It's all praise for Spielberg's perspective.

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2005)

Steven Spielberg. Tom Cruise. An H. G. Wells classic. Do we need more names? Do we need more hype? But that's where the problem is. We tend to expect too much. We expected it would be another masterpiece by the director. No, "War of the Worlds" is not Spielberg's masterpiece. His "Minority Report" with Cruise was even better. But what I dislike is how we thrash everything that doesn't meet our rising demands. Some critics described it as "major disappointment of the year" or "worst Spielberg film"! Excuse me?! What more can you possibly want of this story that you've read a hundred times since childhood? I'm glad that Spielberg didn't change any basic structure or ideas of the story and ruin it. What he added are touches of his genius.
Forget about special visual or sound effects. When Spielberg makes a blockbuster sci-fi, they are always top-notch. What I want to discuss is his perspective in storytelling. I confess, it's really hard to make a film about hostile alien invasion in serious mood after all these years (especially after Mr. Burton's "Mars Attacks"). Technologically advanced fierce-looking aliens destroying cities and killing humans without any apparent reason -- this is now comedy element. Serious movie aliens are now either friendly as in Spielberg's own "E.T." or if they are hostile, they're sinister and mysterious enough. And they find no reason to declare war on Earth in a mass scale. So I think Spielberg took a major risk on making this film, because it doesn't fit in the modern alien trend (I know how I disliked "Independence Day").
So what can he do to fit this thing in the trend? Tell the story not from a well-educated telescope-wise guys point of view as Wells did, but from a common middle-class worker with social problems. Enter Tom Cruise as Ray: dock worker, divorced, with two children. He's got enough problems before he thinks of alien invasion. What we see in this film is what he sees. He's the representative of a part of mankind and the movie deals with how that part is affected. It's a wise decision by Spielberg not to include everybody in action. So he didn't show how the politicians react, how the scientists react or how religious leaders react. The greatest thing about this film is this is first-person and that person is not a hero to mankind by fighting the aliens. All he does is to save himself and his kids. And how Spielberg built his experiences! His magical visions and excellent cinematography aided him to make some classic shots like, the radiation massacre on the running crowd by the aliens or the 'hide-and-seek' in Ogilvy's cellar.
But is there nothing really in this film that deserves criticism? Take the characters: Robbie, the son, is an extremely two-dimensional character and the guy who played him is equally pathetic. There was no need to bring this character. Rachel's character also appeared a little bit conflicting. The grenade trick that Ray did is just very cheap and entirely unexpected from Spielberg or Koepp. And for the ending, I wish it was more dramatic. It entirely lacked the surprise element.
Tom Cruise may be nuts off-screen, but once again he shows why he is the highest paid actor and the most wanted movie star now. He develops the character of Ray nicely, any other actor would overact and ruin it. Dakota Fanning is just awesome. She successfully brings out the inner mentality of a girl of her age and thus gives the character a serious importance. And Tim Robbins delivers yet another impressive character performance as Ogilvy.
There are plenty of moments in this film that reflects Spielberg's originality. Most of them one would appreciate (I won't spoil it by mentioning them) and some one would disapprove. It's really stupid to say things like "It's the best invasion movie ever" or "best take on Wells classic" about this film. Because that depends on time. The more the cinema technology would develop, the better these films would be. But Mr. Spielberg once again showed there are other things to praise besides CGI in a sci-fi film. Yes, he could do better, but it is the best we could get.