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HG WELLS' WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005, Asylum) Director: David Michael Latt. Hacktors: C.Thomas Howell, Jake Busey, Tinarie Van Wyk-Loots. Rating/5: The lowdown: This is a straight-to-DVD cheapie, which was rush-released to beat Spielberg’s blockbuster hitting the multiplexes in the US. Yet just how much sleep Spielberg actually lost over this war of the War Of The Worlds has yet to come to light.     So, yeah, we got another update of Wells seminal 1898 invasion novel here, which centres on astronomer George Herbert (geddit?), as played by C.Thomas Howell, who survives the first wave attack by the aliens and is left to stagger through the resulting rubble dumps and early morning town centres. His wife and son were already heading for Washington DC as the ETs' war machines started to lay waste, and Herbert manages to get a phone message to them to meet him on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Great. So, all he has to do now, is survive the carnage and desolation in his path and deal with the desperate characters he encounters. Kinda like London's Camden Town at midnight. Good points: Howell’s convincing performance as Herbert gives the movie its weight; and, with the screen time he’s lumbered with, that is one MAJOR saving grace. Rhett Giles as the Pastor is amusing to watch lose his faith and generally go bonkers. Kind of out of place, though, with the ‘serious’ tone of the flick, is yummy Tinarie Van Wyk-Loots as Herbert’s wife, gettin’ her tits out at the beginning of the film (but if that don’t keep ya watchin’...!) along with the elsewhere liberal splatterings of gore and fried corpses. Gratuitous, but who’s complaining? And, well, yeah, the oft elusive FX are okay-to-sometimes-surprisingly-startling, as in the shot when Herbert approaches DC. That’s a “Woooo”, right there. Bad points: Well, for a start, after that breathtaking opening scene, we never see Herbert’s wife’s tits again! Also, the whole affair is extremely dialogue-heavy, with everybody over-explaining everything like a radio play. The movie does start to drag in places, making its decent 97 minutes running time appear twice that. Even Jake Busey - son of toothsome Predator 2 actor Gary - appears to grab his fifty quid for ten minutes of screen time, and then do a runner.     The CGI spider-like war machines are not bad with their cool and ominous industrial cranking ‘n’ grinding, but, y’know, if you make War Of The Worlds, how can you possibly NOT have tripods? It’s all ABOUT tripods. Tripods, tripods, tripods. Then again, judging by the clapperboard in the deleted scenes, you get the distinct impression that this film was originally titled Invasion. Maybe somewhere down the line, Asylum discovered they could legally call it H.G Wells’ War Of The Worlds. Even more fun, maybe they didn’t... DVD Details: A whole attack of extras; commentaries, behind the scenes, etc, etc. Although, for gawd’s sake don’t get impatient and watch the Visual Effects extra before you’ve seen the movie, as, in that five minutes, you’ll practically see EVERY special effect in the ENTIRE MOVIE! EVEN THE ENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Overall: A valiant effort as B-movie invasion flicks go, but with some serious editing, you’d have a decent one hour TV movie here. But, of course, leave the tits. Do not edit the tits. Tits, tits, tits. It’s all about the tits. And tripods. Tits on tripods, that’s what we want. Er, can I go now? Release Date: Out now in the US and UK. (Editor's Note: It seems that the film may be titled Invasion in some territories, probably to cash in on next year's Nicole Kidman sci-fi movie. Genius!) Reviewer: Ray Zell. [Check it out at Amazon US] [Check it out at Amazon UK] [See Trailer in Media Section] [Reviews Menu] [Home] © Copyright Slasherama 2002-present