KennyR wrote:
It might just work, if Spielberg keeps the atmosphere of hopelessness and powerlessness that pervades the book. The adventure apect of WOTW has already been explored, and is limited. I mean, Wells made these aliens eat human flesh and drink blood, so they're not nice things. They're intelligent, ruthless, and totally alien.
All of the emotional aspects of the book should be put on screen - the fear and suspense of the alien's arrival, and the utter hopelessness when mankind is swept aside easily by the alien war machines, and the dispair when they know their world is gone.
WOTW just wouldn't work in a modern context as there have been much more fearful aliens in cinema than Wells's martians.
This is why it must reflect the times in which it was written; there was a pervading sense of arrogance in society at the time that Wells tapped into, not to mention building paranoia about the rising tensions in Europe at the time that would ultimately lead to World War One.
Wells wasn't shy to show the darker side to humanity in WOTW either. The artilleryman and curate both represent powerful forces (the military and church) that become impotent and ultimately self destructive in the face of the martian invasion.
Wells also wrote "Things To Come" in the 30s which foretold of an apocalyptic war in the 1940s, where bacterial warefare and blitzkreig played a huge part. It also describes a "United Nations" type organisation bringing peace once more after decades of conflict.
