War of the Worlds (1953) - 72%

Now that the War of the Worlds 2005 is upon us, let's do a quick review of the original 1953 Classic.
When the original 1953 was released, it was a sci fi megaton. The special effects (then) were groundbreaking and the "forcefield" effect they did with the miniatures were very impressive. The scenes of people going chaotic and crazy trying to flee the city and how looting started occurring when the city was under attack, were done pretty realistically. I realised that you as an audience, would just watch the chaos unfold, but you never question why people would turn mean and uncivilized the moment foreign attack was upon them. And in a way, we understood, that human nature is in its very roots, selfish and cold.

And had I watched this film earlier, I would have noticed all the references made by the movie "Independence day" to this classic. One scene blatantly ripped from the original was how nuclear bomb was unleashed upon the enemy but to no effect. It goes to show that in more than 4 decades, the nuclear bomb is still the lingering threat that exists in all the major superpowers' crackheads. I guess in these recent years, terrorism is the new threat, and I'd be interested to see how the new movie would play to exhibit that.

The original story was written by HG Wells, with a political reference to the British Imperialism in the 19th century. The movie in 1953, was obviously a knock on US's then "superiority" with their Nuclear bomb. I guess in these recent years, terrorism is the new threat, and I'd be interested to see how the new movie would play to exhibit that.

What to expect from the 2005 version?
Now the original 1953 classic was groundbreaking in the special effects department. The movie also garnered an Academy Award for Best Special Effects. So I would expect this 2005 version to be visually impressive as well. What I didn't like about the original was its ending. Maybe I shouldn't give it away for those who hasn't seen it, but let's just say that it felt like they had ran out of ideas or budget to kill the aliens so they made one pretty lame excuse for it. "Independence Day's" ending was pretty damn ridiculous too. So was "Mars Attack", but at least they made it funny. I hope they would make this ending a satisfying one.