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22 Review »

1. 

   Dude, awesome edit, I loathed the original version of this movie, but you removed everything I disliked about this film (except for T.Cruises bad acting, not your fault). BUT I would like to have the DVD version of this but can only find the .avi version on torrent, could you point me in the right direction? Anyway, 9/10, only because I dislike Cruise.

   Review by merce777 — July 28, 2009 @ 12:17 am

2. 

   I really liked it, the ending threw me off a bit but I after a while I got used to it. I think you overused the fade in and out thing a little to much but all together I liked it.

   Review by BestofDBZ1 — July 28, 2009 @ 7:18 am

3. 

   I loved your original work in version 1.This and another two edits were the reason I even got into this hobby. Looking forward to seeing your new ver 2

   Review by tranzor — July 29, 2009 @ 2:10 am

4. 

   That was an awesome fanedit. The removal of Ogilvy – THANK YOU! The new ending – THANK YOU! The plot corrections – THANK YOU!
   And a beautiful DVD.

   Review by walls83 — July 30, 2009 @ 7:47 am

5. 

   You have once again excelled yourself Boon! Great edit 10/10 from me for video and audio plus a great DVD with awesome artwork.

   Review by searcher — August 1, 2009 @ 4:23 pm

6. 

   *MILD SPOILERS AHEAD*

   The great thing about this fanedit is that the movie feels much, much more like an old Spielberg movie. That great sense of timing, that great eye for detail and that sense of rhythm that the once great director has now mostly lost.

   This fanedit gave me that feeling of awe I had as a kid when I watched Jaws, Duel or Raiders of the Lost Ark.

   Ray is no longer a superhero but an average Joe trying to cope with extraordinary events and sometimes failing miserably. The removal of Tim Robbins has much more impact than I originally thought it would; the cellar scene is now much more suspensful and like I pointed out above, now feels like a good old Spielberg movie. The whole thing not only flows much better but also makes a lot more sense both on an emotional level and on a “realistic” level which is much needed in a movie about aliens from outer space destroying the human race.

   If I had to nitpick, I’d say even more scenes could have been removed; Ray’s character “dramatically” throwing a peanut butter toast at the window should have been cut; it’s a scene right out of an Austin Powers movie and absolutely doesn’t work. And what I like to call the zombie attack on Ray’s car should have been cut or trimmed as well. It’s simply ridiculous. A couple of other moments had me cringe but the overall impact of the changes that were made drowned out the gripes I had and I was quickly drawn back into the movie.

   The movie comes with two endings thru seemless branching; the extinctive cut and the purist cut. The former is a brand new ending for the movie created from scratch but unfortunately did not work at all for me. The change in narrative style is too drastic and clashes with the rest of the movie. I can see what the editor tried to create but it simply fails at its mission as it was impossible to pull off. Only a close approximation could be created, and this is what we got. The purist ending works much, much better; it’s the original ending re-edited to make sense in the context of this fanedit and again in observance of early Spielberg brilliance. This is the ending you should watch, in this reviewer’s eyes.

   The DVD is a typical CBB release, which means its presentation is flawless. Great menus, a choice of subtitles and extras (which include a fascinating comparison of the shack scene) all make watching the whole thing an experience rather than just watching a two hour movie.

   8/10

   Review by blueyoda — August 4, 2009 @ 4:59 am

7. 

   Spielberg’s version of War Of The Worlds is quite forgettable considering the talent involved and the intention of the director to show only the point of view of the lead (Cruise) sometimes takes away from the spectacle. Even at points Cruise looks at things that we never get the pleasure of seeing. Also the cinematography is flat, bleached and unfocused for no discernible reason.

   This “Extinctive” version by CBB still has that bleached and unfocused look. The editing is seamless in the first-half.

   The story progresses nicely until Cruise loses his son and he makes his way to a cellar with his daughter. Here we have the attack of the “Fade To Blacks”, which really takes away from the flow of the story. It also gives this FanEdit the feeling of being altered and abridged.

   At one point, in the cellar, Cruise looks out a window, then calls out to his daughter and runs to her. There is a very abrupt cut before he reaches the door, which is awkward as a necessary shot is clearly missing. Maybe simply cutting from the Cruise close-up at the window to him and his daughter lying together on the sofa would have been smoother.

   The logic of destroying the planet surface to defeat the alien at the detriment of human-kind seems illogical considering the many implications it produces. How is it made clear that these weapons can penetrate the alien force fields established as impregnable by the TV crew and shown in action during the battle? Also, this new ending is a god-like over-view of the destruction, which is at odds with the conscious style of the first three quarters.

   5/10

   Review by Rock Savage — August 4, 2009 @ 9:28 am

8. 

   Thanks, great work on this one.

   Not too fond of every change of scene, but then, how often does that happen? Really liked most that was done.
   The movie, for some reason, doesn’t feel really -complete- to me, as if something’s a bit off. Wonder why.

