a rip-off.

Rating: 4/10 (5 December 2005)

This movie was a disappointment. Some of it was a clear rip-off of the British "Tripods" series of the 1980's by John Cristopher shown on BBC. For example, the tripods looked a LOT like those in the BBC series. Also, a BLATANT rip-off of the British series was the fog-horn-like sound the tripods made. It was identical. Another way this movie ripped-off John Christopher's work is when Cruise is drawn up into the tripod and wrecks it with a hand grenade. This was the same thing that happened in John Christopher's first book, "The White Mountains" (first of the 3 books in his tripods series.) The biggest difference between this movie and Christopher's tripods series is that the British series was well-written and had a plot/story. This movie was all about special effects, but was otherwise quite weak.