Beyond the First 30 Minutes This Is A Dud

Rating: 6/10 (11 October 2006)

Well I was kind of hoping for a movie set in the same period, the Victorian Era, as the book but Steven Spielberg decided to go for the modern day era. It makes sense to a degree and he does manage to pull it off. Normally I find Tom Cruise somewhat annoying but he was tolerable in this in his role as an irresponsible, divorced father. The first 30 minutes are quite a treat and the alien tripods are truly frightening as looming machines of death. The aliens on the other hand are too cutesy looking and didn't come off as the jealous and spiteful tentacled masses that H.G. Wells originally envisioned. There are some serious plot holes like where the tripods originated from as well as other finer details. The movie starts to sag around the middle and the end comes abruptly. Still, this is a decent summer action flick for a night at the drive-ins or at home in your living room.
As a side note, check out Jeff Wayne's musical adaption of "The War of the Worlds" to see cooler styled tripods and hear a memorable interpretation of the original book.