   8/10 for me, improving upon the original.

   Review by spelledaren — August 4, 2009 @ 1:51 pm

9. 

   Great edit! I saw The Extinctive Cut .AVI tonight (a rainy and Stormy night, pefect for that movie!) and I found it very good.
   The rhythm was a none stop, the tension was high. You know, I always liked the original movie even if I sometime told myself “this scene was not needed. The pacing here is off, etc…” But actualy watching the movie with those changes really was a treat to me!
   The only thing that taken me off was some shots of the new ending from a very well known movie… Maybe the purist cut should be more for me.
   So: -1 because of some few shots, +9 because it turned a movie that like into a movie that I love!

   Review by TMBTM — August 7, 2009 @ 10:52 pm

10. 

    Watched this a few days ago with the wife and really enjoyed it. The shack scenes were brilliant and a vast improvement on the original. The new ending took me right out of the movie for a moment, but the storytelling and feel of this new ending was excellent and left me really thinking about it in that way.

    Right after we watched the new ending, we watched the ‘purist’ ending and although this looked better in terms of editing, it left me feeling like, ‘well, was that it?’ Just like it did when I first saw the theatrical release. So for me, in terms of storytelling, it’s the new ending that gets my vote.

    Review by Metrostar — August 8, 2009 @ 4:50 pm

11. 

    This was really a good movie. I watched both endings and I like the extinctive one a lot better. But it is great to have an option. The removal of Robbins was the best improvement ever. 9 stars.

    Review by xGrind — September 2, 2009 @ 9:43 am

12. 

    This is one of the most personally important fan edits I’ve seen. Sometimes I feel like I must have been the only person to love the original cut of this film, and endured a lot of flack from my friends because of this opinion. Still, the happy ending in Boston was one of the worst possible plot developments I have ever seen. I would be hard pressed to think of a more disappointing movie experience than seeing Tom’s son still alive and happy with his mom in Boston. Makes me angry just thinking about it. Your removal of Tim Robbins was so ambitious I never would have even contemplated it, but was a great touch. Other small edits were much appreciated.

    Hard to know how to give a particular star rating to an edit with two drastically different endings. I thought the Extinctive cut was… good, I couldn’t have hoped for it to be done much better, but of course nobody would expect it to be perfect. In the end I’m rounding up to 9 stars, due to my immense happiness at Tom’s son dying.

    Review by CasmirRadon — November 1, 2009 @ 9:43 pm

13. 

    The audio is not true 5.1. Dialogue should be isolated to the centre channel, not coming from all five. Huge oversight considering this is a sci-fi/action movie. The video is noticeably grainy and soft. Looks more like a xvid than a DVD (yes, I watched the DVD version). Gave up after 30 minutes.

    Very disappointing for a CBB release.

    5/10

    Review by Adabisi — November 14, 2009 @ 3:35 am

14. 

    Thanks for another great edit boon.
    As mentioned above by Rock Savage, there was one wtf moment when, in the shack, Ray call out to his daughter and runs to her.

    Everything else was great.
    FYI, I prefer the second ending, where the world doesn’t get blowed up real good.

    8/10

    Review by zeppelinrox — November 15, 2009 @ 5:04 pm

15. 

    Finally got round to watching v2. It’s an ambitious fanedit, and given what Spielberg left for (fan)editors to work with, a difficult one. Sure, there may be some issues – i actually didn’t notice anything too distracting in the shack sequence -, but even so i feel any they are not major. I really like the extinctive ending. It’s brutal, yes, but does take the picture away from Spielberg’s “happy end formula”, showing, IMHO, a bit more respect for the audience’s intelligence. And the last line whispered by Fanning was very well placed. That’s the Cut i’ll be watching and showing off to friends. The Purist ending may suffer from the lack of voice-over to fully expose what caused the demise of the aliens, another reason i prefer the EC.Very good DVD presentation – great menus and always happy to see editors going the extra-mile in providing subtitles.

    In conclusion, an 8 outta 10.

    Review by jjrdias — November 19, 2009 @ 2:35 am

16. 

    An exceelent edit. Makes this somewhat disappointing movie much more fast-paced and exciting.

    Review by flyboy707 — December 14, 2009 @ 9:43 pm

17. 

    Finally this is a good science fiction movie. Beats the original so easily. I love the new ending and the cellar scene without Robbins. The final sentence “Are we still alive?” is a perfect ending. That president sounded like an actor from another movie, but I don’t remember it. Care to share the information?

    Review by vanderbreen — January 10, 2010 @ 1:51 pm

18. 

