realize those aren't the legs of the tripod, those are the TOES of ONE leg of the tripod. 😮
True.
I remember when i first saw this scene i was like "oh, the tripods seem to be quite...small".
But as soon as his "leg" raised up into the air i had shivers down my spine
It was really done well.
Say what you want about this movie, the way they did the tripods were amazing, everything about them from they way they were shot, their design, the way they move, its perfect
@@harbour2118 all I want to say about this movie is high praise specifically because of how alien the aliens are depicted
That Tripod looks like Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2 because of the three tentacles and three legs.
THANK YOU for explaining those were the toes of one leg. I could not figure out what the connection was between that scene and the tripod.
I distinctly remember the silence in the theater when we all realized we were seeing this for the first time-as in absolutely none of this was shown in the trailers. We had no idea what to expect and that gave me chills. I wish more movies did this nowadays.
Edit: I’m specifically talking about the structure of the scene and the movie’s marketing. I know what WoftheW is, and Cruise and Spielberg etc. all I’m saying is trailers didn’t show this at all at it was cool
Exactly, instead of showing off half of the movie in the thrailer
I agree. And it would be to even better effect for an original story where you don't know at all what is coming.
never saw the b&w version?
Like the mcu spiderman reveal in captain America civil war. Imagine if they didn't reveal spiderman in the trailer
@@CesarGarcia-ru8hr I did in literature class and it was terrible. Even for an old movie
Man this STILL looks good and it still holds up today. Easily one of the best alien invasion movies, if not THE best in my opinion. Even Dakotah screaming the whole time is exactly what a little girl would do. Such a good movie.
It sure does. (17 years old).
Seriously? The people in this movie are idiots, the acting’s a bit corny and the second half was poorly done. The only thing good about this movie is maybe the tripods causing destruction lol I’m not even much of a critic but I’d have to be out of my mind to call this the best alien invasion movie
She sure was annoying
UNFORTUNATELY HER CONSTANT SCREAMING WRECKS THE MOVIE
Nah, the kids were annoying af.
I watched this in the cinema when it was released. Awesome experience. Me and my friends left with our minds blown and that horn sound stuck in our heads. Still love this movie. Watched it a hundred times.
What I really like about this scene, is how brilliant the people are performing as the extras. They all did a great job, and hope they were well treated in the making of the film.Well done to them all.
That's no problem. I just watched the behind the scenes footage on the dvd, and it looked as if Steven Spielberg wasn't really bothered by them. Yes,they could have walked off, but you wouldn't get paid then.
Yes you are right the extras really sold the fear too
Yup. Same. Probably got $1,000 each.
@@mikeybalboa7520 extras actually get paid more than would you think, my cousin got paid 3 grand for some navy movie where he just sat in a class for a couple shots, and another he got paid like 5 grand to drive his car up and down the street in the backround lmao
@@donc7984 it matters how big the movie is and how many people are in the scene with War Of The Worlds they had like 5,000 extras for the one scene one of the most in movie history and b/c it had so many extras in the cast they got paid a little bit less.
The sound of the tripod walking is pure masterpiece!
Is nightmare fuel!
Shit!
Yup. Agreed.
Honestly the whole tripod design is amazing, my favorite one out of all the movies ever.
@@aletron4750 same.
The use of reflections on store windows and car windshields is spectacular. The tripods "horn" blaring just before it unleashes hell on earth puts the finishing touches on this amazing scene.
I agree! This is one of my favorite movie scenes for a lot of reasons including the ones you name. I love the light coming through the ruined church window as well.
It's why those "sky trumpet" videos always freak me out... one of these days...
In the late 1970's Jeff Wayne's war of the worlds album came out. I must have listened to it over 100 times as a kid and now have the CD set. One of my adult daughters was in town recently and stopped by while I was playing it on the stereo. She recorded a minute of it on her phone and sent it to the rest of the family and they said how it reminded them of their childhood since I played it so often.
@@didimean Yeah, I remember when those videos started in 2011 iirc. Theres too many of them in too many different countries and sources to just say its fake. Something weird is hapenning for sure, though I have my guesses at this point.
I still don't get what the point of that horn was. To alert humans what was about to happen?
Why would they even do that if the aliens purpose is to just exterminate the humans
The Tripod Horn Sound Give me Chills all the Time.
And the Purge alarm system sound too is scary.
i think the scene with that one lady when she gets hit with the beam is the most chilling, there is a single second when the beam hits where she opens her mouth to scream in pain but nothing comes out showing that it doesn't kill instantly but everyone hit with the beam dies painfully but quick enough that a scream does not leave their mouths
And you see her flesh blistering for just a second in the heat-ray.
