TW2

We trooped along last weekend to see Steven Spielberg's latest offering - War of The Worlds (TW2). And I have to say, it's amazing that in this one he gets to do it all - Alien, Titanic, Independence Day, Godzilla, Lost - and more.
I can't remember the original TW2 in great detail (accuracy?), but I recall it as more subtle, less violent and certainly less graphic. And I'm not sure if it was as colourful - although probably when I saw it, it would have been on black & white television (I said it had been a while!) I kept looking for parallels between TW2 and Schlinder's List -especially the use of colour. Was it intentional that the girls in both wore red - or in this instance, has it more to do with where the attackers may have come from - perhaps some place far away and red?
I'm going to have to give the original another look to see how the new one differs - and to see how the message about the invaders may have changed. Some of the reviews for the new version suggest it borrows terrorism imagery and there certainly is a shot of people running and ash - reminiscent of the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers. In this case though, the ash is ... well, you might have to refer to another movie (Soylent Green) for the answer to that one.
I'm not sure I would recommend TW2. Even though it's technically proficient and the acting is adequate, I'm not sure that it has anything new to say. The theme of America being attacked is not new - it just seems that there's different attackers - and given the number of allegorical films there have been, you think there might be already be a modicom of recognition that theirs is not an unassailable nation. But perhaps that's one of the messages here. American is not brought to its knees by the random acts of terrorists - some isolated sleeper cells; no, it can only be brought to its knees - and it's not even close to that - by hordes of destructive, shield-protected technologically-superior tripodal robot-machines which, incidentally, seem to power themselves from the blood of humans (but that's another story). And of course, it's made worse by the use of electro-magnetic-pulse technology against humanity - what chance is there if mankind can't get cars started, or use the telephone system, or keep food in the refrigerator, or can't turn the lights on?
In retrospect, I give TW2 a rating of 6 out of 10.