War of the Worlds (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital)

This extraordinary movie by Steven Spielberg breaks the usual sad tend that re-makes are not as good as the original. The new version of Wells’ classic tale, mix of practical and computer generated special effects are, in my opinion, top-tier. Some may question the plausibility of the ending, but after all, it is just a story. I was totally engaged and the quality of the 4K disc, both regard to picture and sound, is terrific. I also own the original, 1953 version, and it remains wonderful as well.

Had a slight problem with a multiple order of discs and this one was missing from the order. Amazon was great,providing a substitute DVD for another title and I picked this one up locally. No book reports of the story, characterizations or my opinions on anything other than the quality of the BluRay transfer itself. I do have the standard DVD version and now the Blu Ray. If you don't or didn't like the movie, than don't buy it. However, if you did like it, as I did, you must absolutely get War of the Worlds on Blu Ray. This is a DEMO disc for your audio system for sure. The transfer of the audio is DTSHD 5.1 and if the sound editors didn't get an Academy award for their work, they was robbed. The audio is brilliant, it is the star of the Blu Ray world with huge, deep bass, fantastic use of the discreet channels of your home theater system and clear details throughout the audio range. I am searching my head to find a better Blu Ray disc to demo a home theater system with and am coming up short. There are plenty of Blu Rays with great audio, even more without, but none that I have found that surpass War of the Worlds. If you find one with better audio, let me know. The video transfer is also very good. I paused the disc in several places, especially dark scenes, to find any grain or artifacts and found none. While the coloration will swing wildly from a greyed out scene here to a sharply colored scene there, all that you see is what the cinematographer planned for you to see. There are several scenes that do appear to be softly focused and might not be sharp enough for your expectations but, given the dusty calamity of the story line, my guess is that the soft focus was deliberate in post production. This is a demo disc for sure. There are plenty of extras with interviews of Steven Speilberg, Tom Cruise and others as well as a retrospective of the 1953 version I saw as a boy. There are no deleted scenes and the interactive menu was easy to navigate. All my movie reviews are of this nature and focus only on the quality of the transfer to BluRay so check them and see if they are of help as well. Hopefully, this review has been of some help to you in determining your purchase, hope I am on the correct path with a review of the transfer quality as opposed to providing plot summaries. Thanks

One of my alltime favorite movies! Acting is marvelous and special effects are so cool! I saw the original movie back in the 60s I believe and it scared me so much I slept on the couch which was closer to my parents bedroom lol!

When this movie first came out in movie theatres, I liked it so much I saw it twice! When it finally came out on DVD I knew I had to get it. I have watched this movie several times since, and although there are some flaws in this movie, I am able to overlook them and enjoy one of my favorite alien invasion movies. Forget about the corny Independence Day alien invasion movie, War of the Worlds doesn't showcase famous landmarks being destroyed or showing the optimism and hope of humanity battling aliens. While that movie was entertaining, it was far less realistic and that was one reason why I liked War of the Worlds. It had a more gritty, dark, and depressing undertone to the movie (for instance, the scene before the Hudson ferry scene with the mob surrounding the van Cruise's character, Ray, and his kids were in, very scary and realistic!). Instead of showing multiple perspectives, in War of the Worlds, you follow one man and his children as they try to survive this disaster of apocalyptic proportions. My favorite parts of the movie was definitely the parts with the alien tripods. I thought the huge, towering tripods were very scary with their metallic, machine sounds and the eerie, creepy trumpeting call that froze people in their tracks like deer before a car. My favorite scene was in the beginning, when you're with Tom Cruise's character watching in shock as a huge tripod breaks out of the ground. Simply awesome. Another great scene is the military battle scene upon the hill when a tripod comes up out of the flames of the wreckage, or the scene where Cruise steps from the house he was hiding in to a red alien land. Yet another great scene is the part where everyone is boarding the ferry to cross the river, one of Ray's children looks up to see trees swaying up on a hill behind the crowd. Suddenly, a tripod appears and as one the entire crowd turns around and there's a moment of stunned silence as everyone takes in the appearance of the tripod. Then chaos and panic breaks out right when the tripods start making their weird bellowing and trumpeting calls. While I enjoyed this movie a lot, what prevented it from being absolutely great was a few things I felt Spielberg should have done different. The main character's son was very annoying. I wanted to slap him upside the head for being a stupid fool wanting to go off and fight with the Army against the aliens. He's what, a teenager in high school, and he was clueless just wanting to go off on his own. I think the director could have portrayed the dislike between father and son differently. He didn't have to make the son an annoying fool to the point I felt no sympathy for his character and was relieved when he didn't get screen time later. Another quibble I had was the ending of the movie. I felt the movie ending was too happy and perfect, and didn't go well with the tone of the movie, which was very dark and despairing. For a very realistic movie, the ending was so unrealistic it was jarring. The last annoyance I had was Spielberg's decision to show us what the aliens looked like. If he had just shown us the alien tripods destroying cities and harvesting humans, I think that would have been enough. Showing what operated the machine tripods disappointed me because the aliens were not frightening at all. They seemed ordinary and so after that the tripods didn't seem as scary as they did before seeing what the aliens looked like. By showing us the aliens, I felt Spielberg took away from the creepiness and mystery surrounding the alien tripods. Yet, I think if you can overlook those flaws, the movie is still quite enjoyable to watch. I have watched it several times and I never get tired of watching it.

