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**JohnT** · July 21, 2005, 17:54

You're wrong.

See, the moral crisis in the movie is not whether Cruise's son lives, but the fact that Cruise is now a murderer, a decision he made coldly, cooly, and rationally. A lesser director would've taken the simple route, made it easier for the audience to say "oh, that poor man", but Spielberg didn't go down that road. The issue isn't whether Robbie lives, but whether Cruise is morally tainted by the end of the film.

Today's audiences, frankly, are not sophisticated enough to grasp this - they're looking to have everything spelled out for them, which is why this movie causes so much frustration.

Also, not that it matters, but in the original book the protagonist, his wife, and his son are all split up because of the invasion, but all make it back together in the end. So blame HG Wells for the "crappy ending" (others' words, not mine or yours), not Spielberg.

**JohnT** · July 21, 2005, 17:58

And then you decide to not do some thing that were only logical with what you were building for... hours of film, only to keep with the "no kid character is ever harmed in a spielberg movie" rule...

You must've missed Schindlers List and Empire of the Sun.

**JohnT** · July 21, 2005, 17:59

And Jaws.

**Hueij** · July 21, 2005, 18:01

Yeah yeah yeah...

Just let him get on with Indy 4, doing what he does best.

**JohnT** · July 21, 2005, 18:01

And AI, considering the future-robots "killed" Haley Joel Osmont just so they could experience a (vicarious) taste of what it meant to be human. That was not a kid friendly movie by any means!

**JohnT** · July 21, 2005, 18:02

nm...

**Immortal Wombat** · July 21, 2005, 18:02

In the orginal book, there is no son.

**Tassadar500** · July 21, 2005, 18:03

Ouch.

**MarkG** · July 21, 2005, 18:05

Originally posted by JohnT
the fact that Cruise is now a murderer, a decision he made coldly, cooly, and rationally.

still, without showing the actual act of killing (as it was done in the mob-vs-car scene) it seems as if nothing happened. cruise is not placed any blame for the murder

So blame HG Wells for the "crappy ending" (others' words, not mine or yours), not Spielberg.

i would have expected from spielberg to have advanced as a story-teller and dared to do a different ending for a change

**Immortal Wombat** · July 21, 2005, 18:05

Originally posted by JohnT
And AI, considering the future-robots "killed" Haley Joel Osmont just so they could experience a (vicarious) taste of what it meant to be human.

I thought he chose to go to "sleep", in order to keep the perfect mother-son moment forever?

**JohnT** · July 21, 2005, 18:06

Yeah, you're right. I read that "fact" in an IMDB post and, even though I read the book, can't seem to get it out of my head.

Do we have an "old man" smilie?

Edit: reply to IW.

**MarkG** · July 21, 2005, 18:07

well i've never heard of Empire of the Sun, never seen Jaws, dont remember any critical kid character in Schindlers List or what you say about AI

**Frozzy** · July 21, 2005, 18:10

I have just thought.. Why didn't they need to capture humans? Did they feed? We do not see or hear anything about human farm, handling machines or tentaclas/claws on the machines.

**JohnT** · July 21, 2005, 18:10

There's the girl in the red jacket in Schindlers List (critical enough so that her jacket was the only bit of color in the film until the end), one of the shark victims in Jaws is a 10 year-old boy, and Empire is about a child who survives a Japanese concentration camp (from the novel by J.G. Ballard).

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War of the Worlds: Spielberg Mutilates His Own Masterpiece (SPOILERS included)

War of the Worlds: Spielberg Mutilates His Own Masterpiece (SPOILERS included)

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