They have arrived and there's nothing we can do to stop them.

Rating: 9/10 (1 July 2005)

Warning, since I'm not quite sure what I'm going to type, this may contain a spoiler.
I just got back from seeing War of the Worlds and I must say, I was very impressed. I had heard about the original radio broadcast and had a vague idea of the plot, but I really had no idea what to expect from the movie. After being disappointed in a few recent Tom Cruise films (The Last Samurai, Minority Report to name a couple), I was not expecting much from him. However much like Collateral, I was pleasantly surprised in this film.
The plot of the movie itself now seems unoriginal (although when War of the Worlds was first published, I'm sure it seemed much more original), but it was an entertaining film. It managed to be suspenseful even though the outcome of the movie was foreseeable from the very beginning.
However, as much as I enjoyed the film, I have three complaints. My first two are just small complaints, but complaints none the less. At the beginning of the film when the "lightning storm" hits New York around Ray's (Tom Cruise) house, all the electrical devices stop working. However, one man continues to film the machine, and his camera still works. This continuity error stuck out like a sore thumb and was quite distracting from the going ons in the film. My second complaint is another "convenient mistake" in the film. When Ray, Robbie and Rachel arrive at their mother's place and hide in the basement, a plane crashes and destroys almost the entire house and everything around it. However, the van (which was parked right in front of the house) was completely undamaged despite all the damage around it.
My third complaint is about the plot itself. The end of the movie was very weak. It didn't sum up anything and nothing was really solved. It was almost as if Steven Spielberg decided "Ok, I'm out of ideas. Screw it, let's just end the movie." However, despite these complaints, War of the Worlds was an awesome movie and is right up there with Batman Begins as my favourite movie of the year. I give it 9/10.