rburkey-1

OK, now many people claim how this is a "classic of cold war cinema" no, it isn't, it is far from anything "classic", the people who say this probably haven't read the book, the book and even the radio show were far better. the book firstly takes place in england, with walking machines instead of flying ones, and the martians themselves play a major role rather then being revealed only at the end. now, i know few movies match their books, but this is utterly ridiculous, i mean the writing stinks, the effects stink, the whole premise is terrible. it is all beyond any form of belief (wells in his book used his own knowledge of science and biology to cause the creatures to become real) it has the b-movie "they can resist the atom?" line in it, the human machinery is supposed to be useless, where as in the book (which takes place in the 1890's and not the 1950's though wells wrote a amazing book in 1914 called "a world set free" that was about a nuclear war) human weapons actually destroy a few of the martian war machines. this is what made Verne and wells such amazing authors, they both knew very well what they were talking about, the person who wrote this probably wanted to do something else but could only make his ideas work by selling it as an adaptation to "war of the worlds". folks if you want a good movie based on wells books watch "the time machine" (either make) and read the books immediately, if you want a good piece of cold war sci-fi, watch either "the day the earth stood still" (one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made, and a stunning piece of cinema) or "forbidden planet" (another wonderful movie, though more cartoonish then the day the earth stood still, still a good movie) this movie will only drain your IQ.

while i give this an "average" score, it is a pretty good version of the story. in fact i was driven to write this review because i am currently reading "the colour out of space" (and yes, that is how the title is spelled) . i saw this movie a few years ago, but some of the parts will be stuck in my mind forever. the acting is par, (it isn't that bad, but isn't that good), the film work is par, but it does what Lovecraft's story did, it has turns in it that will stay in your mind for a very long time. perhaps the most disturbing thing i saw in it (other then their use of meal worms for certain effects) was the melting effect, if you watch this movie, that will stay with you for a very long time indeed, especially when the movie comes to its climax. it was a very good scare, and i recommend seeing it like i did, at 2:00 in the morning with no lights on, after all that is the best way to experience Lovecraft and his works. though it does not match the book by any stretch in terms of dialog, or even setting and writing, it is still very close to the original in terms of the way the plot develops. and after all what movie has been totally true to its literary counterpart? anyway, if you want a bit of a scare, and don't have a weak stomach, or are in to a "Twighlight Zone" type of scenario, this movie is for you.