Resumo de The War Of The Worlds

A true hallmark of summer is the arrival of a blockbuster disaster movie;
this time around director Steven Spielberg, who''s got a pretty good track
record, delivers the goods on June 29. Spielberg is bringing the much-adapted
H.G. Wells sci-fi classic, The War of the Worlds, back to the big screen
with a cast lead by Tom Cruise. Dakota Fanning as Cruise''s daughter, Tim
Robbins as Ogilvy, and Gene Barry and Ann Robinson?in deference to the 1953
George Pal film?round out the cast.

Though Wells published The War of the Worlds in 1898 and set it in
his native England,
the story is perhaps best known for the radio broadcast by actor/director Orson
Welles and his Mercury Theatre troupe. On the evening of October 30, 1938,
Welles performed an updated version of The War of the Worlds live over
the CBS network, setting it in New
Jersey and formatting it like a series of news
bulletins. Scores of people who tuned in after the initial disclaimer really
believed some sort of Martian attack was taking place, leading to mass
hysteria, a lot of publicity for Welles and another chapter in The War of
the Worlds legacy.

Key to the longevity of the story has been its adaptability. Welles'' version
captured the mood of America
in the late 1930s, when advances in technology were coupled with growing unease
at the news of war in Europe. Pal''s 1953 film,
on the other hand, was tinted by overtones of postwar confidence, military
might and good versus evil. So, what can we expect from Spielberg and company?
The action is set in the U.S.,
with Cruise as a New Jersey
dock worker battling aliens who, in a big shift from the original story, are
not from Mars. An aspect of this version will certainly be the heightened
feeling of vulnerability in the post-9/11 world, as well as Wells'' theme of the
survival of humankind. Haunting music by über-composer John Williams helps to
replicate the sense of dread Wells created.

For a deeper appreciation of the genius of Wells, who also wrote such Hollywood favorites as The Invisible Man and The
Time Machine, there''s nothing like reading the original novel, available in
a number of editions set to celebrate the release of this summer''s film. Among
them are a paperback repint of the classic and even an edition for younger
readers from HarperCollins'' Adventure Classics series.

Wells'' measured prose?No one would have believed in the last years of the
nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and observed
closely by intelligences greater than man''s and yet as mortal as his own. . . .
Yet, across the gulf of space . . . intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic,
regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans
against us?still gives readers pause and a reason to keep an eye on the night
sky.

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