Will appeal to anyone who loved "Signs"

Rating: 1/10 (30 June 2005)

Lets try and be kind about this film. The tripods are excellent, I want one. The aliens were cute and certainly won me over.
Okay, now the downside. If you liked the film "Signs" then you'll most probably adore this film. It has the same, total absence of logic. Remember "Signs"? The film where naked aliens invade a world covered in water? The same aliens that dissolve in a rain storm? Imagine if they had landed in England... the invasion would've ended swiftly and very badly. Remember also the alien ships, invisible by day yet they light up like fireflies at night. Hey, why be invisible when you're indestructible anyway? Back to "War of the Worlds". This film is full of glaring flaws, lapses in logic and is so full of unlikable and annoying characters I was fervently hoping the aliens would squish the whole bunch of them.
Want an example of the errors? An EM (Electromagnetic) pulse burns-out car starter motors, solenoids, wrist watches and electrical appliances everywhere. Yet a few moment later we see a man standing in a street using a fully functional video camcorder. How can this be? Does he have a military hardened video? I think not.
Or another example. A massive aircraft crashes into a house. There's no fire to speak of, the engines are almost perfectly intact and a car outside the house is unmarked. A few minutes later we see the car speed through the middle of the aircraft's broken fuselage; evidently a miracle has opened a corridor amidst the corridor. Hello? Was it necessary to treat the audience with such contempt? Or is Spielburg simply getting tired and lazy?
The examples of abject stupidity are endless and sadly I rate "Mars Attack" a dramatic masterpiece compared to this drivel. At least I liked the main characters. None of the characters in "War of the Worlds" are likable from start to finish. There is a saying "in adversity we find ourselves". It does not apply here. The principle characters are selfish, pompous and shallow people at the outset; they are unchanged at the end. If you want a film where humanity rises to a challenge... this certainly isn't the film for you.
Stars of the films? The microbes you see in the opening scene. Far more lovable, they are the true and only heroes in this stinker.
I'm being far too generous about this movie. I want my money back. Strictly for those whose lives are ruled by soap opera and mindless emotion. For anyone with an intellect this film is a crashing disappointment and you'll do yourselves a tremendous favor if you skip this film for the rest of your life. Honestly, it's that bad!