Post by Killraven on Aug 24, 2006 1:07:24 GMT
Hi everyone, only got the courage to order my copy a couple of weeks ago..it arrived at the weekend, and I've seen it through three times already 
I thought I'd add in a couple of paragraphs for my experiences. Apologies if I've copied what some have said before, I'm afraid I didn't manage to read through ALL of the threads!
Well, I can say I loaded this DVD into my machine with trepidation (for two reasons - firstly I wasn't sure whether the multi-region function on my player had failed again...lol!.. secondly, I'd heard a lot of mixed reviews about this film both on here and on IMDB). But I'd seen the Pendragon version, so I thought I should be at least a completist!
Before I start I should say I really liked this film (and no, that's not because David may well end up reading this!!
). I found it entertaining (this is a basic requirement of a film, after all!) and certainly an admirable effort for the reportedly tiny budget. Certainly there were little examples of attention to detail which made me smile.
As for my Pendragon review many many months ago I thought I'd split my review into sections.
STORYLINE
I was surprised at how closely this followed the path of the novel. All the essential basic elements were there. In fact, there were so many references I can only assume that homages to the destruction of London and the Thunderchild (assuming you ignore the rather cleverly rendered scuppered cruise ship which was seen for a few seconds) were left out due to budgeting constraints. The set pieces, characters and effects all strongly reminded me of the book, even though it had been totally modernised. Latt even manages to fool the die-hard fan into thinking that these might be invaders from Mars (I don't recall any specific references to Martians... the Mars landscape intro and the scene where Herbert and his son are looking for Mars through their 'reflector' merely suggest that this is the case).
As I mentioned earlier, I loved the attention to detail. In particular, the cylinders which looked like old gas floats; when Herbert finds his neighbour dead - this reminded me of the narrator finding the body of the landlord of the Spotted Dog; when the cylinder falls on the house, the fact that Herbert makes a triangular shaped aperture to peer through, just as in the novel; and when Herbert runs towards the immobile martian at the finale begging for death
On the downside, the cylinder crash scene and the appearance of the first machine seemed a little rushed - I would have liked more of a buildup, perhaps with a lid unscrewing sequence - plus the guy in the pit seemed to spend most of his time treading water!
Like almost everyone else, I would have loved tripods and a period setting - but you can't have everything (unless its Pendragon stylee ;D).
ACTING/CHARACTERISATION
To begin with, I thought Howell looked a little old for his wife which affected the realism a little - ok so Tinarie played her role convincingly mature, but she's only late 20's...perhaps Howell should at least have dyed his hair? Howell improved immensely from a shaky start to convincing by the end. I did feel however his "oh no I've lost my photograph" a bit over the top - even theatrical - and out of synch. with the rest of the film. He could have looked a bit more scared and exhausted at times too, but these are minor criticisms. Certainly for me he did a better job in his lead than ol' SuperTeeth ;D
Andy Lauer put in a solid performance, as I thought did the lady who attacked Pastor Victor. I wasn't so impressed with Jake Busey, who didn't seem to be taking it seriously enough (this also comes across during his interview for the extras). However, for me the scene stealer was Rhett Giles as the Pastor. A bubbling mass of confusion and paranoia. For some reason Rhett reminded me a lot of Sean Pertwee (I'm sure he'd be touched by the comparison!). In fact, this really makes me wonder what could happen if you gave £10 million to Neil Marshall and asked him to make his own dark interpretation of the story (in period, of course!) with Pertwee as the Curate and Darren Morfitt as The Artilleryman - I can dream!
Ok, so the Pastor really started or get on one's nerves by the time of his demise - but I see that as a positive strength in Giles' reading of the role - you don't want to feel too sympathetic of his character as he is a symbol of the breakdown in the human spirit. If anything, he could have gone further - for example, as in the book, I would like to have seen an escalation in the volume and randomness of his outcries in the ruined house before attracting the attention of the aliens.
EFFECTS/CINEMATOGRAPHY
Again, not top drawer but believable in the context of how the scenes were put together. Although the machines looked obviously CGI and not to a design I would have wished, there was still a sense of realism there. The only thing that confused me was when you first saw the alien in the pit it seemed to be blobby with many tentacles (similar to the book description), but in later appearances they are just like flat discs with pipe cleaners for feet! I enjoyed the acid spitting sequences though!
As some will have mentioned before, the film did suffer from a lack of real human firepower - just one set piece artillery or tank battle - even an air strike - would have added to the feeling of inevitability of the aliens' superiority. I guess this was budget driven, but given the skill in putting together the rest of the film I'm sure Latt could have achieved something acceptable with blue/green screen and models at least to the level that Gerry Anderson or the BBC managed (with Doctor Who etc.) in the latter 70's and 80's. However, what was achieved with the set designs did look like genuine devastation of small town America - which is all Latt was really trying to achieve.
CONCLUSION
Given my resistance to the idea of a rehashed, modernised and Americanised filming of this classic story, I felt this was overall a commendable effort that in my opinion warrants repeat viewing. I daresay I even prefer it to Spielberg's "version" - not bad for some $100 million budget difference. I recommend everyone gives this a look. Well done David!