Best description of what dying with that thing feels like so far....
At least it’s quickish, better than impaled w/ a giant syringe 💉 and drained of all your blood I guess.
In the book, being hit with that thing is like being sprayed with napalm. Spilberg didn't had the balls to do it accurately.
That's given me nightmares ever since I saw it as a kid, I feel so bad for her. Those aliens are pure evil.
Despite the fact the movie is almost 20 years old, its still just as impactful and frightening
My favorite movie in 2005.
Even my basic 100$ soundbar rendered the audio and its bass really well just for that incredible sequence! DONT USE YOUR TV SPEAKERS!
20 years old? damn I'm old
@@rafaeldoria9937 yes bro, were getting old
To think i saw this one in cinema when i was 16 😂😂
As they say, time flies. ✌️
Spielberg did a couple of Scifi movies with Tom Cruise in the early 2000's this one and the brilliant Minority Report in 2002
The most terrifying aspect of War Of The Worlds is that this almost unstoppable weaponry is thousands of years old.
Imagine what they have now?
They didn't even invent wheels on their planet. Fave part of the book was when they were absolutely stunned by seeing a carriage wheel.
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes. 😆
It'd only be a couple decades better as we're on the same time zone now
Nah... Not thousand years old. They just arrived during storm.
You can tell who has read the book and seen the movie.
Its all canon.
Random fact: a friend of mine worked on this movie and brought back one of the jackets Tom Cruise wore on set. I gave it to my father in law in Hungary and watched him wearing it to do the gardening for years. He passed away in 2011 and we kept the coat in a wardrobe and whenever I look at it it makes me smile.
Good story but a word of advice. Never start a comment with “*BLANK* fact:” fun fact comments are insufferable, just say what you want to say.
Great fact 😊
This is completely made up
@@denverb585 Because you’d know. Idiot.
@denverb585 lmao
15 years later. I forgot about this movie. 100% still holds up.
Couldn't agree more
How is it 15 years old if it came out in 2005?
@@archieoutdoors3340 are you serious? It's implied around 15 when someone says 15 . 17 to be exact feel better.
how does the nightmare feel to be back 😈
WOTW topic is the creepiest sci-fi concept... Martians just build massive 3 legged machines in order to terraform earth and use human blood/flesh to grow red weeds, for making sure that they maintain Martian wellbeings... This is too horrible...
You can tell this was filmed in a different time.
The crowd of gawkers don't all have smartphones out filming the alien walker.
The phones were rendered inoperable. As was most technology at that point.
@@ensignmjs7058; Hence, the major flaw in that scene. If electronics were rendered inoperable, how is it that the Camcorder worked?
@@pintorpi333 , as you pointed out, it's a flaw. Great shot. But it's a flaw. I noticed it in the theater.
@@pintorpi333 there is a possible reason why it worked actually. It could have been stored in a "lockup" style back room at an electronics store. Those lock ups can sometimes be set up as basic faraday cages, which would have protected it from the EMP. Same would be true of alot of electronics tbh, depending on the strength of the EMP things inside cars (not the cars themselves) or some types of metal storage containers would have been fine.
A sign the EMP wasn't too strong is later in the movie alot of military electronics still work (while alot is hardened against EMP's it has its limits), and there are a ton of cars been used. Same with the boat having its lights on.
I was thinking the same thing while I was watching this!
This was brilliant and the best scene of the entire movie. As mentioned in other comments, nobody had ever seen the tripods nor any of this in the trailer and we had absolutely no idea what to expect, which put us in the same shoes as those people witnessing that in the movie. The moment those rays fire, the sound was so powerful and the scene so chilling, we were absolutely terrified, much worse than a horror movie, because it felt very real, it felt like Saving Private Ryan's beach scene felt. Spielberg does know how to make the finest horror.
He also has a rather subtle sense of humor that sometimes goes unnoticed if you’re not paying close enough attention.
Didn't know what to expect? MF the roads were splitting and a giant metal squid just erupted out of the ground. Were you expecting a hug? The thing audibly charged up for 30 seconds like an anime blast. It's like deer in headlights. Who in their right minds would just stand there and watch!
@@Styder111 I think, he talking about the movie that had the element of surprise.
the thing that never describe or being shown through it's trailer.
so the audience didn't know what's coming from the movie.
it is this element that create terror to the audience. the horror of unknown.
before giving a chaotic and powerfull scene that surprise the audience.
that's what he talked about.
not about standing there and expected a hug.
@@Styder111 Were you expecting a hug lmao lost my shit at that
The horror of it, was that it was to represent 9/11 . People running down street , powder on there face , explosions and seeing death through the glass of the stores . That’s what it was to be a metaphor of .