What I expected Excellent

We enjoyed it.

Another classic movie my alien loving husband bought. Good price and came quick

After ordering the movies "War of the Worlds" and "Minority Report (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition)" from amazon. Both movies arrived the same day, exactly one day before it was supposed to arrive. Amazon never quits when it comes to postal quality and delivery. The movie in of itself is a tremendous work of storytelling. Based off of H.G Well's War of the Worlds, Steven Spielberg imputed his own unique twist to the story. Originally I thought it was a terrible idea for Spielberg to make additions to the original story, but many of the most important key features from the original story are in the film. However, Spielberg based the movie off of his own childhood. Tom Cruise "Ray", portrays a divorced husband, whom will be taking care of his two children for the next few months. His eight year old daughter, and teen son, are often caught in confrontations when the Aliens invade Earth. Ray ends up becoming a struggling father figure who attempts to come into terms with his children. His daughter is obedient and curious, and his son is rebellious teenager whom clashes with his father on several occasions. The original inspiration, Spielberg had for the film, was based on (Like I said before) childhood he had growing up. After his father divorced with his mother, Spielberg originally felt at fault, but he later found his father to be at fault for his not-so-good childhood. Like the character Tom Cruise plays, Spielberg's father was never really there for him as a child who was in need of a father figure. The greatest moral to the story is, how much Ray "Tom Cruise" tries to bond with his kids, when the aliens invade the Earth. Despite a great story, Steven Spielberg does not wimp out on the intensity of the situations at hand in the film. Spielberg does a great job at portraying a paranoia that one can experience when something like this occurs. The movie is rated PG-13 for a reason, for frightening situations of sci-fi violence, and for language. This is not a movie meant for kids or family, but is a great action, adventure, sci-fi movie for teens and adults. The movie also possesses a great Biblical message on he bond between children and their father. The movie is a great reason that divorce is and should be morally unacceptable. Anyway thank you for reading this review on Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds"

Great movie. Both my husband and I love it.

Buena edición con buen castellano

Fime de suspense de tirar o fôlego

Nonostante il tema degli attacchi alieni sia già stato battuto più di una volta,credo che sia uno dei migliori film del suo genere, perchè possiede tutte le caratteristiche che un film come questo dovrebbe avere: suspense, tratti thriller e horror, azione e avventura, oltre ad una trama originale e avvincente. Un altro capolavoro di spielberg che non potevo assolutamente perdermi. Il cast è eccezionale: Tom Cruise sempre bravissimo e Dakota Fanning di una bravura fuori dal comune per una bambina della sua età. Parlando della qualità del Blu ray, per quanto riguarda l'audio, nulla da dire, magnifico, con un surround notevole. Non si può dire altrettanto per il video: sebbene la qualità dell'HD si noti benissimo, purtroppo essa non giova molto all'effetto "grana" che risulta quasi fastidioso, soprattutto nelle scene dove c'è poca luce e i neri sono maggiori (un pò come si nota anche in "300"); anzi, direi che la risoluzione full HD peggiora questo difetto. Meravigliosi i contenuti extra, ricchi di interviste e novità, come i vari backstages, i quali impreziosiscono ulteriormente questa edizione blu ray. Amazon come sempre eccezionale!

Es una película de gran valor para disfrutar cuándo y a la hora que sea. De esas películas que se disfrutan volver a ver.