War of the Worlds: it's all about family values

Nice Annalee Newitz piece on War of the Worlds in which she wonders:

As everybody embraces, Tom's estranged son finally calls him "Dad." Ah yes, the balance of things has been restored: for, after all, as the voice-over explains, "Man has bought his birthright of the Earth." There is no mention of woman. Doesn't it seem weird that a movie which has updated the entire 19th-century scenario of War of the Worlds—moving it from 1898 London to 2005 Brooklyn -— doesn't update the repeated use of the word "man" to describe all of humanity? I mean, while you're transforming your main character from an effete writer to a burly dock worker, why not say that "humanity has bought its birthright of the Earth"?

She also draws attention to the lame, abrupt ending and weird use of the voice-over. The voice-over is rarely a good idea. It's a literary device imported from books (where we accept an omniscient narrator) only awkwardly to films and television, which tell stories primarily through images, not words.

One thinks of the original release of Blade Runner, which used voice-over by Harrison Ford (at least he appeared in the movie) to cover some of the awkward cuts made by the producers and the happy ending they tacked on ("Tyrell had told me Rachael was special: no termination date"). The "director's cut" re-release dispensed with the voice-over, and the film appeared as designed. I wonder if WOTW could survive having the narration removed.

Annalee Newitz, War of the Worlds, Blade Runner