Guide:

= Excellent trailer(s)!	= This trailer sucks!
= My favourite trailer(s) of all time

War Of The Worlds

Click here to view photos from the movie.

I grew up admiring Steven Spielberg (just his work and nothing else), whether when he was in the director's chair or just as a producer. However, when he made Close Encounter of the Third Kind and E.T., I was still too young to appreciate them.

My likings on all things aliens and alien invasion started when a TV series called War Of The Worlds (WOW), also based on H.G. Wells book, was aired some time in the late 80's. Ever since, shows like The X-Files, Roswell and Taken and movies of the same genre like The Thing, Alien series, Signs, Men In Black (the first), ID4 and many others, have become my favourites. So, when I heard that Spielberg teams up with Tom Cruise in making the WOW movie, my 'adrenalien' is all pumped up.

War of the Worlds is indeed my most anticipated movie for the year 2005. Other people may eagerly waited for Star Wars 3, but not for me...it's definitely WOW. For Star Wars (all the episodes)...watching them is fun. But then, the fun dies rather quickly and doesn't last too long to actually make me a fanatic of the whole Star Wars premise. Well, I don't think I should force myself to be a die-hard Star Wars fan just because so many people out there are, am I right?

Back to WOW, prior to the movie being released on 29 June 2005, I managed to track down from the net, 7 trailers (2 of which are for the Japanese market), 11 TV spots and 3 clips of the WOW movie. But I'm sure, there are a few other more out there in the vast cyber space, which my 'alien sensors' had failed to detect.

Arguably, the trailers and TV spots for WOW are some of the best around, ever. They sure did promise you (and they delivered) a few things about the movie:
1. it is laden with amazing special effects (Industrial Light and Magic is behind it);
2. great storyline (a story about a father who struggles to save his family during an invasion is very touching);
3. top notch performances (heck, judging from the all-star cast, especially Dakota Fanning and Tom Cruise. As for Mr Cruise, in my opinion, he is a great actor who has more than just a good look. In fact, he should have won the Oscars that he got nominated before); and
4. it will surely be one of the best this year, since it is helmed by Spielberg and his team.

It is rather difficult to comment on all the trailers and TV spots. So, I would just comment on some of them.

The first trailer was released months before the release of the movie - more like a preview of all other previews. It shows 'humans going to and fro about their globe, confident of their empire over this world. But then, our world is being watched by intelligents greater than our own, who regarded our planet with envious eyes'. As soon as the commentator is finished, the trailer shows a housing community. Each household seems to have been awaken from their night sleep, by some thunderous sounds and flashes of yellowish fiery lights in the sky. Then, all of a sudden, come this giant 'bomb', destroying them all...Cool!

In another trailer, Ray (Cruise) advises Rachel (Fanning) of what NOT to do while they are fleeing from their house. In another scene, it shows how Ray screams for his son's life, most probably because a giant fireball is coming towards them. At the end of the trailer, we get to see a glimpse of the alien, while Ray and Rachel are hiding at one corner in a basement.

In the more popular trailer (because it is shown at the cinemas), it starts off with a scene showing Ray, who works as a dockworker in New York port, has just ended his shift. Then, there's this pregnant wife with another man (we can guess who the father of the baby is), one teenage son and a little girl. So, we can imply that Ray is a divorcee with two kids, who is rather lousy at keeping his words, at least to his ex-wife.

Judging from the trailer, we can also safely assume that Ray is a happy-go-lucky person and rather immature but underneath that, he is actually a caring dad. But when lightnings hit repeatedly behind their house, things take turn for the worse. The aliens are attacking. Watch the amazing sequences when the bridge and the highway behind their house break apart and topple, bringing together all the vehicles down with them. Cool.......!!!

In the longest running trailer, we know from Robbie (Ray's son) that the lightnings hit 26 times in Lincoln Avenue. Watch how the road where the lightnings hit, somehow move and shake before caving in. We are also introduced to the character played by Tim Robbins, who seems to know a little something about the aliens and is also well armed. He takes shelter in the same basement where Ray and Rachel are hiding (in the other trailer), but no sights of Robbie or Ray's wife there. Can this mean they are dead? Or does Robbie decide to join the army and fight after all? Also, when Ray screams for Rachel at the end of the trailer (while Rachel is looking up, probably at the alien's spaceship), can this mean that Rachel will be abducted?

All in all, the music arrangements in the trailers are engaging (although some of them are recycled ones) and the editings are brilliantly done. I should say the trailers for WOW have made it to my list as some of my favourite trailers.

Click here to view photos from the movie.

� Copyright Abdun Nizar Ahmad