Steven Spielberg's The War of the Worlds features an unexpected attack that throws regular people into a terrifying situation. Released in 2005, only four years after 9/11, it's clear by this point Hollywood was coming to terms with what happened. And it's not just in the events of the film that it's invoking the attacks either; visually the film leans heavily on footage of that day. People walking dazed past downed planes and destroyed buildings, families cowering as explosions ring out and, most striking, victims coated in dust; the film is not only entering the same territory, but actually invoking the tragedy. Being a large scale attack in a metropolitan area, something movies so often went for, it really was only a matter of time before cinema started to integrate the imagery of 9/11 into its toolbox. If a film features an attack in any form, particularly in a contemporary setting, odds are the video from new reports are a close visual reference. The zenith of this is Cloverfield. In essence a 9/11 monster movies, everything about it is built on how the tragedy unfolded. The monsters is unexpected and unexplained, throwing the people of New York into terror without them understanding why. Shot from a camcorder it feels incredibly modern; the shot of citizens quietly pausing to snap photos of the Statue of Liberty's severed head seem a little silly, but it's pretty on the money. Since then it's only escalated, with a trait dubbed destruction-porn becoming increasingly prevalent in effects-heavy cinema; the likes of Man Of Steel boast destruction that makes 9/11 look insignificant.