The tripod horn is iconic and terrifying. And the power-up sound and the laser beam sound effects are equally scary. Spielberg is great at science fiction!
That is the sound of a abrams tank's turbine powering up
@@rapatacush3 ironic since tripods and Abrahams tanks have a fight on a hill in a later scene
I think his friend with the ski cap nailed his tiny parts. He portrayed the terror and awe we'd feel in this situation excellently .
When Tom Cruise first ran from the Tripod, he rounded a corner and stopped to lean against a store window. Then silently, in a brilliant piece of acting, he displayed emotions that went beyond fear. This is someone who has seen the coming of the end of the world, and is mortified with incomprehensible terror.
But what about the kid from coach carter?
I think that dude with the tiny parts just got nailed 😂
His delivery of “oh my god”. Was horrible. He’s a trash actor and shouldn’t have had any lines. He’s horrible
who, who doesnt want to wear the dust, hes wearing the dust, shes wearing the dust we are all wearing the dust. maybe we just make you wear the dust.
Recently read the book & it is a thousand times more chilling than the movies. Not a long book but, boy, it’s haunting.
sadly the people doing the movie adaptations think they can do it better. You can't, simple, stop trying. This particular film had promise but was utterly ruined by an incessantly screaming therapy-dependant child and the cliched divorced father/dis-functional son rubbish that seems to be the core of every other film nowadays. The book is a first person narrative giving a real insight into the experiences and observations of one person, you see it through their eyes without the annoying clutter that the screenwriters of the movies seem to think it needs. It doesn't.
Ngl book was kinda boring. Not to everyone’s liking. But yes, much more chilling
@@stevesargent8731 I listened to a radio adaptation in the UK when I was a kid. Scared me sleepless! And I think it was Orson Welles who did it like a news broadcast here in the States in the 40's - had people panicking in the streets.
Books are always better
I tried reading it when I was locked up but couldn't get through it. Even with nothing to do, I still found it boring.
That horn noise will forever be the most frightening thing ever… and that’s with human beings creating the sound design. Imagine real life aliens. What could be more terrifying?
The horn of death
They atomize us from orbit and we never have a chance to retaliate
What’s more terrifying is that this is real! We are being farmed by aliens!
Who needs 'aliens' when people of other races/faiths/cultures/mindsets/languages don't see you as human, as having a right to exist alongside them.
@@infiniity5529 alright
This was Groundbreaking work by Spielberg
03:30 The soundtrack always give me the chills.
I love how John Williams pretty much plagiarized himself in this scene with that Jaws “da da da da” right before the Tripod starts firing.
@@anmjbfilm and with Indiana Jones.
@@anmjbfilm To be fair, a "thump thump" sound with a set of low orchestral instruments (cellis, timpani) is one of the best ways to make whatever presence (on or off screen) intimidating.
@@anmjbfilm You said just what I was thinking. When you heard those string violins playing that chord next to the pod reving up, you knew something terrifyingly ominous was about to happen.
Its those loud noises that are terrifying! You hear those and you know shit is about to pop off !!!!!
For film students it's a great scene to study. It's the work of a master.
Scale is there, pace and stillness is there, the naturally maddening curiosity of onlookers is there, our chief protagonist is our chief Observer and the details of something rising from the earth is immaculate - making it feel so real.
Agreed! The movie got some mixed reviews but I really enjoyed it. The buildup and the pace in the movie was great imo.
There seemed to be allusions to "3" throughout this scene - when the hole first appeared and the crowd began to move back, the circle of people began to clear back and you see a vague 3-sided shape formed by the crosswalk and a shadow, etc. And then the "square" intersection begins to turn, again forming a triangle on the ground right around 1:45. Plus there is the church with the allusion to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Except that if it WAS real most of those people would have been running for the hills when the pavement started cracking and then the ground collapsed. Even Cruise just keeps moving backward 5 or 10 feet at a time and then ..... stopping? I would have been l-o-n-g gone before the shooting started.
One of my favourite shots is the window shot with Tom Cruise on the left with the reflection of the people running on the right. So simple and so clever.
It also aimed to tap in to the fresh post 9/11 anxiety we all had at the time.
The rotating intersection is a nice hat tip to the base of the Martians' cylinders unscrewing to let them exit in H. G. Wells' original story.
I never even thought to think of that. Good eye.
i was wondering if that rotate meant anything. I noticed it, thanks.
But the craft was an epic trash can of a joke!
Didn't pick up on that. Very nice.
@@ftniceberg874 in its day it was equally as terrifying
Spielberg's sense of humour is brilliant. The intersection cracks apart, rotates and hundreds of windows shatter,... While the camera pans past a sign saying "No littering".
