War of the Worlds (2005) is an interesting film which I ocassionally revisit. I like every detail of it, especially the first half is fantastic, but the film as a whole feels less than the sum of its parts. Is it because the twist at the end, that the Martians die of their own silly mistake, was not modernised? I’m sure it was a great plot, but it feels anticlimactic to me now.
I think aliens getting sick because they roam around the earth naked is a dumb plot in today’s world. Same thing with Alien: Covenant (2017), whose lightly geared protagonists get infected in the alien planet. Of course they’ll get sick if they don’t cover themselves up, are you crazy?
And that brings me to E.T. (1982), which is a classic now. The major plot point is that the naked alien gets sick. Would it get my pass if it was released today? I guess it does, and it has to do with the character of E.T.. It’s super-powered and technologically-advanced, but also naive. Its innocent character is what makes the film great, and precisely the setup that gives an excuse to this trope that I normally do not like.
The two alien invasion films that modernise the WotW twist in my opinion are Independence Day (1996), which gives a new take on the ‘virus’ plot. Not many people realise it, but ID4 is essentially a modern remake of WotW. It’s a smart plot, but made for a pretty dumb audience. Another is Mars Attacks (1996). The Martians are smart and competent, and wear armour (thank goodness), but are killed by the high frequency noise. This is set up by their low-key voice, and the hatred for birds which tweet in high pitch. They are killed off by something they were not expecting, but not at the level of 2005 WotW Martians.
—toshi omagari
Flommist Toshi Omagari fights many things, most recent of which is the auto-correction of his title to florist. Copyright © 2018 Toshi Omagari.
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