SF Classic Gets a Modern Treatment

Rating: 7/10 (13 July 2005)

A great pop-corn munching movie, worth seeing for the special effects alone, but don't go looking for any deep meaningful insights into the human condition....
There are some wonderful special effects here, warfare (or extermination?) on a massive scale, great lumps of heaving technology, weird alien creatures, endlessly screaming children, buttock-clenching moments of sheer terror, and even some of those "didn't I see that in another movie?" kind of moments, and the film rocks along at such a cracking pace and you don't notice that that it is all empty, meaningless fluff.
The film sticks closely to the book -- even though it is set in the WRONG COUNTRY MR Spielberg -- though Well's pontifications on colonial imperialism gets dumped in favour of vaporizing bodies.
A lot of critics here seem to be hung up on the peanut butter sandwich sticking to the window when it shouldn't, but any fool can see that it is a reflection we are looking at...a reflection of Tom Cruise the self-centred father, who is in turn a reflection of OURSELVES as modern man with our modern self-centred way of life, who are about to be exterminated like "moggots" by and even more self-centred species, and er... so on. Not quite sure what you are getting at Mr Spielberg, but thanks for the entertainment.