War of the Worlds

Synopsis: Ray Ferrier (Cruise) is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. When his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son Robbie and young daughter Rachel for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm suddenly touches down. What follows is the extraordinary battle for the future of humankind through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it in this contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells seminal classic sci-fi thriller.
Director(s): Steven Spielberg
Production: Paramount Pictures
  Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 14 wins & 44 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.5
Metacritic:
73
Rotten Tomatoes:
74%
PG-13
Year:
2005
116 min
$234,141,872
Website
2,434 Views


No one would have believed

in the early years of the 21st century...

... that our world was being watched

by intelligences greater than our own...

... that as men busied themselves

about their various concerns...

... they observed and studied...

... the way a man with a microscope

might scrutinize

the creatures that swarm

and multiply in a drop of water.

With infinite complacency,

men went to and fro about the globe...

... confident of our empire

over this world.

Yet across the gulf of space,

intellects vast and cool

and unsympathetic...

... regarded our planet

with envious eyes...

... and slowly and surely...

... drew their plans against us.

Tell him to send it over

to the cargo shed.

It's on its way.

Ray.

Ferrier. Whoa.

I need you back in four instead of 12.

I got half of Korea coming in at noon.

No, no, no, I can't.

I'm on a 12-hour blow. Call Tedesco.

Come on. Tedesco can't move

I gotta have somebody

who can do double picks.

I wish I could help you, Sal.

It's the goddamn union regulations.

Come on.

I'm in a position here, Ray.

You remember

the union regulations, Sal.

You know what your problem is?

I can think of a couple women

who'd be happy to tell you.

We said 8:
00.

Hey, this is...

This is one safe-looking new vehicle

you got yourself here, Tim.

- Congratulations.

- Thank you.

Eight o'clock, huh?

We'll be back by 9:30 on Sunday,

depending on the traffic.

There he is.

Get a hug?

Confusing handshake?

Kick in the teeth?

The door's locked.

Still working on those manners?

Hello, Dad.

Hello, Rachel.

Yo, Stan, hurry up.

We gotta get to work.

Here, honey. Let me

give you a hand getting that inside.

- The door's locked.

- Sweetheart, let me get it.

- I don't mind. I don't mind.

- Hey, she said she could get it.

- It's heavy.

- She said she could get it.

It's got rollers. Just roll it, roll it.

Yeah, but we can't roll it

up the stairs, can we?

Really, I got it from here, okay?

It's a 302 V8. It's...

It's gonna be out of here next week.

You better get going, you wanna

beat the traffic, don't you think?

You're out of milk.

And everything else.

Yeah.

Could you close the door, please?

Because that's my refrigerator.

I'm gonna go wait outside.

Okay, sweetheart.

I'll see you in a few days.

Bye, Tim.

- I better get this upstairs.

- Let me... Let me get...

- Mom, Mom, Mom.

- Mary Ann...

- Okay, okay.

- Mom, Mom.

A little old to still be sharing,

aren't they?

- I don't hear any complaints.

- No, I do.

Robbie's got a paper on the French

occupation of Algeria due Monday,

which he's yet to begin.

It would be nice if he were done

by the time we got back

so we don't have to keep

him up all night on Sunday.

- I just gotta type it up.

- No.

- You just gotta start writing it first.

- I love you, Mom.

I love you.

Listen to your father.

Oh, no shoes on the bed.

We'll be at my parents' house

in Boston,

but don't call the house line,

you know, they...

Well, the point is, I've got my cell

phone, so if anything comes up

or you have any questions,

just call me.

Believe it or not, I can handle it.

- I'll leave the phone on.

- Mary Ann.

It's a good look for you.

You think?

Yeah.

Take care of our kids.

Mary Ann,

you got nothing to worry about.

Listen, you tell your mom that

Ray sends his love and kisses.

Right. She'll love that.

The Ukraine,

a country of some 52 million people,

is in almost total blackness tonight,

in the wake of a series

of freakish lightning storms

of catastrophic proportion,

which struck the country at

approximately 4 a. m. Local time.

EMP, or electromagnetic pulse,

which causes a temporary interruption

of all electrical current

within its field.

As in the Ukraine, there are

scattered reports that the EMP here

was followed by seismic activity

on the scale of an earthquake,

measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale.

This...

- Baseball season's over.

- Five minutes. It's not gonna kill you.

There he is.

Boston.

That's how it is?

Is that how it's gonna be?

- Careful with that throw.

- Whatever, Ray.

Mom says you got

a report due on Monday,

so you're gonna work on that

when we're done.

Yeah, I'm almost finished.

I just gotta type it up.

Yeah, bullshit.

Yeah? What do you know, Ray?

Everything. Haven't you heard?

Between me and my brother,

we know everything.

What's the capital of Australia?

That's one my brother knows.

Okay with you if I just laugh the first

Just do your report. We don't send

you to school so you can flunk out.

You don't pay for it, Tim does.

That's half what I've got.

You're an a**hole.

I hate coming here.

That why you act like such a dick?

What?

That's not how you're gonna

get through to him.

- If you want him to listen to you...

- What are you, your mother or mine?

- Where you going?

- I'm going to sleep, you know?

I work for a living.

- What are we supposed to eat?

- You know, order.

Three and two...

- Electromagnetic storm...

- The storms were tracked...

Oh, and I'll have my own little secret.

Good idea, eh, Gary?

- No.

- Oh, what do you know?

You're a snail.

What's the matter?

- Got a splinter.

- Oh?

Where'd you get it? Come here.

On your porch railing.

Do you need me to...? What?

To do what? You want me to...?

- You want me to take that out?

- Absolutely not.

Come here.

Let me see it. Let me see.

Rate this script:4.0 / 1 vote

Josh Friedman

Josh Friedman (born 1967) is an American screenwriter best known as writer of the TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and the 2005 film adaptation of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. Friedman also publishes the blog "I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing". After being offered an opportunity to work on a script titled Snakes on a Plane, Friedman posted a blog entry that sparked interest in the film on the Internet before the movie entered production. The same entry introduced a profane line that was added to the film when the cast reconvened in March 2006 to shoot additional footage. On August 1, 2013 he was announced as co-screenwriter of Avatar 2 with James Cameron. He is a kidney cancer survivor. more…

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