I laughed.
I've watched this scene dozens of times. It's perfect, probably my favorite scene in the film. The effects, the ominous music, the terrifying horn, the sense of scale portrayed in the amazing shots of the tripod rising up first behind the tree and then above the houses. It is such a gripping display of sheer awe.
I can't say "perfect"... At 1:33 We see Tom Cruise on a sidewalk with his back to the building. At 1:50 he's shown at the front of a crowd in the intersection, no building behind him at all. And the intervening overhead shot does not show anyone moving into the intersection from the buildings (the opposite, actually). Good, sure, but my definition of "perfect" includes "lack of continuity errors I can identify on a casual clip watch as I descend into the TH-cam maelstrom."
@@johnhuffman9533 That's it, I hate this movie.
@@MiketheratguyMultimedia lmao 💀
Death Ray vaporizes people but not their clothes? Just one of dozens of imperfections in this scene. This movie HAD great potential but failed to achieve. Cruise brought nothing to his role, thanks to the writers. The original Day the Earth Stood Still remains #1.
I love the pace of this movie. They go somewhere, something horrifying happens, next scene. It actually slows at the end
in the basement but it is so intense you dont notice
I literally never get tired of the moment at 2:24 when the MASSIVE leg rises out of the ground and smashes down on the car. The sound effects are so terrifying. Like a mechanical yet living beast rising from the ground. This movie has some incredible effects for its time as well
Must've been the noise of the machine starting up.. or powering up.
It makes you think that’s just it, and then you realize that’s just a foot
RIP the Saturn
I know this wasn’t the writers intent, but To me this whole scene is sort of symbolic for the antichrist hitting earth. The tripod rising up from below ground, the church being destroyed, the apocalyptic horn, the tripod itself (demonic forces are believed to do things in threes to mock the holy trinity), the advanced technology used to try and take over the planet
That’s just me tho. I doubt anyone intended for that type of symbolism but there are a lot of things that scream apocalypse from this scene
@@satan899 I can get behind that, seems like a sound meaning to take from it. I had never thought about it that way, with the church and all.
Not to mention the subtle moment when Ray's friend signs a cross on his chest as the tripod is rising. Could add to your interpretation. haha.
I saw this in the movie theatre, and after the Pod emerged and started blasting people, a 10-year-old girl lept from her seat and sprinted up the aisle! A few moments later, a woman, I am guessing her mother, stood up, collected their things, and walked up the aisle after her!
I don't blame the kid
Yeah, some scenes in this movie are way too intense for a child. Or some adults. It's a very scary movie, and underrated in my opinion. This scene and the scene in the basement with the snake thing are both perfectly staged.
Lazers sent a kid sprinting? THATS the part of the movie that sent her running? Well I guess its for the best she bolted then before what comes later
😂😂😂
I don't know why a parent brought in her child to see a movie called "war of the worlds"
I hope that kid didn't get nightmares because of her mother's negligence
THIS IS THE DRONES !!
One of the coolest things to me even way back when I first saw this in theaters were the visual effects on the people literally turning into ash. The alien death beams aren't straight up vaporizers, they are designed _specifically to vaporize human tissue_ but they leave clothes, personal effects, and literally any non-organic tissue/material behind. The beams popping people and leaving behind a cloud of ash is a neat detail in its own right, but in my opinion it really shines with the added touch of tattered remains of clothing blowing away after the fact. It's taken a step further by making these ash clouds a real thing in the environment. Even if a lot of it was fake and CG, someone somewhere was throwing _real_ dust all over the set while this was shot just to make sure Tom Cruise would _look_ like he ran through a bunch of ashy human remains. The clothing especially is a _REALLY_ amazing detail that just lets your imagination run wild.
I mean, think about it: these aliens built weapons _SPECIFICALLY_ to eliminate humans and _NOTHING ELSE_ in as efficient of a method as possible. It makes you wonder exactly how the weapons work or what went on when they were being developed. I feel like if this movie were made today, it would simply be a generic death ray that turns an entire person, everything they are wearing, etc into a pile of goo or something equally lacking in imagination. It would not have the same effect. The way it's done in this movie is just super eerie. A weapon that turns people into ash but leaves all of their clothes behind? That's absolutely terrifying. And it sets up future scenes in the movie where we just see lifeless empty streets, the only thing occupying them are a bunch of tattered clothes and piles of ash. That's some legitimately scary stuff. It reminds you that there _was_ a whole crowd of people in that street. That is some crazy next-level world building, and it's all thanks to one simple idea.
