History Film / WarOfTheWorlds

* MonumentalDamage: The Bayonne Bridge is torn to ribbons by the aliens' wave motion guns. We can assume New York City didn't fare much better than Bayonne did.

The [[Film/MinorityReport second]] collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise. [[NamesTheSame Not to be confused]] with two separate films released the same year, both titled ''H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds''. Directed by Timothy Hines and [[Creator/TheAsylum David Michael Latt]], both were released directly to video and were overshadowed by Spielberg's production. The David Michael Latt film even received a sequel, named ''War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave''.

* [[NotUsingTheZWord Not Using The A Word]]: The obviously alien invaders are never described as such.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/waroftheworlds.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''[[GotTheWholeWorldInMyHand He's got the whole world in his hands]].'']]

* SingleTear: Ray when he sings a lullaby to Rachel.

* RemakeCameo: Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, who play leading roles in the [[Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds 1953 film]], appear as Robbie's and Rachel's grandparents.

* MonumentalDestruction: The Bayonne Bridge is torn to ribbons by the aliens' wave motion guns. We can assume New York City didn't fare much better than Bayonne did.

** The U.S. Army units seen in the film are largely from the 10th Mountain Division, which is based in New York, near where the film is set.

** The sacrifice is largely in vain since the [=IDPs=[ decide to stick around and gawk rather than get the heck out of there.

** The sacrifice is largely in vain since the IDPs decide to stick around and gawk rather than get the heck out of there.

*** Tripods are somewhat analagous to human tanks. In urban environments, tanks require infantry escort otherwise they're very vulnerable to man-portable anti-tank weaponry, as seen in the film, where the tripods didn't have any alien troops on foot escorting them.

** In the basement, Ray quickly cleans his hand of the blood being sprayed by the tripods when he sees his daughter looking.

* CryingLittleKid: Played with when Ray is distracted by an argument with Robbie and doesn't realize that Rachel has wandered off. An elderly couple try to take her with them, assuming her parents are dead. Fortunately Ray realizes what's happening and stops them in time.

* DysfunctionalFamily: The Ferrier family get hit with this pretty hard, with Ray coming off as more a crappy babysitter than the kids father, who seem to do their best to ignore or straight up disobey Ray most times, Robbie stands out for constantly trying to jump into the fight against the aliens, despite having neither weapons nor training in weapon use which would make him a risk to soldiers having to pull him out of the fire, Rachel gets mostly a pass because she is a young girl, but makes several mistakes that do cost them some breathing room, Ray himself seems to have bene a poor father to the kids, with it taking a full blown alien invasion for him to even try to step up, and while things with his ex seem amicble enough, it seems they don't fully get along.

* CurbStompBattle: Simply put, the US military (probably like all armed forces throughout the world) is absolutely ''helpless'' to stop the aliens even as they fire damn near everything they have at them. So much so that it becomes a matter of simply getting the survivors away from the creatures until a weakness presents itself. But that doesn't stop them from fighting to the death to stop them.

** We don't see how [[spoiler: kills Ogilvy]]. We just hear a few grunts while Rachel sings to herself so she won't hear anything.

* NothingIsScarier: Whenever you hear the 'horn' of a tripod, it means you need to get the hell out of there!

* ParentalNeglect: Ray is a divorced crane operator in New Jersey, who hardly sees his two kids; the eldest doesn't respect him or even call him 'Dad' and the younger clearly loves her mother more. However, it becomes obvious that Ray loves his two children very much and will go to great lengths to protect them

* TranquilFury: When Ray overhears Ogilvy telling Rachel that he'll take care of her in the event of his death, he calmly orders Rachel over to him, then tells Ogilvy in a furious whisper that he's forbidden from speaking to her. He is also chillingly calm when [[spoiler: he decides to kill Ogilvy. As he blindfolds Rachel and tells her to sing, he speaks calmly and tenderly to her, but is clearly preparing himself for what he's about to do]].

* AdaptationInspiration: As with all of the movie adaptations of the book, this one updates the setting and time period, and frames it in the tensions of the day. It also draws down the focus to a single family and takes on something of a war documentary feel. An allegory of the original [[TheGayNineties 1898]] novel was imperialism and colonialism (the Martians representing the British Empire), while the 1953 film paralleled the UsefulNotes/ColdWar and the RedScare and the 2005 version comments on [[TooSoon/SeptemberEleventh 9/11]][[invoked]] and the War on Terror.