The War of the Worlds (movie, 2005)

Synopsis

Ray Ferrier is a divorced father living in New Jersey , a suburb of New York . One morning, his ex-wife entrusts him with the care of their two children, Rachel and Robbie, for a few days. But the same evening, a storm breaks out and triggers strange phenomena like the total stopping of the vehicles because of electromagnetic flashes . Soon, huge mechanical machines emerge from beneath the earth and disintegrate human beings in total chaos.

Ray and his children manage to survive in one of the few cars that have been repaired. He thinks he will find refuge with his ex-wife, but she has already left for Boston and the house is empty. During the night, a Boeing 747 crashes into the neighborhood. In the midst of the debris, a team of journalists teaches them that alien creatures are behind the events and that the world is already in ruins. Finally, they discover that the US military, despite its firepower, is crushed at each confrontation with the extraterrestrials. Ray, Rachel and Robbie decide to travel to Boston, going through a series of trials that will bring them together and separate them.

Technical sheet

• Original title: War of the Worlds
• French title: La Guerre des mondes
• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Scenario: Josh Friedman and David Koepp , based on the work of HG Wells
• Sets: Rick Carter
• Costumes: Joanna Johnston
• Photo: Janusz Kamiński
• Editing: Michael Kahn
• Music: John Williams
• Production: Kathleen Kennedy , Colin Wilson

Delegate Producers: Damian Collier and Paula Wagner

• Production Companies: Cruise / Wagner Productions , DreamWorks SKG , Paramount Pictures , Amblin Entertainment
• Distribution companies:
  • United States: Paramount Pictures
  • France : United International Pictures
• Format: Color – 35 mm – 1.85: 1 – Dolby DTS
• Genre: science fiction
• Duration: 116 minutes
• Original language: English
• Country of origin: United States
• Budget: 132 million USD
• Global Revenues: $ 591,745,540
• Release dates ¹ :

United States : June 29 , 2005

La France : July 6 , 2005

• Certification:

United States: PG-13 not recommended for children under 13

France: all audiences

Distribution

• Tom Cruise (VF: Jean-Philippe Puymartin ) : Ray Ferrier
• Dakota Fanning (VF: Camille Donda ) : Rachel Ferrier
• Justin Chatwin (VF: Alexis Tomassian ) : Robbie Ferrier
• Miranda Otto (VF: Rafael Moutier ) : Mary Ann Davis
• Tim Robbins (VF: Emmanuel Jacomy ) : Harlan Ogilvy
• Rick Gonzalez : Vincent
• Yul Vazquez : Julio
• Lenny Venito (VF: Jean-Claude Sachot ) : Manny
• David Alan Basche : Tim
• Lisa Ann Walter : Cheryl
• Ann Robinson : The grandmother
• Gene Barry : The grandfather
• Roz Abrams : She herself
• Morgan Freeman (VF: Benoît Allemane ) : The narrator
• Kirsten Nelson : A businesswoman
• Amy Ryan : The neighbor with the baby

Soundtrack

1. Prologue
2. The Ferry Scene
3. Reaching the Country
4. The Intersection Scene
5. Ray and Rachel
6. Escape from the City
7. Probing the Basement
8. Refugee Status
9. The Attack on the Car
10. The Separation of the Family
11. The Confrontation with Ogilvy
12. The Return to Boston
13. Escape from the Basketball
14. The Reunion
15. Epilogue
16. End

Other songs not featured on the album

• Little Deuce Cup (Brian Wilson and Roger Christian)
• Hushabye Mountain (Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman)
• Flatline (Jeffrey Scott Harber, Jayce Basques Alexander, William Peng and Drew Dehaven Hall) performed by Aphasia
• If I Ruled the World (Leslie Bricusse and Cyril Ornadel) performed by Tony Bennett (Columbia Records)
• Nobody Move (Benjamin Mallon, Ashby Michael, William Sherwin, Joy Eric, Omari Edwards and Glenn Kuchenbeiser) performed by Capstone
• Enigma Vibe 2 (Nicholas Carr) performed by Nicholas Carr
• Sailor Moon BGM (Arisawa Takanori)
• Fa Wat (Christopher Shawn King) performed by Kriz Kang
• Infierno (Santino) performed by Santino

Awards and Appointments

• Film Oscar 2006 ² : nominations for the best sound mix , best sound editing , best visual effects
• Razzie Awards 2006: Appointment in the worst actor category for Tom Cruise
• Saturn Awards 2006 Best Young Actress for Dakota Fanning
• Critics’ Choice Movie Awards 2006 Best Young Actress for Dakota Fanning
• 2006 Sierra Award for Best Young Actor for Dakota Fanning
• MTV Movie Award 2006: Appointment to the Best Scary Delivery for Dakota Fanning
• Elected 8 ^th best film of the decade 2000-2009 by Cahiers du Cinema ³

Around the film

• It’s Tom Cruise’s movie that brought in the most money. This success is mainly attributed to the media hype surrounding the star during this period, about Katie Holmes and her links with Scientology . Moreover, many critics blame Tom Cruise’s presence and accuse him of introducing Scientology references in the film, such as the film’s original poster, showing an extraterrestrial hand holding Earth at the fingertips, which looks like Strangely on the cover of The Invaders Plans , written by L. Ron Hubbard , the founder of Scientology.
• Other spectators think they detect disguised references to the Shoah introduced by Steven Spielberg, especially with the train of death in flames or the rain of clothes falling from one of the tripods.
• Steven Spielberg also stated ⁴ that he would never re-engage Tom Cruise , since he preferred to talk about Scientology rather than promoting the film.
• We can see the scene of the plane in an episode of Experts , episode 16 of season 8, The Downside .
• The grandparents who appear at the end of the film, played by Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, are the main actors in the first film The War of the Worlds, released in 1953. Spielberg insisted that these actors make an appearance in the film.
• Harlan Ogilvy, the character played by Tim Robbins in this film, takes the name of ” the well-known astronomer ” mentioned by the narrator in the opening pages of HG Wells’ original work .
• We see an episode of SpongeBob when Rachel is watching television.

Notes and references