The War of the Worlds (2005)
Director: David Michael Latt
Starring: C. Thomas Howell, Rhett Giles, Andy Lauer
Unique Angle: A low-budget, modern-day adaptation that leans heavily into survival horror.
True Adaptation Checklist Evaluation
Martian Invasion Essentials
| Checklist Item | Included? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Cylinders (Martian Landing Pods) | ✅ Yes | The Martians arrive via a large cylindrical object, faithful to the original story’s opening events. |
| Tripods | ❌ No | The Martians’ machines are not tripods but rather look like giant stinkbugs. Nasty. |
| Tentacles | ✅ Yes | Both the Martians and their machines feature tentacles, though the designs are crude and heavily modified from the novel. |
| Red Weed | ❌ No | No mention of the red weed. There is a brief attempt to depict it on a fallen Martian at the end. It just looks like a mess of Twizzlers Twists. If you blink, you’ll miss it. Those unfamiliar with the book would see no significance to this. |
| Black Smoke | ⚠️ Sort of | The Martians use a pale green smoke instead of black smoke. The effect is meant to be the same. But it’s not. |
| Heat Ray | ✅ Yes | The Martians do use a Heat Ray as one of their main weapons. Unfortunately they also spray some kind of face-melting chemical from their tentacles. Gross. Definitely not in the book. |
| Snatching and Feeding on Humans | ⚠️ Sort of | There is a scene that appears to parallel the feeding scene from the book, but it is very unclear. They do depict humans being snatched up by long tentacles in other scenes, but the reason is never explored. |
| Martians Destroyed by Microorganisms | ❌ No | The Martians are defeated by human intervention via a rabies vaccine, diverging from the original. |
| Martian Intelligence | ⚠️ Sort of | The Martians display some technological control but lack strategic depth or alien intellect. |
Essential Characters
| Checklist Item | Included? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| The Narrator | ✅ Yes | A central character witnesses the invasion—astronomer Dr. George Herbert. |
| The Curate | ✅ Yes | There is a character representing the Curate, but his character arc and progression of thinking differs from the book in a way that provides no improvement. |
| The Artilleryman | ✅ Yes | There is a character representing the Artilleryman, but his character arc is cut tragically short and his survivalist tendencies are not developed at all. |
| The Astronomer (e.g., Ogilvy) | ⚠️ Sort of | There is no separate character representing Ogilvy, but the narrator is himself an astronomer in this version, so we could say the two are integrated. |
| The Brother (Secondary Perspective) | ❌ No | No secondary storyline is presented. There is a brother, but his story parallels the original in no way—mostly due to his immediate and ghastly death. Why even bother? |
| The Wife (Emotional Anchor) | ✅ Yes | Yes, the narrator character is trying to reach his wife and son. |
Atmosphere and Allegory
| Checklist Item | Included? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Appropriate Era & Setting | ❌ No | The setting is updated to modern America with little meaningful cultural, thematic, or historical parallel to Wells’ Victorian England. |
| Societal Collapse | ⚠️ Sort of | Some scenes attempt to show societal breakdown, but the low budget limits its impact. |
| No Human Victory | ❌ No | Humanity defeats the Martians directly by injection with the rabies vaccine, altering the original message. |
| Atmosphere of Horror and Helplessness | ⚠️ Sort of | While there is an attempt to show horror, the poor effects and acting undermine it. |
| Narrator’s Psychological Decline | ✅ Yes | Despite the numerous production limitations, credit goes to C. Thomas Howell for his portrayal of the narrator. He makes the character’s growing angst surprisingly palpable. |
Cinematic & Immersive Details
| Checklist Item | Included? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Martian Sounds | ❌ No | A humming sound is noted near the first cylinder, but not sustained. Martian vocalizations or unique alien sounds are not a focus. |
| Visuals of Red Weed and Black Smoke | ❌ No | Neither element is effectively visualized. The scale of impact of their green smoke is significantly diminished compared to the original story. |
| Heat Ray Effects | ✅ Yes | I’m feeling generous, I’m going to give them this one. Budget constraints limit the full scale of impact, but the heat-ray is clearly portrayed as quite deadly and undefeatable. |
| Desolate Landscapes | ✅ Yes | Again, forgiving obvious budget constraints, they did what they could to depict an annihilated landscape. |
| Decay and Rot | ❌ No | The aftermath of the invasion is not explored visually. |
Bonus Features
| Checklist Item | Included? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| The Thunder Child (Naval Resistance) | ❌ No | No equivalent scene or military stand is included. |
| Adaptation-Specific Creativity | ⚠️ Sort of | The rabies vaccine idea is unique but diverges thematically from Wells. |
Observations and Analysis
Strengths:
- Attempts to include most of the main character archetypes, though sacrifices quite a bit in some of their development.
- The use of a cylinder for Martian arrival aligns with the original story.
- Strong acting in the narrator role.
Weaknesses:
- Most iconic elements of the source material are missing or poorly realized.
- Martians and their technology lack both style and menace.
- Low-budget execution undercuts the tone, characters, and world-building.
Creative Deviations:
- Humanity defeats the Martians using a rabies vaccine—a complete thematic inversion of Wells’ ending.
Faithfulness Rating
Loose Adaptation
This adaptation borrows several elements from The War of the Worlds—including the cylinders, tentacled Martians, and key character archetypes—but changes or undermines much of their meaning. The tone, message, and themes are heavily altered, but the checklist shows a clear attempt to reference the source material. A loose adaptation, but undeniably tied to H.G. Wells’ framework.
Our Verdict
Oh boy. I’m not into bashing but I’m struggling to find positive things to say about this one. C. Thomas Howell’s acting is solid, I can definitely say that. Some of the other actors are also fine. Aaand some are not. Let’s just leave it there.
Some of the creative liberties they took really rubbed me the wrong way. Especially the rabies thing, which completely undermines the theme of the original. But also the face-melting substance shooting from the tentacles. Seems like they could have redirected their efforts toward improving the feeding scene so viewers could understand what’s happening in that crucial moment, rather than wasting their efforts on gore for gore’s sake.
I have checked viewer reviews in other places and apparently a lot of people really like this version. So don’t take my word for it, check it out for yourself! But for me, I’m standing firm on this one. It’s a no for me. But hey, I’m a purist so.
Bonus: if you stick all the way to the end of the credits there’s a silly blurb saying things like “no aliens were harmed” and “any resemblance to real persons means you should probably move” and other fun things like that.