H.G. WELLS' WAR OF THE WORLDS

Dr. George Herbert is about to leave for Washington with his family but receives an urgent work call and is forced to stay in town for another night. That same night, mysterious objects fall from the sky and from them emerge giant alien machines that begin to sow panic among the citizens. The same invaders seem to have landed in multiple areas of the globe. George Herbert then tries to reach Washington where, in the meantime, his wife and son have headed. Perhaps not everyone knows that there is an underground world of parasitic low-budget productions that consistently debut around million-dollar blockbusters. The secret of these parasitic productions is knowing in advance about the production of a blockbuster and immediately organizing sets and casting to produce a film with a ridiculous budget that has a similar title and plot to the much more famous one, in order to then debut on home video at the same time as the blockbuster's theatrical release. There is an old tradition regarding these operations that has also involved our country to some extent with fake sequels of American hits, but it seems that this trend has been strengthening in recent years, to the point that in the corners of Hollywood there are now production companies specialized in "poor clones". One of the most prolific scoundrels is David Michael Latt, the man behind most of the most recent parasitic films. As a producer, Latt has financed works such as "When a Killer Calls" (released around the same time as "When a Stranger Calls" or "When a Stranger Calls"), "Snakes on a Train" (which even managed to precede the theatrical release of "Snakes on a Plane"!), "Pirates of the Treasure Island" (around the same time as the second "Pirates of the Caribbean"), "The Da Vinci Treasure" and "Transmorphers" (no need to mention the inspirations for these last two...) and recently "I am Omega" following the success of "I am Legend" and "100 Million B.C." which refers to "10,000 B.C." in the title; moreover, the brilliant Latt is already working on "Street Racer", ready to debut simultaneously with the Wachowski brothers' "Speed Racer". Among so many titles, a carbon copy of "War of the Worlds" directed by Spielberg in 2005 could not be missing. "War of the Worlds - The Invasion" was, in addition to being produced, also directed, written, and edited by Latt, directly referencing the novel that H.G. Wells wrote in 1898. As was easy to predict, this film is almost embarrassing, as well as terribly unnecessary. The poverty of the budget is noticeable in every single shot and the overall staging is decidedly squalid. The original story is followed quite faithfully in the first part (at least more than Spielberg did) to betray the spirit of the original in the conclusion, no longer entrusted to nature, but rather cheaply to the protagonist's brilliant intuition who becomes a hero. The cast is made up of actors who are more B than B could be. In the role of the protagonist is C. Thomas Howell, who in 1986 faced Rutger Hauer in "The Hitcher" and who is now finished in the home video film circuit; alongside him are the director's loyalists Rhett Giles and Kim Little (who is also Latt's wife) and in a small role Jake Busey ("Starship Troopers"; "Suspension of Disbelief"). The special effects, as was predictable, are very poor and the famous alien tripods are here reduced to a kind of tank-like machines with legs, similar to bugs, often poorly integrated with the scenario. The aliens are never shown and their "sentinels" are represented here by organic tubes that patrol and spit an acidic substance. Moreover, the film takes itself very seriously and has absolutely no rhythm, resulting in being quite boring. Probably this "War of the Worlds" is not entirely bad, especially when compared to the other films produced and/or directed by Latt (for example, "Scarecrow Hunt", "Killers 2: The Beasts", "Way of the Vampire", "Jolly Roger"), but it still ranks in the pantheon of the ugly. A sequel has just been made: "War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave".