War of the Worlds (2005 film)

:{{Otheruses3|The War of the Worlds}}

Trivia

There are a few references to the original 1953 film. There is a scene with an alien camera searching the house, and one at the end with one of the aliens sliding an arm and part of his body out of his tripod and then dying, just as at the end of the 1953 film. Also, several lines of dialogue, especially those spoken by Tim Robbins' character, are taken directly from Orson Welles's infamous radio adaptation of the novel. Also, the plot device that the aliens had been to Earth before and left behind their tripods is similar to a revelation in the TV series in which a tripod (an "older model" of the war machines in the 1953 film) is unearthed, having been left behind for hundreds to thousands of years.

Related Topics:
Original 1953 film - Orson Welles - Radio adaptation - The TV series

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Actors Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, stars of the original film version, make a cameo together at the film's end, playing Mary-Anne's parents.

Related Topics:
Gene Barry - Ann Robinson

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There are also references to Spielberg's earlier films about alien contact with Earth E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (the synthesizer "note" sounded by the alien tripods), as well as The Day the Earth Stood Still (the mass stoppage of electrical power) and Quatermass and the Pit (Martian machines buried underground since prehistoric times). Some find also that shots in the diner, where Ferrier and the kids take refuge after the mob captures the minivan, evoke memories of the diner in the original The Blob.

Related Topics:
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - Close Encounters of the Third Kind - The Day the Earth Stood Still - Quatermass and the Pit - The Blob

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The plane in the crash scene is a All Nippon Airways (Japan) Boeing 747. The plane-crash set was built on the Universal Studios backlot, right next to the famous Bates house from Psycho. Despite great demand for the location, the studio has decided to keep the crash set intact as a permanent installation on the backlot tour.

Related Topics:
All Nippon Airways - Boeing 747 - Universal Studios - Backlot - Psycho

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At the hill scene in the middle of the movie, when Ray Ferrier and his two kids are walking on a deserted farm with other refugees, U.S Air Force jets streak overhead firing at a nearby tripod. If you watch closely, the first jet that flies over is an F/A-22 Raptor stealth fighter, followed by two F-16. The tanks that mount a ground offensive in that scene are M1A1 Abrams utilizing depleted uranium armor that was introduced in 1980 but not equipped until after 2001. The helicopters that bombard the tripod are AH-64 Longbow Apache attack helicopters and AH-1 Cobra Light Attack helicopters. They are both missing landing equipment: landing wheels on the Apache and landing struts on the Cobras. The AH-1 Cobra was introduced in the 1970s but has remained a faithful part of the U.S Army and several other select armies around the world. The shoulder-portable anti-tank missile launchers seen in both the hill scene and at the end of the movie are FGM-148 Javelin missiles, first used by the U.S. military in 2003.

Related Topics:
F/A-22 Raptor - M1A1 Abrams - AH-64 - AH-1 Cobra - FGM-148 Javelin

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In the movie, Ray Ferrier's house is located in the Bayonne, New Jersey, edge of the Bayonne Bridge. The shot of the first tripod coming out of the ground was filmed in the Five corners intersection in the Ironbound neigbourhood of Newark, New Jersey. The two places are about 25 miles (50 km) apart from each other.

Related Topics:
Bayonne - New Jersey - Bayonne Bridge - Five corners - Ironbound - Newark, New Jersey

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The name of Tim Robbins's character, Ogilvy, is the name of one of the narrator's friends in the book.

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There is a subtle reference to the book when a couple of aliens, descended from their tripods, explore the basement that Ferrier and Ogilvy are hiding in. One of them pauses to spin the wheel of a bicycle hanging on the wall. In the Wells novel, the narrator explains the Martians did not use wheels in any of their technology.

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The aliens in the movie appear to be similar to the aliens in the 1996 movie Independence Day. Their head shapes are exactly alike, but the aliens in the movie are smaller than the ones in Independence Day.

Related Topics:
1996 - Independence Day

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The famous 1938 radio broadcast and the 1953 film also shifted the story's focus to the United States, as opposed to the book, which set the location in Southern England.

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There is a widespread agreement in Japan that Spielberg has made a kaiju movie, in which, unlike American monster movies, indestructible giant monsters beyond understanding kill people mercilessly. At the world premiere in Tokyo, Spielberg said, "Well, certainly the first tripod was taken down in Osaka, because Osaka has so much experience with Gamera and Godzilla." This explains why tripods appear from under earth after a million years of hibernation, why they are as tall as Godzilla, and why they roar. In fact, one scene in the movie with a tripod looming over a hill crest almost perfect parallels a scene in the original 1954 Godzilla movie where the monsters enormous visage is seen emerging from behind a hillside as people flee in terror.

Related Topics:
Kaiju - Osaka - Gamera - Godzilla

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It is pointed out in the movie that the Japanese found a way to destroy the tripods; together with Tom Cruise's idea to blow himself up with the grenades (inside the tripod) this could mean that the Japanese were doing "Kamikaze" against the tripods by blowing themselves up when being eaten by them.

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Spielberg made adjustments to the film to add a touch of realism. First, it shows no coverage of Washington, D.C. or New York (going with the fact that most likely, if aliens invaded the earth, they would randomly kill everything that moved, and not know the specific people to target), also, unlike other movies, the badges were not taken off of the cars and labels taken off of the food products, and used a well known network to show coverage of the alien attacks, making the set resemble our real world, and add that special touch of realism, a feat that was also successfully done in the movie Signs, and avoided the movie from ending up looking very fake like Independance Day.

Related Topics:
Washington, D.C. - New York - Signs - Independance Day

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