Aliens want to kill Tom Cruise. No, they are not from Europe.

Rating: 7/10 (5 July 2005)

I think everybody that voted here gave this movie a 7. It was everything it was supposed to be, nothing more, nothing less. We all know (or at least heard of) the book of H.G.Wells, the aliens come, they wreak havoc, then they die.
The performance of Tom Cruise was a bit of a surprise, I mean, we all know he is a capable actor, he just shows it so rarely. In this movie I think he caught the essence of his character very well. Maybe it was a good casting choice and good directing, but I choose to believe it was Tom Cruise's merit. Thumbs up for him.
The differences between this movie and the 1953 one are more realistic human behaviors and, of course, cool special effects. Also, I thought it was interesting to change the classic couple in distress with a single dad and his children. I came to regret that thought when the girl child kept alternating between annoying shouting and annoying silences. How a father could have loved that one is a story in itself.
To me it seemed that the movie borrowed from Mars Attacks. It felt funny to see influences from a parody of such movies into such a movie.
Some of the things in the movie were really misplaced, though. The video camera working where all the electrical devices had stopped (as well as mechanical watches, a tribute to the original movie, but lost without any explanation or continuation, for example. I didn't like to see Tim Robbins in such a secondary role, which he played great, like always. I hated those brats with every fiber of my being and I actually felt sorry to see that the boy survived. I thought that the idea of the machines being buried in the ground then "manned" by teleported aliens was silly. It was much more logical to assume that the machines were teleported into the ground or something like that. How can one take the undertaking of invading Earth, burring killer machines (beneath cities?!), and not do a bio study? I didn't like Morgan "The Voice" Freeman doing just two audio bits for the movie. Give the man a role! Change the script!
I liked Tom Cruise and the attempt to show a little mars forming of Earth. I liked the effects, sort of. They are not fantastic, don't expect too much, but I thought they were OK. It's OK to watch. Independence Day with a little brain on top. Unfortunately, that's a precious commodity these days.