MovieChat Forums > War of the Worlds (2005) Discussion > Plot-Holes & Abandoned Common Sense :-(

Plot-Holes & Abandoned Common Sense :-(

posted 8 years ago by jbuckets
26 replies | jump to latest

1.) How could the son be so stupid/ reckless as to "steal" his dad's Mustang given that he's 15 w/o a driver's license (and most likely has no experience driving if not otherwise in on-the-road driver's ed)?

2.) And then not drive back home once the storm appeared?

3.) Ray's Mustang - built before computers/ solid-state electronics were first put into cars e.g., the otherwise amazingly still-running 1980's van that they drove - would NOT have been damaged by the damaging EMPs that the aliens sent out from the sky.

Note: EMP = electromagnetic pulse/ wave; also generated by atomic bombs - hence the shielding req'd on Air Force One.

(Perhaps said driveable van had been parked inside a metal six-sided garage with absolutely no air gaps at its corners and especially when its big door is closed?

This otherwise creates what's known as a Faraday shield that prevents all electromagnetic waves from reaching its interior.)

4.) How did the Martians know that life on Earth - even if there was any back when they buried the Tri-pods - would eventually evolve into tasty humans?

5.) Why did the Martians even bother to bury the now-technologically-obsolete Tri-pods 1000's of years ago since they had to fly them anyway from Mars to Earth?

6.) Didn't Ray ever worry about hitting/ killing anybody standing around or about driving pell-mell into any of the 100's of stalled cars on the city roads and highways/ freeways on their way to the ex-wife's house?

7.) How did Ray ever find a path to drive through the middle of a jetliner crash (instead of simply going around it) - much less not get any flat tires from all of the ground debris - when they left the ex-wife's house.

8.) Why were Ray & his daughter the only people who found shelter in the farm house despite everybody else running by, too?

9.) How was Ray (or his daughter?) strong enough to punch the "head" of the snake-like Martian machine in the basement so that it went upwards and backwards?

10.) When Ray ran after his daughter from the basement of the farm house to the first floor, why did he assume that she ran outside (towards the Martians) even though the front door was closed?

11.) Why did they assume that the grandparents' house was safe & sound in an undamaged area of Boston (or a suburb) - much less be able to reach it despite the destruction/ mass of people?

12.) Why did both the ex-wife's/ grandparents' neighborhoods still have AC power given the severe damage in other areas to the power grid + (most likely) power plants, too?

13.) Why was everyone walking towards Boston - a highly-populated area very likely to have plenty of people-eating Martian machines?

14.) Why didn't the Martians sample the atmosphere to test for fatal bacteria/ viruses before attacking?

15.) Why was there very few people in the diner especially while raining - after they left the van?

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

[–] jbuckets 8 years ago

16.) I've never seen any birds landing on a moving object - much less an entire flock, so why would they do so on a moving Martian Tri-pod especially if they're already traumatized from trying to do so earlier with the still-active force field.

17.) What's the point of informing any soldier/ police officer that the Martian Tri-pod's force field is no longer working?

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

[–] jbuckets 8 years ago

18.) How could a modern-day ferry boat with its computerized electronics still be working despite all other electronic devices (cars, cell phones) being damaged by the EMPs?

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

[–] jbuckets 8 years ago

19.) Why would the Tri-pods send out a relatively big laser beam to vaporize people one by one instead of using a lower-power beam in a side-to-side motion to simply kill?

20.) Why are humans killed anyway by laser beams? They're not a threat and doing so leaves fewer tasty, living humans to be eaten later.

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

[–] jbuckets 8 years ago

21.) The farmer doesn't load his shotgun until he decides that he wants to fire it.

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

[–] jbuckets 8 years ago

21.) The farmer doesn't load his shotgun until he decides that he wants to fire it.

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

[–] poet515 8 years ago

22. Why would Manny (the mechanic) be so hard press to get back to work? There are hundreds of people running wild around him, a crazy ass storm just happened, all cars are rendered useless, yet when Ray gets in the van, Manny tells him he has a busy day ahead of him. That he has to get back to work. Is he that stupid to not notice what's going on around him?

