Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Léa Drucker, Gabriel Byrne, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Natasha Little, Bayo Gbadamosi, Ty Tennant, Stephen Campbell Moore, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Paul Gorostidi, Mathieu Torloting, Stéphane Caillard, Emilie de Preissac, Adel Bencherif, Aaron Heffernan, Ania Sowinski, Pearl Chande, Thom Ashley, Oliver Zetterström, Leo Bill, Féodor Atkine, Robert Emms, Elizabeth McGovern.
The writers, cast, and creatives behind the combined efforts of Fox Networks Group and the StudioCanal backed Urban Myth Films enterprising adaption of H. G. Wells’ classic War Of The Worlds, have done more for the writers’ work than Tom Cruise and the B.B.C. put together. Even though it has barely the vaguest of links to the godfather of science fiction’s incredible tale, it still seems to respect the idea in more ways than any other, with the notable exception of the great Jeff Wayne and teasing Orson Wells, who have tried and failed almost miserably to capture the mood, the brilliance of the man and his mind-blowing imagination.
It may only share a title and brief premise, but Howard Overman’s take on the classic does allow the television viewer to think on our own course of destruction, and if we can see beyond our own existence, and maybe even our grandchildren’s, then perhaps we might stand a chance of future generations looking back at us with wonder and thanks, rather than the rage and the anger that we are currently heading for.
War Of The Worlds asks the pertinent question of what if, what if there is no other life in the universe that wants to contact us, even wish to wage war or engage in conflict with us, and our enemy, the one that has long been mooted as being pivotal in uniting humanity, is actually ourselves. What if? The great conundrum which adopts the notion of other timelines that co-exist just out of sight, the admission of a small adjustment in one person’s actions which can cause ripples in time. It is no wonder that the future hates us, we have done everything in our power to ensure every possible action has its own way of dealing death out in the millennia to come.
The second series continues the groundwork that was laid down with intrigue in the initial encounter with a huge amount of dedication, and as with other dystopian greats, it is a series that is not averse to kill of a popular character to show that as in life, there is no favouritism when it comes to telling a story correctly.
It is to this applied belief that the actors understand their range, that they breathe what could be their last moment on screen with sizeable truth, and in passionate performances by Daisy Edgar-Jones, Léa Drucker, Féodor Atkine, Gabriel Byrne and Aimee-Ffion Edwards, the series holds together the idealism of the genre and the fear of what the future holds for humanity in the same reverence as the original author intended.
With a third series greenlit, it will be interesting to see how the story will progress, however, what is not in doubt is the viewer’s appetite for the dystopia brought upon ourselves by our own folly and want. War Of The Worlds is a modern day adaptation which at least is respectful of the source material.
Ian D. Hall