Movies War of the Worlds or World War Z - Which is the better film?

[Takes Two To Tango]

A classic Tom Cruise vs. Brad Pitt.

Two of the biggest movie stars ever.

Only born a year apart.

Which film of theirs is better?


War of the Worlds - plot summary:

Sadly, the hard-working and disillusioned New Jersey dockworker, Ray Ferrier, has failed as a husband, and as a father. Estranged from his troubled teenage son, Robbie, and his little daughter, Rachel, Ray struggles to build bridges with his kids, as his ex-wife, Mary Ann, drops them off at his house for the weekend.

But, pretty soon, things will get from bad to worse, when, out of the blue, mysterious electromagnetic pulses and violent sets of lightning flashes start hammering the area, and a full-scale, all-out invasion of a technologically-advanced alien species wreaks havoc on a completely defenceless Earth.

Now, Ray must find a way to protect his family, as they all try to reunite with Mary Ann; however, can a single man and a mere mortal alone outsmart the legions of pitiless intergalactic invaders?


World War Z - plot summary:

A virulent and unprecedented pandemic of global proportions which turns humans into rabid flesh-eating zombies takes the world by surprise.

Under these circumstances, the retired United Nations special agent, Gerry Lane, must leave behind a peaceful family life, a wife and two daughters, to escort a team of scientists on a mission to find a cure, navigating through zombie-swarmed cities.

However, as the deadly pathogen obliterates entire areas, incessantly giving birth to diseased masses of freshly-reanimated undead, the frail hope of finding a viable solution starts drifting away. Does humanity have enough time to wait for a miracle?







Or.

 

[dildos]

World War Z.

I really didn’t like war of the worlds at all. Felt angry when it ended because I wasted my time on it.

 

[Protectandserve]

I read the book and fucking hated the movie adaptation of World War Z, with a fucking passion.

 

[Goon Dog]

Z for me. I thought WOTW jumped to an all-of-a-sudden shortcut ending that ruined the story for me. It's like you're trapped in a forest fire, have exhausted all options and just as you're about to die - it starts raining like hell and saves you. Cheap storytelling.

 

[Bballfan123]

War of the worlds is a legitimate masterpiece

The only SCARY major studio movie of the millennium.

Wwz is good. Maybe even great. But wotw is a cinematic masterpiece. The scene in the basement is the only scene this century that still gives me chills on a rewatch. Robbins' character's descent into madness is so believable after losing his family. The kids only cry like 2 times, and it's during an aloen invasion. If you think a 9 year old girl wouldnt cry after seeing society collapse you might be stupid.

The boat scene? Amazing.

Wwz is an action movie wotw is straight horror at parts. Much more desperate ad hoc believable action. Wwz is more christlike and "controlled". Wotw there are no heroes it is a much more desperate struggle and i salute the director for that because literally every other movie this century the humans somehow always save the day even when it makes no sense. Not WotW

Both movies weak point is the ending. But the son in wotw isn't a " hero", hes portrayed as a stupid brave young man who gets lucky. He doesnt save the day. Also that's exactly the plot of the book.

Wwz does have the super cool scene where zombies climb the wall and the initial outbreak is probably the best zombie scene in any movie I've seen. I like wwz but wotw is amazing

 

[jimbob27]

Easy one. War of the Worlds was good, and world war z was crap.

 

[Bballfan123]

"NOT MY BLOOD! NOT MY BLOOD!"

The ending is supposed to be a copout. Its a metaphor for colonization of sub saharan Africa. The all powerful invaders are completely curbstomping the locals then get extremely sick with ebola and all the nasty viruses down there and immediately give up and leave. Just like the movie. Thats the whole point, the "locals" dont win because they are better fighters but because of germs.

 

[PBAC]

War of the Worlds is a severely under rated movie. Z is completely over rated and pisses on the title it's copied from.

 

[Mr.Maelstrom]

I'll go with Worlds. Much more cohesive, Z was not only a poor adaptation of the source material, it was a fucking mess behind the scenes with Brad and the director eventually refusing to speak to one another. While films like Worlds, The Mist, Cloverfield etc. signaled a switch in how alien/monster attacks would be depicted in the wake of 911.

Compare the camp and feel good energy of a film like Independence Day to how horrific the deaths in Worlds were, even the anesthetics of people stumbling around in a sea of smoldering grays, replicating the scenes from ground zero. These were no longer the kind of films where the kids could never die or the heroes saved the day by the time credits rolled.

Another example would be Godzilla 98 compared to Cloverfield. One was essentially an attempt at making jurassic Park in New York, complete with baby zillas that served as the raptors while the other committed to the horror, steered clear of any feel good resolutions and made you watch every attempt to escape the city alive fail miserably until they nuke Central Park and every character dies.

The 2000's carried an underlying cynicism that was palpable, the kind of fear/grief that the 90s largely didn't engage in

 

[stalehotdog]

War of the the worlds rocked! Thinly veiled brag. My old friend and mentor had a small but memorable role in the film. He played the soldier that saved Tom cruise from being sucked into the alien tube where he drops the grenades.

 

[Otto!]

War of the Worlds for me.

WWZ is not even close to the book that inspired it.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

War of the Worlds for sure. It's one of my favorite Tom Cruise movie.

 

[GolovKing]

World war z sucked to me. The zombies were some of the goofiest ones I've seen.