23. Giant tripods are heading your way, why would people run to a slow moving ferry for safety?

24. How are other cars working? We see Ray drive miles and miles around broken down cars. Then, we see the news van work just fine and various other cars working. What made these special cars so special?

[–] femmemuscle (110) 7 years ago

Great questions?

And i'm sure someone who helped write the script even worse the marketing reps still trying to push the old DVD's, or works for the movie company just might come in here and try to "have an answer" for everything.

That's what they were doing on the old IMdb before Amazon took it over.

[–] twhite (48) 6 years ago

Watching the movie now and Ray tells the mechanic to change the solenoid in the van after the EMP. When he runs back through after the tripod pops out of the ground, the mechanic said that he changed it and it did the trick, then ray steals the van.

[–] virgiltx 8 years ago

25. Aren't we as likely to be killed by Martian germs as they are by ours.

____________________
The story is king.

[–] Burk48917 (11356) 5 years ago

Most likely, an advanced species has eliminated those.

[–] zmoonchild 8 years ago

Ray's Mustang - built before computers/ solid-state electronics were first put into cars e.g., the otherwise amazingly still-running 1980's van that they drove - would NOT have been damaged by the damaging EMPs that the aliens sent out from the sky.

Actually, yes. His Mustang could have been damaged by the EMP. I own a few Mustangs from the 60's, and a lot of car collectors swap out the points & condenser for electronic ignition kits. The electronic ignition kits fit in a stock distributor, and they're made specifically for classic cars.

Hope that helps.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

can we assume he hadnt done that?

[–] Kinsayder (46) 5 years ago

14.) Why didn't the Martians sample the atmosphere to test for fatal bacteria/ viruses before attacking?

That's really the only one of these "plotholes" that's also in the original story. But then again, I suppose it's possible for even a highly intelligent species to be taken unawares by a virus ;-)

5.) Why did the Martians even bother to bury the now-technologically-obsolete Tri-pods 1000's of years ago since they had to fly them anyway from Mars to Earth?

That one bothered me a lot. It made no sense to add that detail. In the book, the martians bring their tripods with them - flat-packed, apparently, since they assemble them over several days after landing. I can only assume that Spielberg wanted the story to unfold faster and liked the visual effect of the machine bursting out of the ground.

[–] CoachGainz (453) 4 years ago

Agreed, I can't come up with a reason they would bury the tri-pods. In the making of videos, the only explanation given is that SS wanted to do something different. So, instead of having them come from the sky they come from the ground. Apparently nobody had the courage to challenge SS on this decision.

[–] Drooch (5333) 3 years ago

Well the aliens ‘utilise’ humans by mincing them into fertiliser for their red weed which seems to be how they terraform a planet, so maybe they need to wait for life to reach a certain point, with a sufficiently large population, before they attack.

So they finger earth, bury their tropics, wait for the right moment and then strike.

[–] CoachGainz (453) 3 years ago

Sounds like a reasonable explanation to me! I hadn't heard that theory.

[–] millsey72 (10243) a year ago

The martians buried the tri pods to hide them from the dinosaurs

[–] CoachGainz (453) 4 years ago

Questions were asked years ago but I do have some answers.

1. He's a rebellious teenage that is in a stage of challenging his parents rule over him. Many teens act out in type of way. I knew several that did comparative things.

2. I'm assuming he was too far away to make it back before all the cars died. Maybe he didn't even notice the storm.

3. In the movie early reports of an EMP like event was taking place in Eastern Europe. I would assume its not an EMP but an alien tech that disables vehicles and electronics in a similar fashion. Also the van was fixed by the Mechanic after the storm.

4. The Tripod being buried I think is the top hole in the story. I can't think of a reason they would do that. Other than perhaps the alien sent these kinds of machines to many planets suitable for life and then took thousands of more years to physical arrive themselves to pilot them. Remember that what we see is actually how many light-years away old. So when we look at planet that is 100 light-years away from us we are actually seeing it as it was 100 years ago and not today. Perhaps they didn't even know Humans would be there when they arrived, but have the machines set up to take out indigenous of any planet.