As much crap as this movie got, it had some really nice visual effects and they surprisingly hold up even after all these years. Part of what makes them still good to this day is probably thanks to the fact this movie was shot on film in an era where practical effects were still heavily used, the other part is the meticulous attention to the little details, like clothing not getting burnt, items people holding simply dropping wherever they got vaporized, etc. It's a very imaginative and creative take on the generic alien death ray and I love it.
The beam also works weird. We see at 5:38 that when it impacted a person in the car that it also tossed the car, yet when Tom was inside the store at 5:57 the beam went through the window with no damage. Yet later on when the beam was being used against houses at 6:08 it tore the roofs off.
Two beam settings maybe?
It definitely wasn't a thermal beam, otherwise you would have seen bodies exploding from the water in them being turned into steam. You could even see the lady starting to shriek as the beam 'chain-reacted' her into ash at 5:47
@@toddkes5890 I think though I can not find anything confirming this that it was two different rays. The ray's that blew the house roofs off acted similar to the ones that blew the overpass apart when ray & the kids drove off in the car but definitely wasn't the heat ray.
People are mostly water and clothes aren’t. The ray instantly desiccates whatever it hits.
I think the beams incinerate any organic material. Not specific to just humans
The aliens were using humans to make the red roots for food or to teriform . That's what the beams were for. They left the machines there before.
The shot at 3:45 was always amazing to me. It scales just how massive this thing actually was, If you have headphones on, a soft low rumbling base slowly creeps in when it stands at its full height which adds to the horror. The way it moves and adjusts itself really lets the viewer see just how heavy and large this thing is. and at 5:44 when it gives you a close up of just how people are being vaporized, and how there's only a second of screaming before you puff into ash..probably the most terrifying ideas of alien invasion ever made for cinema.
5:46 poor lady she probably had a family.
The 1953 version had the green "skeleton ray". As Dr. Forrester put it, "It neutralizes the meson somehow. They're the atomic glue holding matter together. Cut across their lines of magnetic force, and any object will simply cease to exist. Take my word for it, General, this type of defense is useless against that kind of power."
The special effects sounds for the heat ray and that disintegrator ray are some of the most frightening I've ever head.
I like the shot immediately after the standing up scene as well; you see Tom looking up at it and it happens to turn towards the same direction as he's going. It reminds me of nightmares I had where some unstoppable monster was coming after me and no matter what I did, it always knew where I was
@@joethekinghawk7514 or 60 cats 🤷
"The Thing" is the most terrifying, horrific alien encounter. (Imho)
This scene when my brother and our friends and I went to see this movie and everyone in the whole movie theater was blown away by this one scene. This is truly my favorite part of the movie and one of the greatest ambushes in movie history. Plus, the music is creepy as hell as well.
It’s not an ambush it’s a fucking massacre an ambush is people strategically planning to surround and attack you and set you up this was just one pod who came up and freaking destroyed everybody
Massacre at hardhome is the greatest, that’s more of an ambush
@@RyanT301 it’s both a massacre and an ambush. A sneak attack. Nobody knew it was coming.
John Williams.
How about the train crossing scene? Everyone in movie was like whatever. For me and family we took Amtrak to Chicago from flagstaff prior to seeing this movie in Chicago
This is a master class in filmmaking. It makes you feel like you are there and it is really happening.
4:41 - the smartest and most likely the people whose are alive are well capable of realizing the massive craft arisen from underground and blasted a foghorn is terrible news and started running for their very lives and you can see several people actually start to run only second after the tripod emerges those were the people who will survive the whole alien appocalypse
On the other hand this movie is seriously underrated the effects the music the themes are all amazing especially for its year 2005
Right? If it's causing destruction and throwing SUVs around it probably didn't come in peace.
@@hildemel The charging sound of the weaponry should be more than enough to make people realize that Oh No this is Bad This is terribly terribly bad gotta Run
Thought something happening like this probably stunned people
Giant alien robot comes out ground
I ain't sticking around
Some people freeze. Happens all the time. Fight, Flight or Freeze.
Thing is now days it would be even worse and 99% of people would be stopping to put it on their Instagram stories 😂
Everything about this whole sequence is perfect as 'monster reveals' go. From the film's outset we get hints of their inevitable arrival, then we see the tremors, then the ground and buildings collapsing, and even after it emerges we see it from the view of people on the ground in that compressed focal length, its "eye" dominating the frame at one point, before finally standing upright, revealing that glorious long shot of the tripod standing tall, totally dominant, the music kicking in only when the pilot is ready to sound its war horn to signal the start of hell on Earth. The fact the sound design and CGI still largely holds up to scrutiny today is a testament to how well this film was made. It still gives me the creeps, and watching it in the cinema as a teenager was a great movie memory I won't forget.
