Product Description

From Paramount Pictures comes the motion picture event of the year: War of the Worlds, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise. A contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells' seminal classic, the sci-fi adventure thriller reveals the extraordinary battle for the future of humankind through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it. The soundtrack features original music by Academy Award winner John Williams (Schindler's List, Star Wars, Jaws, E.T., Harry Potter) with narration by Morgan Freeman.

Track Listing

1. Prologue
2. Escape From The City
3. Reaching The Country
4. The Intersection Scene
5. Ray And Rachel
6. The Ferry Scene
7. Probing The Basement
8. Refugee Status
9. The Attack On The Car
10. The Separation Of The Family
11. The Confrontation With Ogilvy
12. The Return To Boston
13. Escape From The Basket
14. The Reunion
15. Epilogue

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10832 in Music
• Released on: 2005-06-27
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .23 pounds
• Running time: 61 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
John Williams continues his longtime collaboration with Steven Spielberg in this adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel of the same name (previously filmed in 1953). Considering that the movie depicts a gigantic Martian invasion, you¹d think Williams would have fully gone into his familiar bombastic mode, but he's refrained from doing so. While the composer makes full use of the outsize orchestra at his disposal, he prefers juxtaposing layers and building atmosphere rather than hitting you over the head with dramatic arias. "The Intersection Scene," for instance, begins slowly and minimally, then progressively builds into an ominous pounding; Williams then inserts spooky, otherworldly banshee-like effects that escalate into a frenzied pitch before abruptly disappearing as the track begins its descent back towards calm. The sound is genuinely scary and could lead to a spike in blood pressure among impressionable list eners without the help of visuals. "Probing the Basement" is another example of Williams masterfully building anxiety. War of the Worlds culminates with "Escape from the Basket," in which Williams methodically builds tension over close to ten minutes. And refreshingly, even when the action picks up, he mostly avoids the clichéd thundering timpani that often plague this type of score. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews

Definitely not his best
Because I am so accustomed to being continually impressed by John Williams’ work, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed with War of The Worlds. The soundtrack’s atmosphere and tension is expertly woven such as “Probing the Basement” and the sustained “Escape from the Basket” and the panic is obvious in tracks like “The Intersection and Ferry Scenes” but nothing particularly grabbed me for an eager second listen. My favourite moments are the broken piano solos that echo as if they are lost but these are too few. I was hoping it would grow on me but it hasn’t yet.

Riveting and best of all: frightening
I've always been a fan of John Williams and this soundtrack is no different to his others in the sense that it is bloody brilliant and fits with the film perfectly. 'Probing the basement' is a favorite - I actually get tense and a little wary every time i listen to it. 'The intersection scene' is another good track - forboding and scary, it represents exactly what you see in the film and I can't help but replay the sequence in my head every time I hear it. Fantastic.

Atmospheric*
The popular British actor/writer/director Stephen Fry once described John Williams' music as "always sounding like the film it accompanies", and this is certainly true of Steven Spielberg's "The War of the Worlds".

Morgan Freeman's voice, featured in tracks 1 and 14, is more of a treat than an irritation as his narration is strong (as are words of H.G. Wells) and it bookends the score excellently. "The Ferry Scene" and "Escape From the City" showcase Williams' musical style at its most urgent and frenzied, and while some may see the brass and percussion as a noise, it becomes evident over time just how well thought out and structured it actually is.

"Ray and Rachel" perfectly encapsulates the complexity of this father and daughter's relationship, while "Probing the Basement" is a study in edge-of-your-seat tension, which Spielberg and Williams have come to perfect over their collaborative careers. "The Attack on the Car" offers music that appears to have been cut from the film where Spielberg preferred to play the scene with only sound effects.

The most triumphant track is "The Return to Boston", interspersed as it is with military-style music as the US Army takes down a Tripod. "The Escape from the Basket", however, is the one weak track on the CD, as it basically features a low rumble for the first 6 minutes before reaching a crescendo.

For those who found the music for the final scene of the film a little depressing, "The Reunion" offers an alternative, more uplifting, composition for piano. The CD ends with the slow, mournful tunes of "Epilogue", seemingly reminding us of all that the characters were forced to got through to reach their happy ending.

Fans of Williams' score for "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" will think that a lot of the music seems familiar, but there is still enough new material and variety to keep it dynamic and interesting.

*I had written a review for this CD previously, but decided to adjust it as it was no longer an accurate portrayal of how I feel about the music: perhaps it was because I first listened to this soundtrack on the same day as I listened to Hans Zimmer's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", which blew my mind so much that I didn't give this one the attention or the recognition that it deserved.