War of the Worlds
WAR OF THE WORLDS (Rafe Spall, Eleanor Tomlinson) - BBC
Taking a few classes from Peter Jackson's school of how to stretch a book's ideas beyond its worth and Ron Howard's school of how to make an exciting source material look miserable, Craig Viveiros's three-part adaptation of H.G. Wells's 1897 novel War of the Worlds wasted not a single frame, shot or CGI to give the audience and fan base the pinnacle of boredom and frustration.
Similar films are usually found in the deepest and darkest depths of the lifetime channel. Even more tragic, this BBC miniseries might be the umpteenth adaptation to fail, making the novels already starving fanbase continue their prayers for a visual adaptation that finally gives justice to the source material.
It doesn't help that while all visual adaptations of this text are considered poor and contrastingly unimaginative to Wells's original vision, it can be said that this adaptation is good enough to make the 1953 venture look like an elementary school project but bad enough to make the 2005 Tom Cruise leading shenanigans look like a movie masterpiece.
Another factor is that the miniseries carries a smug aura of thinking itself to be way smarter than it is. From the very first episode, many of the political allegories of the novel are dumped upon the show like it wants to get rid of them, whether its the theme of social conservatism vs liberalism or the Russo-Japanese war. Each of these themes is used as a stupid attempt to provide a backdrop purely to stretch the runtime. There is also an unnecessary romance and a family relationship to ruin its already tonal confusion that it carries till the end of the show.
This tonal confusion is also a part of the visuals and cinematography, as one would never be able to tell if the show's visuals want to be like the generic Marvel blockbuster kind or the pretentiousness of indie cinema. The answer is that it depends on the location of the shots. If the scene takes place on a metropolitan location, the feeling of studio-mandated visual covers each pixel; if the scene takes place on an interior or forest-like location, one is bound to notice the framing and visual attempt that looks good in concept but is so laughably translated upon the screen.
It doesn't help that its cast, while clearly talented and giving their all, are brought spectacularly down by a script that is trying its best just to stand, let alone fly. Eleanor Tomlinson is possibly the only one of this Brady Bunch production that the audience will appreciate for some form of ingenuity and effort, seeming to be only one holding it from dropping from its already below-average position. Her expressions and fear are translated well and it is an utmost shame that her acting chops could not be put into use for a better product.
Rupert Graves, on the other hand, looks to be forced into doing this. As one could deduct enough that he clearly wants the BBC to approve a fifth Sherlock series, so he could scream "BOLLOCKS!" in Benedict Cumberbatch's face again instead of meandering in determining his worth in this project. Other actors like Rafe Spall, Robert Carlyle and Harry Melling also look to be commissioned into doing their roles rather than actually having any genuine interest in the material at hand.
As the everlasting tragedy of the source material continues, the War of the Worlds radio drama remains the best adaptation that the text ever received. Until or unless someone like Christopher Nolan, Shane Carruth or Denis Villeneuve decides to give a chance, this tragedy is bound to continue for the seeable rest of time.
War of the Worlds is available to watch on BBC ONE and BBC AMERICA