If you have good surround sound. There is a low bass tone that you hear the machine moving underground. Badass!
Theres also a creepy sound that trickles into your ear the first time the tripod fires as well
@@ChellyBean I heard it!!! Lol I like to watch movies with the surround sound on a big woofer box and several satellite speakers. I hear everything.
@Patrick Schlienger can’t say off hand but the sequence starts after he picks up the cold asphalt.
I hear it with my earphones lol
Or my Sony Pro MDR 7506 headphones that must be 25 years old!
When Spielberg wants to, he can direct one hell of a thriller.
Just recently rewatched Jaws haven’t seen it in a long time and what a great thriller.
The heat ray as seen nearer the end of this clip, shaving off the rooftops of houses is closest to the heat ray as imagined in the book.
It is a wide, invisible ray of such intense heat that it dissolves all it touches. The book has several mentions of clear places where the heat ray quickly shaved across a town and left nothing but slag and molten rubble in its wake. It ran across a row of houses and they collapsed instantly as the parts hit just dissolved. That's terrifying, even moreso I'd say, than thin, visible laser beams.
There’s something terrifying of not being able to tell what killed you.
There’s a book also, sir?
@@arnoldhernandez1910 yes.
@@arnoldhernandez1910 By H.G. Wells, written in the 1800's. It was the very first alien invasion novel and it captivated a nation. It was so impressive that we've been trying to adapt it ever since, with various levels of success. Though no movie or series ever really got it right, sadly.
I love the part in the book where the narrator is submerged in water and the heat ray instantly boils the water and he's surrounded by scalding hot water and steam.
The sound of that horn in the theater was almost deafening. The fact that NONE of what the tripods looked like, nothing had been seen in the trailers at all. Everyone who was there was seeing it all for the first time. No giving anything away like they do constantly in trailers now.
Not a huge Tom Cruise fan, but I thought that he played a fairy convincing character making the movie more believable.
The scene of the front of the church moving in view of the sun has always been a cinematic highlight for me.
This whole clip was filmed in Down Neck Newark. The church, St. Stephen's, sits at the fork with Wilson Av. on the right of the screen and Ferry St. on the left. I live 4 blocks from the filming and it was a blast. Tom Cruise acted like a gentleman. The whole crew was a pleasure to watch! Come visit. You'll love the food! ps. The church is still here and it looks like new!
@@stanzilinski8123 sounds like an amazing place to be
@@stanzilinski8123 bro I thought it was in Bayonne
1:10 at this point, Spielberg gives us a prediction that when aliens appear, religions will be the first to disappear.
The unknown "drones" in New Jersey in December 2024 brought me here
Exceptional scene. The cinematography here is just mind-blowing.
Yep. Not just fancy shots but composition, flow of information, the interplay between the various moving elements. Idk how to explain it, but it feels like a lost art.
@@dranelemakol that's because it is
Best part is they held off on the music for a good long while, letting the scene itself build the tension and sell the emotion. They did the same thing during the initial attack scene in Independence Day. 2 minutes 20 seconds from when he says "Time's up" to the next music you hear, and it's powerful.
@@ethanreed8400 Its not completely lost, just exceedingly rare. Dune or Blade Runner 2049 are visual masterpieces
@@mrmr4622 I feel like they're not as good as Spielberg. They're meticulously crafted sure, but Spielberg is on a level of his own in virtuosity
6:23 The shot of the passing tripod will always give me chills.
Yeah...Martians thinking, "Okay, this shit works good here; now let's regroup and conquer this planet!"
@@themagus5906Martians were wiped out by nukes as well.
@@explicitreverberation9826 how so? This film doesn't make any references to nukes
@JustRememberWhoYoureWorkingFor nevermind. Their atmosphere exploded. Cydonia. Not talking about the movie , I mean mars mars.
The SOUND it makes when it walks is, to me, even more terrifying than the fog horn blast.
4:42 - still laughing at the "oh hell naw!!" run of the dude on left side of screen.
That would have been me, there's no way I'd stick around to see what kind of messed up stuff that thing is capable of!
@@fleabaguette9699 lol I would have bolted as soon as the ground started started cracking
Yep. He's about the only onlooker who had any sense at all 😂
LMAO literally I'd be running a mile away the second that crevasse opened up. No way I'm gonna stand there while some massive mech bursts out of the ground
I would be that guy just dipping before some sh*t gets pulled off.☠️☠️☠️☠️
Fun fact: The guy wearing the blue jacket with a white hood and black beanie at 1:17 behind Tom Cruise while the church is splitting apart is Channing Tatum
I was out walking my dog one day. I lived in SW Louisiana at the time. And all of a sudden I heard that same sound those pods make. That trumpet, metal sounding. It was really loud and You couldn't tell what direction it come from. There was nothing in my area for miles and miles that could had possibly made that sound. It was like it coming from the sky. I looked around on the internet and started seeing vids of that same trumpet kind of sound people were hearing. It's burned into my brain. It sounded just like these damn things. Craziest shit I ever heard.
