YMMV / War of the Worlds (2005)

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • A number of viewers differ over whether Ray's murder of Ogilvy was justified or not, particularly since in the very next scene, they're discovered by the probe anyway.
  • Is Robbie an idiotic Leeroy Jenkins for obsessing over fighting the aliens instead of escaping, or is he a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass who simply refuses to run and will rather be Defiant to the End?
  • Rachel is also subject to this. Viewers tend to see her as either annoying or sympathetic, and base their interpretation of her behavior on where they fall. On the one hand, some perceive her as overly coddled by her mother and stepfather, leading her to take actions inappropriate for her age and overall maturity that put both herself and others in danger. On the other, she is a ten-year-old, appears to have issues with anxiety and panic, and generally manages to stay quiet in all but one instance where making noise would draw unwanted attention. Some viewers who are more sympathetic interpret her behavior in that scene where she screams while a Tripod has her father pinned in an overturned truck as either a reaction to believing that the only person left to protect her has died or even an intentional (if poorly planned out) attempt at distraction.
• An Aesop: Just like the book: All life on Earth was put here for a reason and serves a valuable biological purpose.
• Angst? What Angst?: Ray and Rachel seem to quickly get over Ray killing Ogilvy, as they're sleeping peacefully in the very next scene, and they don't even mention him for the rest of the film.
• Ass Pull:
  • For many critics and viewers, Robbie's unexplained survival falls under this, as the hill he was on seemed to get obliterated.
  • How the aliens are finally defeated sometimes gets incorrectly treated as this, when the film was being faithful to the book and the moral of its story.
  • How Manny was able to get the Plymouth Voyager running again so quickly after the EMP fries its electrical system, as Artistic License – Cars on the main page describes in detail. Additionally, the film depicts Ray as owning a 1967 Ford Mustang, a car that has no advanced electronics in its powertrain and likely would have still functioned after the EMP attack, even if it required popping the clutch to get it started in case the EMP fried the starter in the same way it fried the Voyager's starter. Ray could have utilized the Mustang as a getaway vehicle and avoided this trope altogether.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Rachel is either adorable, The Woobie, and someone you can't help but feel sorry for, or just an annoying brat and The Load who screams too much. Others feel that the character as written might have been annoying (and was possibly intended to be played by a younger actress), but Dakota Fanning's performance was good enough to redeem her.
  • Robbie is viewed as either impressively brave for wanting to save lives and fight the aliens, or just plain stupid for taking risks that could have gotten him killed.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • A minor example is during the mob scene after Ray, Robbie and Rachel got carjacked by an armed civilian. Moments after, the gunman who tried to get away with their car gets shot and overtaken by the mob.
  • The resolution of the basement sequence, with Ray killing Ogilvy to protect Rachel while she sings her lullaby, provides a major emotional catharsis.
  • After an hour and a half of the aliens mercilessly slaughtering people without taking any damage, it is extremely satisfying to see Ray blow up a tripod with a belt of grenades. Rachel’s awestruck reaction seals it.
  • The aliens’ defeat. From the moment Ray and Rachel see the red weed is dying, it just gets more and more satisfying, with the military blasting the last tripod to pieces with Javelin missiles after its shields go down, and Ray carrying Rachel over so she can see for herself as the aliens drop dead due to their lack of immunity to Earth's pathogens.
• Delusion Conclusion: As with the original book, some viewers think Ray and Rachel actually did die in the tripod basket, with the scenes of their escape, the aliens dying, and their reunion with Robbie being their afterlife.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Rachel shows signs of an anxiety disorder or possibly being on the autism spectrum. When there's no danger present, she seems overly serious and mature, and her tone of voice can be flat. She is also very anxious, has panic attacks when stressed, relies on calming routines when upset, and seems overly reliant on others to do things for her. It's also stated that she has claustrophobia.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Ukraine is depicted as being one of the first countries attacked, going by the news report about them being plunged into blackout by a massive lightning storm seen before the attack on New Jersey. This otherwise forgettable scene has gotten renewed attention in light of the large-scale destruction Ukraine has seen since The New '10s from their ongoing war with Russia.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Dragon Ball toys are visible in Robbie's room. Of course, this was before his actor, Justin Chatwin, was known for his infamous portrayal of Goku in Dragonball Evolution.
• Inferred Holocaust: During the course of the film, the implication is that a very sizable proportion of the human race has been exterminated and much of the planet has been laid to waste by the invaders. Yet with possibly millions, if not billions of people dead and the Earth in ruins, one gets the impression we're supposed to find the ending in which the family we've been following all somehow survive and reunite with the mother to be a happy one.
• Jerkass Woobie: Ogilvy's not a nice person and becomes antagonistic toward Ray, but he's a man who's just lost his entire family, combined with watching the world get taken over by aliens. Then when he sees the aliens harvesting humans, he loses his mind completely, and Ray is forced to kill him.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • The aliens cross it by attacking Earth and going on a planet-wide genocide.
  • Ogilvy crosses this with the reveal that he offered Ray and Rachel (a 10-year old girl) shelter in order to drag them into his fight with the aliens. For good measure, he spends his final moments stating that the aliens can kill them for all he cares.
• Questionable Casting: Tom Cruise as Ray, a blue collar worker.
• Realism-Induced Horror: The crowd's attack on the car and Ray's murder of Ogilvy are some of the film's darkest scenes, despite neither featuring any aliens.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Amy Ryan is Ray's neighbor.
  • A three-year old Ty Simpkins briefly appears at one point. This was his first film role.
  • David Harbour is one of Ray's co-workers at the dock.
  • A teenage Channing Tatum is the boy in the church.
• Rooting for the Empire: As terrifying as the tripods are, they have a definite coolness factor, and several viewers rooted for them after finding the humans annoying.
• Shocking Moments: One scene, a clever nod to the original story, involves a crowd of people, including our protagonists, walking through town, when a railroad crossing signal sounds. Everybody clears the tracks as the gate comes down. Then the train passes. It is on fire. It leaves, the gates go up, and it is not commented on by anyone. Roger Ebert, who gave the film a mixed but mostly negative review, called this scene "unforgettable".
• Signature Scene:
  • The Tripod's first appearance out of the ground and the ensuing destruction it brings is almost always the scene that people bring up when it comes to this film.
  • Rachel discovering the river full of corpses is also one of the most remembered scenes, with Dakota Fanning selling the horror of that moment perfectly.
  • The ferry sequence, in which several tripods converge on the crowded Hudson ferry terminal from three different directions (including from under the water) and begin harvesting people en masse. If there's any scene that really demonstrates just how screwed humanity is, it's this one.
  • Another standout is the whole basement sequence trying to hide from the aliens, which many compare it to being something straight out of a Stealth-Based Game. Ray murdering Ogilvy while Rachel sings her lullaby is considered one of the most chilling moments.
• Squick: While Ogilvy's interest in Rachel may be that he sees her as a Replacement Goldfish for his own daughter, some viewers found it disturbing, and Ray is clearly concerned by it.
• Ugly Cute: The aliens' real appearances (i.e., not the Tripods) are weirdly adorable when we actually see them.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The effects were up for an Academy Award, given how successfully the film depicts an alien invasion both realistically and horrifyingly.
• The Woobie:
  • Rachel, for those who weren't annoyed by her screaming. It helps that Dakota Fanning gives an excellent performance.
  • Ray has his moments, especially when he's realizing his shortcomings as a father.

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