War of the Worldshas been met with overwhelmingly negative reviews since its release earlier this month, and the modern remake of H.G. Wells’ iconic sci-fi story has done irreparable damage to an otherwise interesting and creative filmmaking trend. The movie is framed entirely through a computer screen recording, and unfortunately, doesn’t come close to achieving the greatness ofSteven Spielberg’s 2005 movie.
The movie stars Ice Cube as a computer analyst working for the American government, who soon realizes that Earth faces an existential threat and begins to investigate the phenomenon on his computer. Thankfully,War of the Worldsisn’t the only movie to utilize this unique filming method—although it’s certainly one of the worst.
Missing Does The Computer Screen Idea Much Better Than War Of The Worlds
DespiteWar of the Worlds’ inability to make the screen recording concept look like anything more than a gimmick, there are actually a handful of movies from the past few years that pull it off to great effect.Missingis the strongest example, telling the story ofa young girl named June who uses her computer to track down her motherafter she goes missing during her vacation.
Just likeWar of the Worlds,the story ofMissingtakes place entirely through June’s computer. Unlike Rich Lee’s underwhelming adaptation, though, this project has a clear sense of purpose and minimalism that makes the narrative really stand out. Instead of aiming for huge set pieces and action spectacles that simplycan’tbe recreated on a computer screen,Missingfocuses more on its characters.
Missingis a film that understands the limits of no physical locations, andinstead places the characters themselves at the center of the story, trusting that their natural dialogue and human interactions will be enough to get viewers invested in the story. WhereWar of the Worldsreceived bad reviewsfor its failure to capture scope and magnitude,Missingremoves this from the story entirely.
It also helps thatMissingisn’t trying to be an action movie; it’s a pure mystery, and the use of computer technology helps June investigate her mother’s whereabouts in real time. There’s a clear reasonwhyshe’s spending all this time on the computer, whereasWar of the Worldsfeels incredibly forced and unrealisticgiven the destruction happening outside.
The main difference between these two projects is thatMissingfeels likea movie written especially for this concept, integrating computer technology into the narrative in fun and creative ways. Conversely,War of the Worldswas never a story that was intended to be told from a single room, and Rich Lee’s adaptation proves exactly why.