Creepy. Did you live near a waterway or heavy industry?
a prank maybe ?
Yo, I’m currently living in Southwest Louisiana, myself. But the sound you’re describing is something I’ve never heard of or known about. Did you ever find out what it was that you heard?
@@comedyjohn0 😭
I heard something similar many years ago! I was in town and had stopped somewhere, next thing there's this who-knows-what noise... I think it was just the brakes of a bus/HGV though, or at least i hope it was! 😂
The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, they say...
"Human fear is no match for human curiosity" ___ Jack Bauer
How this whole scene was choreographed is just simply miraculous. Amazing. How much of it was CGI? Obviously the pods were, but very seamless editing between graphics and reality. Plus perfect accompanying music. What a chilling scene. I never get tired of it.
I agree. The CGI was very good. There are a few actors out there (Tom C being one of them, regardless if you like him or not) who can really acclimate their physical movements, their dialogue....seamlessly with CGI.
all of it was real tom cruise does his own stunts. that was xenu
@@austinh9389 I know. There are still idiots out there who fault him for his beliefs and overlook that he is an incredible actor as proven in this movie and all the others.
This scene was filmed at the intersection of Merchant St & Wilson Ave in Newark, NJ. The church and flower shop are still there, although the roads there have been redesigned slightly. It looks almost the same today. Other locations on Polk and Ferry streets are still there, like the Portuguese jewelry store, Ourivesaria. All the destruction of roads and buildings was CGI.
Actually none of this was CGI. People like to discredit him because he's a scientologist but you have to admit Tripod gave an amazing performance and was even willing to vaporize people on camera for his craft.
Probably New Jersey in a couple of days.
The best realization of the tripods ever, the ray weapon also extremely well done. What makes the initial scenes so good is the lack of music. Movies need to be made without music.
Or just used lightly, not overdone/ blasted.
Just enough to set a tune.
In some cases, music can absolutely improve a scene (see the "Welcome to Jurassic Park" scene, or Anakin vs Obi-Wan in Revenge of the Sith for example), but if you're trying to build up suspense, then this type of silence works best
The Lord of the Rings disagrees
@@cynicalpenguin those movies are 9 hours of strings music concert with a long music video attached. I couldn't manage it. Totally overdone. Haven't seen them but my roommates are huge fans and i can hear the sound track from my room and its just nonstop. No time to breathe! I wish movies came with two tracks that allows the viewer to disable the music.
@@CyberSystemOverload surprised pikachu face
I honestly thought this was one of the most terrifying movies I'd ever seen, as sci-fic apocalypses go. The friends I saw it with at the theater hated it and to this day, I can't imagine why.
Because of the ending, I assume. Complete ex-machina.
Great, great film.
Yeah the 3rd act is the problem
A great movie
This sequence is both very well shot and has genuine tension: it’s one of the very few times you genuinely feel like Tom Cruise will not make it out alive, even though you know he will in the back of your mind.
Yep!!!
Still to this day this film in my opinion is one of the best films with Aliens I ever seen.
One of the BEST movie scenes in cinema history!!!
One of the greatest monster reveals of movie history.
4:29 if this dosen’t give you the chills, Idk what will
That last part with the father holding his daughter running away from danger is so effective. Children are not safe from these space demons.
I love the sound they make when they get out… awesome
The effects in this film deserve huge praise.
I saw this in the theatre and it made me queasy, pale, turning green almost felt like I was going to faint. Other people in the theatre were screaming and acting like they saw death! No other movie in the history of film in my opinion has done this by captivating the audience maybe Interstellar and the black hole scene, that was amazing to. But to me this is Tom Cruise’s best movie and a cinematic masterpiece!
Id argue Saving Private Ryan's opening scene was far better and more captivating
@@andrew-rn9ui yes that is a great movie to. In the same class.
@@battistaverardi1240 I can relate . We saw this in I- max and my wife and I were so terrified that we left the theater. Something about this scene seemed so real .
