War Of The Worlds: Goliath is a fresh and original take on the classic science fiction story. The animation is slick and the use of three-dimensional models integrates well against the more traditional art style. We all by now know the story of War Of The Worlds as it has been retold dozens of times, from television, big budget blockbusters, comics and even video games. But, with this Kevin Eastman (Ninja Turtles) produced feature we are told the story of what happens after the initial invasion fails.
The film starts us off at the very tail end of the original invasion, just as the Martians are succumbing to the germs on Earth. Our protagonist is a small child and witnesses his parents death as they try to save him from a large lumbering Martian tripod walker. Nothing fancy or new but it does an adequate job of setting up why our hero hates these martian invaders, as if wiping out millions of people weren’t enough.
The film then jump us fourteen years into the future where we learn the Earth is once again on the brink of another invasion. What’s nice it that preceding this revelation we get a montage of New York circa 1914, but not the 1914 you may be thinking. The city is recreated in a very steam-punk style with walking machines, massive zeppelins, fantastic airplanes and some impressive architecture, even by today’s standards. Now, I myself am no real fan of the whole steam-punk thing (I think it’s dumb, there I said it) but here, in the context of the film it works beautifully. It would make sense that after the original invasion the countries of the world would reverse engineer the Martian technology to better improve their lives and defenses. The United States is at the forefront of this new technological boom with the help of famed scientist Nikola Tesla and anything that Tesla is involved in I can get behind.
Our hero and his multicultural team made up of experts in their positions are given command of the Earth’s largest mech unit, the Goliath, in preparation for the coming battle. The film has strong anime roots and while the animation isn’t quite up to the standards of the Japanese heavy hitters, the film is well animated and credit should be given to the Malaysian studio behind the film. It’s also nice to see the original martian tripod walkers be used, in a more mechanized style, by the humans for once. There is more to this new take on a Martian invasion than a simple excuse for an animated fight fest, in fact he entire situation is taking place while all of Europe is on the brink of war. This is punctuated with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the recalling of most of the alliance troops back to their home countries. This leaves our heroes undermanned and quite possibly outgunned as in the fourteen year period the Martians have also had time to prepare.
The story does move along at a brisk pace but does a decent job of setting up tension and showing how the struggle in Europe has distracted much of the human population. It’s a small plot point, but one the underpins the entire movie and shows that no matter how devastating a conflict, human beings will eventually fall back into their groups and petty squabbles. I mentioned it earlier about how well the three-dimensional mechs messed with the more traditional animation and when the battle begins we can really see it. The Martians end up invading during the humans war games and we are presented with a pretty impressive battle scene as the two armies meet and have it out.
From here we get a full invasion from the Martians and battles begin popping up all over the world with the bulk of the landings being in North America, specifically New Mexico. We are treated to a number of small interactions with the various crew members and countrymen on how they deal with the impending battle. Hearing their views on the troubles in Europe is a nice touch and gives us a feeling of true camaraderie that is often lost in films of this nature. Germans, Indians, British, Japanese and Scottish crews uniting while the rest of the world is on the brink of World War is something nice to see. Sure, a lot of these parts are basic filler but it serves its purpose and never distracted me from the film or story.
All these scattered attacks end up being a distraction as the Martians real target was New York, which is mostly unprotected with the fleet preoccupied across country. I’ll admit that I should have seen a turn like this coming, it does happen often in these war type films, but they managed to surprise me which is something I enjoy happening. I won’t spoil the ending chunk of the film for you (It’s one hell of a battle and really worth a watch) but its an enjoyable experience. The voice acting, something that can always be hit or miss when bringing in actors who don’t do it for a living, comes off fairly strong with more experienced voice actors getting the larger roles. I don’t watch a great deal of animated features that are geared more toward adults, but War Of The Worlds: Goliath really clicked with me.
It’s not a perfect film by any stretch and dire-hard anime buffs/reviewers may take umbrage with it’s style, but I for one, as an average movie watcher, really had a good time. War Of The Worlds: Goliath isn’t a movie for the little ones though. We have a ton of violence with some pretty gruesome death scenes, but if you are okay with a little violence you will find a very well animated and acted film that breathes new life into a classic science fiction tale. War Of The Worlds: Goliath is an easy recommendation and will make for an entertaining evening.
Fun Fact: The film is a sort of mini reunion of the Highlander television series cast.
Available:
March 7th in select theaters, VOD and iTunes
Studio:
Anderson Digital
Director:
Joe Pearson
Writer:
David Abramovitz
Producers:
Kevin Eastman, David Abramovitz, Mike Bloemendal, Joe Pearson and Leon Tan
Stars:
Peter Wingfield, Elizabeth Gracen, Jim Byrnes, Tony Eusoff, Beau Billingslea, Rob Middleton, Adam Baldwin, Mark Sheppard, Matt Letscher and Adrian Paul
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