silly aliens...silly movie

Rating: 4/10 (19 July 2005)

Why are aliens in movies always so silly? Sadly, you won't find an answer to that question in this film. War of the Worlds would have you believe that aliens with the intellect and means to hatch a serious plot for world domination can be outsmarted repeatedly by Tom Cruise.
At times I felt that I could walk through the enormous holes in the plot of this movie. As a fan of the action/adventure genre, I am well aware that it is common for such movies to sacrifice intricate plot and character development for excitement and special effects. However, this film didn't really deliver enough of either to sufficiently counter-balance the number bizarre details that went unexplained. In fact, I was not particularly pleased with the special effects of this film, at all. Special effects were used to the point that much of the latter portion of the film resembled a video game. Furthermore, the visually impressive red fungus that accompanied the aliens appeared to have been strongly inspired, if not essentially stolen, from another alien film, Dreamcatcher. I know that this is a heavy accusation, but an individual who has seen both films might notice a definite and uncanny resemblance.
This disappointing film did have one strong point that must be mentioned. I found the performance of Dakota Fanning to be very impressive. This eleven year old actress, who can also be seen in Uptown Girls, Man on Fire, Hide and Seek, and several other recent films, easily steals this movie and provides War of the Worlds with one of its only highlights.