KR
I thought I'd add in a couple of paragraphs for my experiences. Apologies if I've copied what some have said before, I'm afraid I didn't manage to read through ALL of the threads!Well, I can say I loaded this DVD into my machine with trepidation (for two reasons - firstly I wasn't sure whether the multi-region function on my player had failed again...lol!.. secondly, I'd heard a lot of mixed reviews about this film both on here and on IMDB). But I'd seen the Pendragon version, so I thought I should be at least a completist!
Before I start I should say I really liked this film (and no, that's not because David may well end up reading this!!
). I found it entertaining (this is a basic requirement of a film, after all!) and certainly an admirable effort for the reportedly tiny budget. Certainly there were little examples of attention to detail which made me smile. As for my Pendragon review many many months ago I thought I'd split my review into sections.
STORYLINE
I was surprised at how closely this followed the path of the novel. All the essential basic elements were there. In fact, there were so many references I can only assume that homages to the destruction of London and the Thunderchild (assuming you ignore the rather cleverly rendered scuppered cruise ship which was seen for a few seconds) were left out due to budgeting constraints. The set pieces, characters and effects all strongly reminded me of the book, even though it had been totally modernised. Latt even manages to fool the die-hard fan into thinking that these might be invaders from Mars (I don't recall any specific references to Martians... the Mars landscape intro and the scene where Herbert and his son are looking for Mars through their 'reflector' merely suggest that this is the case).
As I mentioned earlier, I loved the attention to detail. In particular, the cylinders which looked like old gas floats; when Herbert finds his neighbour dead - this reminded me of the narrator finding the body of the landlord of the Spotted Dog; when the cylinder falls on the house, the fact that Herbert makes a triangular shaped aperture to peer through, just as in the novel; and when Herbert runs towards the immobile martian at the finale begging for death
On the downside, the cylinder crash scene and the appearance of the first machine seemed a little rushed - I would have liked more of a buildup, perhaps with a lid unscrewing sequence - plus the guy in the pit seemed to spend most of his time treading water!
Like almost everyone else, I would have loved tripods and a period setting - but you can't have everything (unless its Pendragon stylee ;D).
ACTING/CHARACTERISATION
To begin with, I thought Howell looked a little old for his wife which affected the realism a little - ok so Tinarie played her role convincingly mature, but she's only late 20's...perhaps Howell should at least have dyed his hair?
Howell improved immensely from a shaky start to convincing by the end. I did feel however his "oh no I've lost my photograph" a bit over the top - even theatrical - and out of synch. with the rest of the film. He could have looked a bit more scared and exhausted at times too, but these are minor criticisms. Certainly for me he did a better job in his lead than ol' SuperTeeth ;DAndy Lauer put in a solid performance, as I thought did the lady who attacked Pastor Victor. I wasn't so impressed with Jake Busey, who didn't seem to be taking it seriously enough (this also comes across during his interview for the extras). However, for me the scene stealer was Rhett Giles as the Pastor. A bubbling mass of confusion and paranoia. For some reason Rhett reminded me a lot of Sean Pertwee (I'm sure he'd be touched by the comparison!). In fact, this really makes me wonder what could happen if you gave £10 million to Neil Marshall and asked him to make his own dark interpretation of the story (in period, of course!) with Pertwee as the Curate and Darren Morfitt as The Artilleryman - I can dream!
Ok, so the Pastor really started or get on one's nerves by the time of his demise - but I see that as a positive strength in Giles' reading of the role - you don't want to feel too sympathetic of his character as he is a symbol of the breakdown in the human spirit. If anything, he could have gone further - for example, as in the book, I would like to have seen an escalation in the volume and randomness of his outcries in the ruined house before attracting the attention of the aliens. EFFECTS/CINEMATOGRAPHY
Again, not top drawer but believable in the context of how the scenes were put together. Although the machines looked obviously CGI and not to a design I would have wished, there was still a sense of realism there. The only thing that confused me was when you first saw the alien in the pit it seemed to be blobby with many tentacles (similar to the book description), but in later appearances they are just like flat discs with pipe cleaners for feet! I enjoyed the acid spitting sequences though!
As some will have mentioned before, the film did suffer from a lack of real human firepower - just one set piece artillery or tank battle - even an air strike - would have added to the feeling of inevitability of the aliens' superiority. I guess this was budget driven, but given the skill in putting together the rest of the film I'm sure Latt could have achieved something acceptable with blue/green screen and models at least to the level that Gerry Anderson or the BBC managed (with Doctor Who etc.) in the latter 70's and 80's. However, what was achieved with the set designs did look like genuine devastation of small town America - which is all Latt was really trying to achieve.
CONCLUSION
Given my resistance to the idea of a rehashed, modernised and Americanised filming of this classic story, I felt this was overall a commendable effort that in my opinion warrants repeat viewing. I daresay I even prefer it to Spielberg's "version" - not bad for some $100 million budget difference. I recommend everyone gives this a look. Well done David!
KR