Great movie that no one will like.

Rating: 8/10 (30 June 2005)

This is a very good movie that nobody will like and probably be a bust at the box office, and it's a shame because Spielberg did a nice job recreating H.G Wells classic story. This movie should stand on its on feet and unfortunately has been out shined by the ass that Tom Cruise has become off camera. Maybe he should worry more about his on screen performance then his off screen tirades about Scientology or Katie Holmes.
The movie is based on the H.G. Wells story about how aliens come to the planet and kick some major butt, but in the end, they die because of something that on our planet that we humans have grown used too.
The main reason why people won't like this movie is because we get our butts kicked in the movie. Unlike Independence Day, the aliens do come down and destroy and kill us, but, this time we can do nothing to stop them, i.e. we are helpless. Not a fun movie for the movie crowd on a patriotic weekend such as July 4th. Since we humans win by default, there was not a lot of cheering in the theater when I watched. Spielberg continues to be a great story teller and one of the best directors ever. No scene was too long, he was able to control the over-acting impulses that Cruise can have, and he brings out the talents of the adorably wonderful young actress Dakota Fanning (Man on Fire) who plays Cruise's daughter Rachel Ferrier. I just hope that she is going to school because she is appearing in every movie that requires a young girl to act. Hey, casting directors, let her go to school will ya? Tom Cruise (Minority Report), as Ray Ferrier, does a steady but not spectacular job as the deadbeat dad trying to deal with what is going on. I did find that his reactions to events around him are probably closer to reality then the courageous hero's we normally find in these kind of movie. To give an indication of how dark this movie is, the final act begins by having Cruise's character kill another man who has lost his mind after watching the aliens use humans as fertilizer. There is no happy ending in the movie, and yes the children and Tom survive, but there are no rah-rah scenes here, so don't go expecting it.
I tell you all to go see it, but like I said, I don't think people will like it and it will be a disappointment at the box office, the blame of which can be put on the story itself, because it is so good, and so depressing all at once. Give it a shot.
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