War Of The Worlds: 10 Awesome Scenes You Forgot About

Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds is an incredibly divisive movie. While a large majority of the 2005 movie was praised for its action sequences, acting, and general atmosphere of horror, the ending proved incredibly polarizing and virtually tanked the movie’s reputation. Nowadays, whenever War of the Worlds is brought up in discussion, many people bring up the ending and show a general disregard to the movie itself.

However, the final ten minutes of the movie cannot discount the amazing 110 minutes that came before it. For the most part, War of the Worlds is an excellent and thrilling alien invasion movie – and it’s due in large part to scenes like these.

10 The Beginning Home Scenes

Likable and sympathetic characters lie at the heart of every good story, and War of the Worlds is no exception. Before the aliens arrive, War of the Worlds is actually quite warm and comforting, depicting an everyday slice of life with Ray and his children. They play catch and hang out together in the backyard, watch TV, check out a nasty splinter in Rachel’s hand, and order hummus from a nearby restaurant. It’s nothing special, but it serves as a great calm before the storm.

9 The Storm

Said storm comes in a literal fashion. The sky grows a particularly nasty and menacing shade of blue-black, and everyone in the neighborhood comes out of their houses to gaze. Thunder and lightning soon begin erupting from the sky, and Ray comforts the scared Rachel. However, even Ray grows scared once the lightning gets closer and begins striking in the same location. It’s an ominous and foreboding scene, and it wonderfully sets up the first full-scale alien invaders sequence. And what a sequence it is.

8 The First Tripod Attack

If there’s one sequence that people remember from War of the Worlds, it’s the first tripod attack. The ground begins to shake and tear itself apart, and a massive alien tripod emerges to tower over the gawking citizens. It makes a creepy sound before shooting a fatal beam at the crowd, which disintegrates anyone it touches. The scene draws obvious parallels to 9/11, including the running and screaming citizens, hiding in nearby storefronts, and the dust that covers the survivors.

7 The Peanut Butter Sandwich

War of the Worlds depicts near-relentless tension, but it also finds time for some humor. Perhaps the funniest scene comes after the initial attack. Ray drives his children to his ex-wife’s house but finds it empty, as she had traveled to Boston to visit her parents.

While there, he decides to make the kids some peanut butter sandwiches. However, he is so fraught with stress that he can barely hold himself together, and it culminates with him hilariously throwing a slab of peanut butter bread against the kitchen window.

6 The 747

While sleeping at his ex-wife’s house, Ray and the children hear a horrifying commotion outside. Knowing that it’s not another alien attack, they decide to wait until morning to investigate. When Ray finally makes his way upstairs and outside, he finds the neighborhood utterly obliterated by a fallen 747. The production design throughout this sequence is simply incredible, owing in large part to the real 747 that was chopped up and used for filming. The amazing set can be visited on the Universal Studios tour.

5 Floating Corpses

Ray decides to drive the kids to Boston so he can drop them off with their mother. While on the road, Ray pulls over so that his daughter can relieve herself. However, she picks a horrible spot. While venturing through the woods (so no one can see her go), she spots a body floating through the nearby river. Before long, dozens of corpses float by, gleaming in the sunlight. It makes for a horrifying image, and it speaks volumes to the aliens’ destruction. It’s a perfect example of the old adage “show, don’t tell”.

4 The Ferry Massacre

Another of the movie’s key action sequences is the ferry massacre. Wishing to get across the Hudson, Ray decides to take a ferry. Unfortunately, hundreds of others have the same idea, and his car is hijacked.

While at the ferry, enormous tripods come over the nearby hill and emerge from under the water, launching a two-pronged attack on both land and water. Cars are submerged and people drown, others are chopped up by the ferry’s propellers, and others are taken by the tripods. It’s a grotesque sequence, and arguably the movie’s scariest.

3 Harvesting Blood

The ferry massacre is arguably the movie’s scariest, because this one gives it a run for its money. While hiding out in Harlan’s basement, both Harlan and Ray make a terrifying discovery – so terrifying, in fact, that it drives Harlan to madness. They see the tripods placing corpses on the ground, sticking them with an elongated needle-like device, sucking their blood and tissue, and then spraying it through the air to harvest the red crops. And to think, this movie was rated PG-13.

2 Ray Murders Harlan

Pushing the PG-13 rating even further is the first-degree murder of Harlan. By this point in the movie, Harlan has gone utterly crazy owing to the aforementioned events. He begins making a lot of noise, and Ray believes that the noise will reveal their location and threaten their safety. To silence Harlan and protect his daughter, Ray decides to straight up murder him with his own hands. Viewers don’t actually see the killing itself, but the obvious implication is just as scary.

1 Ray Takes Down A Tripod

Throughout much of War of the Worlds, Ray is depicted as an everyman. He’s flawed, and despite trying his hardest, he is certainly no hero. Which makes his heroic actions in the climax all the more jaw-dropping. To save Rachel, Ray gets himself abducted by a tripod. He also snags some grenades from a dead soldier beforehand. While getting sucked into the tripod, Ray pulls the pins on the grenades, and they detonate inside the alien. The explosion rocks the tripod and eventually takes it down, and Rachel can only stare at her father in utter bewilderment and fascination.

About The Author

Nathan Sharp
(852 Articles Published)

See also  A Tiny Squid Game Detail Hints At A Villain Twist In Season 2

Nathan Sharp is a writer from outside Toronto, Ontario. He has a love of movies and television, having enjoyed them for more than twenty years. His preferences include drama, action, and horror, with the former being a particular point of interest and fascination.

He also has a love of video games, particularly those of Rockstar.

Whether it be about film, television, or video games, Nathan loves a good discussion and has written hundreds of articles for Screen Rant.

More From Nathan Sharp