Day 144 - 5/24/09 - Movie #143
BEFORE: I'm glad I saw "Star Trek", and not just because it fit in with my sci-fi chain. Even though I'm more of a Star Wars fan, I can't really show up at the San Diego Comic-Con in July without being current, now can I? I know it's getting close, because I had the Comic-Con dream last night - the one where I'm setting up my booth and I can't find my boxes of merchandise. I suppose it's a variation on the dream where it's the day of the big biology midterm, and you suddenly realize you haven't studied, or you're not wearing pants... Anyway, I'm close to wrapping up "Alien Invasion" week.
THE PLOT: The Martians unchain a direct assault to our planet, with hundreds of ships. All the major cities are destroyed one after one; even the atomic bomb can't stop them. But, if the humans can't beat them, who can?
AFTER: NOT the Tom Cruise version, this is the 1953 original - I did watch the 2005 remake a year or so ago, and that was a pretty decent update, with spectacular FX. See, this proves my point about using futuristic technology in a sci-fi movie. A story about a Martian invasion was cutting-edge at one point, but now that we've sent probes to Mars, this story seems positively antiquated. And the special effects extremely outdated as well...
There's a strange mix of science and religion depicted here (commonly known as "the 1950's", I suppose...) When a group of scientists estimates that the Martians will take over Earth in 6 days, the female lead notes, "Why, that's the same amount of time it took to create the Earth!" I wondered why none of the scientists slapped her, or at least rolled their eyes in dismay. When the aliens succumb to some Earth bacteria (bacillus deus ex machinus, I believe...) God gets a big shout-out for that as well, for having the foresight to create a tiny organism that was deadly to aliens but not humans.
RATING: 4 out of 10 a-bombs
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