5. In this movie SS states that these aliens don't come from Mars but a very far way place. But again I can't defend the buried machines.

6. I think he was distressed about the situation and was just trying to get his family away from the pod. He seemed to be driving fairly conservative considering the situation.

7. Tires are pretty tough. It's typically pretty rare to find random items on the road that can pierce the rubber. They may have actually had a few holes but tires will remain inflated for several days or even weeks with very small holes. From what I saw he drove through a reasonable path.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

"The Tripod being buried I think is the top hole in the story. I can't think of a reason they would do that. Other than perhaps the alien sent these kinds of machines to many planets suitable for life and then took thousands of more years to physical arrive themselves to pilot them. Remember that what we see is actually how many light-years away old. So when we look at planet that is 100 light-years away from us we are actually seeing it as it was 100 years ago and not today. Perhaps they didn't even know Humans would be there when they arrived, but have the machines set up to take out indigenous of any planet."

The closest and furthest distances of Mars from Earth happen every 26 months. At its closest possible approach, Mars is 35.8 million miles away from Earth. The farthest Mars gets away from our planet is 249 million miles. The closest and furthest distances of Mars from Earth happen every 26 months. The average distance of Mars from Earth hovers around 142 million miles. It takes anywhere between 39 days to 333 days for a spaceship to get to Mars from Earth (or vice versa). Light, on the other hand, travels to Mars in 12 minutes and 42 seconds at its average distance of 142 million miles.

[–] CoachGainz (453) 3 years ago

It's never stated where these aliens are from.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

If you are trying to suggest that, since the words "Martian" or "Mars" are not stated in the film, so they might not be from Mars, then, by that logic, since the word "alien" is never spoken either, that they could just as likely be from Earth, so your point is equally invalid.

[–] CoachGainz (453) 4 years ago

8. I think most people were just running away. They probably didn't think running towards a random guy with a shot gun in his hand was their best bet. I would say Ray had far more experience dealing with the Pods than most people having survived several encounters already. I think his experience told him finding shelter and hiding was better than trying to out run the pods.

9. I don't see how he couldn't.

10. In the movie he is seen looking around the house as he was searching for her but then heard a scream from outside.

11. I don't think they assumed that. I think Ray was telling his kids that to give hope that their family was safe and once they get to their destination they would be safe too. In reality Ray didn't know what to do. He was alone with 2 kids both that have lost their connection with him as a parent and needed to get them and himself to a safest place he could. In danger people instinctively go to their family for safety. I think Ray struggled with being a parent a caring for his children so his first instinct was to get them to their Mother. That's also probably what Rachel wanted as well.

12. I didn't notice this but maybe a back up gas generator after a few days/weeks. Obviously movies only have so much time to explain things. So most leave things that can easily be explained to the viewers.

13. Maybe in search of help or food. Isolated rural areas probably weren't idea for most who need food shelter and help from the military forces that seemed assigned to help the people move to safer areas and possibly provide medical assistance and food.

14. Another hole in the story that I don't like. It doesn't make sense but that's how they die the book. There was good video on youtube that gives a theory that the aliens did need certain blood types but couldn't find enough people and grew desperate using more dangerous types.

15. I think most were looting, running away, or headed towards the fairy to get across the river.

[–] Who (5146) 4 years ago

20) How come that lady at the ferry port knows Ray? They are hundreds of miles from his home, the place is packed with people from all over, yet Ray bumps into this lady who knows him and her daughter? Does Ray have a girl in every ferry port?

[–] Galactus03 (4373) a year ago

Coincidental....

[–] e3e34ifj (1912) 5 months ago

These are all solid points. 5 is always my favorite stupid point. Why would these aliens bury spaceships on a foreign planet and return to them millions of years later? For starters, would their technology not be millions of years out of date? Imagine soldiers today being forced to fight with weapons we planted in B.C. times, x100. On top of this, how did those aliens so precisely guess that their machines would be buried in what would become major populated areas millions of years later? Can they see into the future? If so, why did they not see that they would be killed off by bacteria? And not a single tripod had been discovered by archeologists, civil engineers, city excavators, subway constructionists, etc. Makes absolutely zero sense.