The Great Martian War 1913–1917 (2013)
Documentary-drama recounting the Martian War of 1913–1917. Europe was on tenterhooks in the 2nd decade of the 20th century, everyone was expecting a Great War between the major European powers. But then, in 1913, something crashed into the forests of SW Germany. Troops were sent to investigate but were wiped out. Martian fighting machines began making their way across Western Europe and the countries of Europe combined forces to resist them. With aspects taken from ‘The War of the Worlds’ by H.G. Wells and from WWI itself, this dramatisation presents a documentary style look at events as they unfolded and the effect they had of our world today. Lots of references to real events including the mass attacks and defeats as men were thrown against machines on the Western front, the Christmas truce and the Angel of Mons, America's isolationism and late entry into the conflict, the worldwide Spanish flu epidemic that killed more people than the war, and many other things.
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One of the worst movies I've ever seen
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Very imaginative and well executed, plays like a genuine History Channel documentary. This "mockumentary" is not for laughs, but a fascinating vehicle for science fiction. I have long wished that someone would make a movie based on "War of the Worlds," and keep the setting in H. G. Wells' era when the concept of alien technology would be beyond the imagination of the people of those times. While this is not that story, this film comes closest to fulfilling my wish.
I watched this BBC production "The Great Martian War" and found it a hoot to watch, especially for those that have spent the last several years watching History, History International, PBS and/or BBC productions sealing with historical events such as WWII, the Depression, Rise of Hitler, etc.Yes, as the previous viewer says, they re-use the same "historical" film clips from the War (1913-1918) over and over and over. Because that is EXACTLY what they do in the shows they are making a parody of!! Plus, think about it-- how many bits of film do you suppose you'd SEE from the Martian War? Watch a documentary on WWI and see how many times you see the same clips. If I had a beef with technique, it would not be the low budget graphics (which, again, lends itself to being a "documentary", not a sci-fi movie) but the fact that the past interviews seen in the film, although they go for the quality of film or video for the time still seem a bit out of sync. The 1990s interviews, for instance are still a bit too clear for video transfer. The 1970s look more like 1980s videotape, for instance.Of some interest is how they splice the history of WWI into an alternate history of the Great Martian War. The rise of underwater sea war and power (for instance), the general use of new technology for warfare, the sinking of the "Aquitania" that begins to drive the Americans to enter the War, etc. Even the end-- with the spread of the "Martian Flu", parallels the spread of Spanish Flu after WWI. All and all, I'd say a "documentary" to be seen by those fans of the History Channel (back when it played history shows) and historical documentaries in general. If you are looking for "The Avengers" science fiction, go look somewhere else.
I completely disagree with the first reviewer (JoeB131). This was an original idea done well. The historical footage was well modified, and the story mostly hung together. I enjoyed it a great deal.The quality of the CG was, I believe, deliberate. It would have looked out of place to have high quality CG in the middle of historical footage. The interviews were fascinating. They did liberally borrow from any part of the world they wanted to and from any time period.The story did not follow the original tale, but that is to be expected in this kind of adaptation. Over all, well done.
Wow, wouldn't it be cool if they did a documentary on H.G. Wells The War of the Worlds like that was a real thing? Well, maybe. and maybe, someday that movie will be made.What they did here was take some stock footage from World War I, and then interpose bad CGI versions of Martian War Machines. And obviously, they thought that aping the History Channel's style would be interesting, but it really wasn't.I think in the first ten minutes, they used the same shots four or five times.So the plot is that Martians have landed in Germany, and instead of WWI being fought against Germany, it is fought against the Martians. And they put in a bunch of fake interviews with old people and fake scholars.And I promise, we are going to make these same recycled shots interesting.