War of the Worlds: Goliath (2012) Directed by Joe Pearson

Some people will love this movie because of its action and settings, while others are going to hate it for its lack of proper story and developments. So yes in any case, chances you are that you are either going to hate or love this movie.

Personally, I'm stuck in the middle somewhere. I never thought to myself that I was watching something bad during my viewing of this movie but at the same time, it's also lacking some things in it that potentially could have turned this movie into a truly engaging and thrilling experience. I felt that the movie was a pretty shallow and empty one with all of its characters and the lack of proper story developments. The movie actually felt all over the place with its story at parts and it seemed to be missing an engaging and solid enough main plot line in it as well. Scenes just randomly and rapidly follow each other, without explaining to you what's exactly going on and why things are happening the way they are happening. It just expects you to go along with things, which some people still might be able to do but I needed something more from the story. Something more, to be able to care about what was going on and to feel for any of the characters as well.

And really, this movie showed plenty of potential with its premise and visual style. A steam-punk followup to the well known H.G. Wells novel, set in 1914, with giant alien fighting machines battling giant human fighting machines. You can't go wrong with a concept like that, right? But having a good and creative idea is not the same as having a good and creative story as well unfortunately.

And while I enjoyed the movie its visuals, it at the same time is also something that bothered me and took me out of the movie at parts. The movie uses a very typical and traditional Asian style of animation, while the story itself is of course taking place at Europe and partly America as well. It doesn't feel right. The style and visuals of the movie often just don't fit the settings and concept of the movie. It's kind of like when Hollywood attempts to make a Samurai movie, set in Japam. 9 out of 10 times it really doesn't work out and the movie fails, no matter how many Asians you get involved with it.

Still I have to admit that the movie remains entertaining enough to watch. There is never a real dull or slow moment in it and it has plenty of battle sequences in it. But even the battles themselves are somewhat formulaic and certainly nothing too surprising or original to watch. Really, even though everything about this movie sounds unique and creative, it actually does very little unique or creative things with its story and action sequences, which is disappointing to note. It even rips off certain movies at times, such as most notably "Independence Day".

It's overall still not a bad movie and it certainly is entertaining enough to watch as well. Just don't expect anything original, that is going to blow you away.

6/10

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