I was on premiere as well, when the Tripod was down and that alien being came out of it, people were screaming "behead it and impale it's head on a tree"... I never ever saw public react in such a violent way.
same to me i had my sister holding her hand in her mouth like she was watching a horrow movie
I love the colour palette of this film, just like a lot of Spielberg epics, it seems ‘washed out’ but it really adds to the atmosphere. Then when the whole ground rotates it just gives you that initial moment where you realise that whatever is down there is so much more dangerous and powerful than any of the people understand
I read the book many years before this movie and I was skeptical at the beginning but I must say I was wrong. Spielberg really knows how to shake you to the core and create true fear and even when I am not Tom Cruise fan I recognize he did a great job here, so I applaud this movie and this scene is one of my favorites😀
God I just love the way the machines look
The might be modeled after a flea...a real bloodsucker..wink-wink..
4:10 the dynamic range building up to the horn sound. So quiet you can hear people breathing, camera shutter clicking. No music or screaming.
There's music in the background
Those lost on Calypso will be avenged.
Watched this as a kid when it first came out on DVD and these things still come for me in my dreams. Worst nightmares I have involve these bastards.
The soundtrack sound editing and sound mixing are incredible
Brilliant sequence. Overall, the film holds up exceptionally well. I think it's one of Spielberg's masterpieces.
It was brilliant. More closer to H. G. Wells novel.
I consider it in Spielberg's 2nd tier movies, and it's still awesome.
This movie was super intense, seeing it in theaters. Really had you at the edge of your seat. I saw it as a kid. You really wanted Ray and the kids to make it to the moms place, and if it was still there.
I don’t know why this is in my Recommended, but I remember being excited to see this when it came out. The street this was filmed on is Ferry Street in Newark, NJ. I was born no Newark and lived on Van Buren St until I married (you can see it over Cruise’s shoulder at about 5:00 mark). My HS was also on that street, and the Church they ‘destroyed’ was at the juncture of the Five Corners. Great memories 🥰
That horn that tripod did was a communication signal meant to alert the other tripods that there are humans in the vicinity. This tripod is said to be part of the first wave of the invasion, so the majority are most likely still buried and are offline during this very attack
And yet...the notion that aliens have been buried beneath the surface for - how long, centuries? is ludicrous. The whole movie seems to be Spielberg's poison pen letter to humanity. Everyone is horrible. This movie still makes me feel disgusted and enraged by Spielberg.
@@grantc61 Except that first point you just mentioned isn’t Spielberg’s work. It’s H. G. Wells’s. I’ll admit this movie is no where close to being a masterpiece, but in terms of doing justice to the book and original film, it accomplishes that fantastically well.
This movie frightened me to death! It still does a little.
I think it’s the fact the pods were already on earth that got me. And the siren noise freaks me out too!
That machine-climbing up out of the ground-who evers driving them, I knew that they weren't local boys...
Man the cinematography is unmatched in this film. Even parts like 2:28. It looked somethjng was levitating out of the ground. It was just the tendril.
I love this movie so much! Was a big part of my childhood! Thank you Steven and Tom!!
One of Spielberg's finest... A sci-fi masterpiece
It’s bloody abstract art then. This is barely war of the worlds. He could literally just name it something else and it would finally make sense in its own way. I’m not disagreeing with you on the cinematography, because that’s spectacular but it’s just shameful to call it war of the worlds. Nothing personal by the way, just sharing a view.
@@mrmaple9331 it's a free world, or supposed to be, it would be boring if everyone had the same opinion eh...
Started out strong but it really fell off after the halfway point. Which is a shame because this is the best alien invasion movie we've gotten and probably will ever get .
Yes but I think it was kind of ruined by annoying kid characters.
@@TyonGera I like this movie, but you're right about the half part
There's something about this scene, about how the humans are so utterly outmatched, that is quite frightening.
Lol definitely
The drones in New Jersey. Mark my words.
I remember seeing this in theaters and the horn was loud af. This movie was made to be seen in theaters.
agreed, i saw it in the cinema too. Still remember it to this day
I made a last minute decision to see this instead of Wedding Crashers in the theater and I don't have any regrets at all.
The way the Tripod herds people into the street-side buildings; and then smashes them all is very brutal cinematography.
Or it had already killed most of the people running along the main street, and wanted to keep up its kill streak?
The sounds and the music just complete this scene... It's so awesome!
This was the scariest part of the whole movie.....the sounds they make are right out of a nightmare.
I love the score that starts at 3:32. That and the horn the tripods make are just pure nightmare fuel
Really, the visuals, like the sun shining through the window of the destroyed church, and CGI here are outstanding - some of the best ever.
This is still one of the grimmest summer blockbusters ever made. No one does this stuff like Spielberg.
@Jonathan Birch my thoughts exactly
The horn sound is still the most terrifying sound I remember this movie when i was a kid 😅