A truly awful film from an otherwise good director

Rating: 4/10 (5 August 2006)

Why does Spielberg consistently insert the theme of a flawed parent trying to redeem themselves into so many of his films? Why do people who want to make good movies continue to book Tom Cruise, when there are so many good actors out there that can do a better job? Why do directors make unnecessary remakes of classic films that just don't need to be remade? Why do scriptwriters always try to update old stories by choosing the wrong things to update? There is so much wrong with this movie that I don't know where to begin. Let me start by saying that with the most advanced CGI-effects and a huge budget at their disposal, the makers of this film could have made a monumental tribute to the Wells Novel by actually doing a RETRO remake of the film; it would have been a very clever use of the special effects technology to set the film in the 1890s, and recreate Victorian England, when the book actually takes place.
They could have stuck to the book and told the story from the point of view of the actual main character in the book, who was a scientist making detailed observations about the martians and their technology and tactics. Instead, we get the contrived story of a divorced schmuck running from the invaders with his kids. We don't get the Science Fiction. We get dysfunctional family pseudo drama.
Instead of exploring the moralities of colonialism and invasion, we get superficial homages to the superior George Pal film. Instead of effects that help the narrative, by revealing visually what cannot be conveyed without extra dialog, we get monsters and walls of flame. Instead of the many intelligent possible ways of translating Wells novel to film, we get fluff and confusion. Oh, yeah, and Tom Cruise makes a few anguished faces like he does in every film, because that's all he's good for.
Yah, I'm being cruel, but the film deserves it. Spielberg can make better films than this. I've actually seen films from Spielberg that mixed a great script with great actors, and great special effects, along with a story that grips. War Of the Worlds had a crappy script, an over-rated leading man whose only talent is his face, a story that bore no resemblance to the great story in the original novel (or even the 1953 film), and special effects that were nothing more than window dressing. Spielberg's War of the Worlds is a truly awful film.