    This movie was ruined from the get go. All the crowds magically know where the safety zones are being set up at, and of course they all move in herds making them selves easy prey…

    …actually, come to think of it, moving in herds and making themselves easy prey does kind of sound like a lot of people I know…

    Of course there is the fact that Tom Cruise is in it, with his 2 dimensional acting, though thankfully he wasn’t quite as Tom in this movie, then again I could not help but remember who I was staring at and how stale the characters were.

    Anyhow, aside of the fact that this edit is about a lost cause, I still got to hand it to the editor for doing such a great job! Everything was edited beautifully and seamlessly till the end. The whole scene where Tom Cruise puts a grenade up the walker’s reversed rectum did not work out well because right after they fall, you suddenly see his daughter looking off into the horizon, then it suddenly switches to a bunch of people walking to the fall out shelter. I felt everything ran smooth up until that moment. Perhaps if the editor would have paused on the girl’s staring scene, then faded it out slowly, while fading into the crowds walking to the fall out shelter.

    Then again, how did the crowds all know where the fall out shelter was? You’d think that communications would pretty much be wiped out at this point, and mass organization and planning impossible. It wasn’t like people could sit on the comfort of their couches, eagerly waiting on new instruction from the TV to guide them along, and I’m sure all the Radio DJ’s went home, or died in their studios.

    I think what I would have done is try to find a way to provide an ending where we just presume they are dead, but given that I’m only a fan of this film’s effects, I don’t think I’ll be taking on that effort and will end by saying that if you are a fan, this is probably the best version you can watch at the moment. My complaints aside (most of them not the editor’s fault), this is a drastic improvement over the original with it’s typical Steven Spielberg ending.

    Review by Syfo-Dyas — February 14, 2010 @ 9:51 am

19. 

    I watched the extinctive cut avi tonight and really enjoyed it

    The story was really good i enjoyed the whole thing.

    Well done!

    However the movie is not perfect by removing lots of the bad stuff there are a few moments that dont move smoothly …. but thats not a problem for me, it didnt ruin anything, i was into the story and if there are a few too many fades im a forgiving viewer and im enjoying the ride im on. That also goes for the new ending … as a viewer i know the ending is majorly altered but i go with the flow and i think it works. Its not perfect but its good and its entertaining and thats what i want from a movie.

    Excellent 9/10!

    Review by jelio — May 2, 2010 @ 7:45 am

20. 

    Masterful! Just watched the extintive edition from your dvd and all I have to say is this movie is now perfect! Hollywood should give you a job ! Thanks for fixing this movie!!!

    Review by student1 — September 1, 2010 @ 4:35 am

21. 

    This has been my first encounter with Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (FE.org rules only stipulate one has to *own* the original DVD, not *watch* it), and I can’t begin to imagine the total and absolute horror that must dwell in the theatrical version, as despite Boon’s work being clearly excellent as usual, I had to force myself to keep watching it. Problem is, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about that badly written stock TV movie family, about Tom Cruise being totally unable to be even remotely believable as a working class Joe (that opening sequence of him operating machinery got me thinking of Jennifer Beals’ steel worker at the beginning of Flashdance!) or about uncle Steven’s usual and tiresome parenthood obsession. I kept waiting for them to get vaporized or eaten or whatever by the aliens, and in a movie that depends entirely on the audience caring about the characters that’s not exactly a good thing. Of the elements from the original, only Dakota Fanning’s performance was worth it. That kid is amazing. Her dialogue is not.

    This said, on a purely fanediting level, it was amazing! Boon delivers again. I don’t know how big Tim Robbins’ role was in the original, since his part does not appear in the deleted scenes section, but one would never guess there was an extra character there. Boon went a long way to delete him from individual shots, and did so masterfully. Be sure to check out the comparative featurette on the subject! We’re also presented with two different endings to choose from, and I must say I vastly preferred the totally original and much darker Exctinctive one, warts and all. Kudos as well to the special guest President of the USA, great voice and delivery. Yet I, once again, thought that some extra bits should have been excised, particularly that baseball sequence in the first act. Enough with the fatherhood thing, Steven! It’s not meaningful as character development, we’ll get plenty of the same estrangement cliché later from the son, and just slows things down. Not a fan of the peanut butter sequence either, at least half of it should have gone.

    Overall I’m giving this a 7/10. Not Boon’s fault at all, it’s just the movie is not for me. I greatly *admired* this fanedit, I wish I could say I *enjoyed* it as well.

    Review by DwightFry78 — October 15, 2010 @ 10:01 pm

22. 

    As the reviewer above wrote, “I’m giving this a 7/10. Not Boon’s fault at all… I greatly *admired* this fanedit, I wish I could say I *enjoyed* it as well.”
    There was a vast improvement, and if Boon was in the editor’s role for Speilberg and the studio, this could have been awesome – though Tim Robbins would have gotten no paycheck.
    Editing: 9/10, Movie in Fanedit Form: 7/10

    Review by veggieguy12 — March 13, 2011 @ 2:40 pm

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