War of The Worlds Was Terrible

Rating: 2/10 (3 July 2005)

I went into this movie wanting to like it as I am a big fan of both Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg. I left this movie telling myself that I can earn back the $9.75 I paid for my ticket, but I can never earn back the two hours and ten minutes I spent watching the movie. The plot (aliens invading earth) could have been well presented, however, not in this case. So many things just didn't make sense. First of all, Cruise's kids were obnoxious and irritating. Had this been an actual emergency, I firmly believe that these children would have lived up to the challenge and not maintained their bratty attitude. Second, the story just didn't make sense. In the first scenes, the aliens' tripod machine comes up out of the earth in New Jersey (just outside NYC). Rather than run at the first tremblings of the earth (from where the tripod came), Cruise stands their and simply looks on. Then, with all of the electronics fried, he is able to find the only vehicle that is operable. As Cruise and his ill-behaved kids run from the aliens, his teenage son runs off to join the defending army against his father's direction. Not very realistic. What really made this movie horrid was the fact that everything seemed to tie itself up at the end (almost without warning). It was almost as if the producers had run out of money and needed to wrap up quickly where the money ran out. Finally, the happy ending that reunited Cruise with his son (and ex-wife) in the ex-wife's parents' house in Boston (with all the electricity back on) was totally at odds with the "reality" of total and complete devastation presented during the preceding two hours. I expected more from this Spielberg/ Cruise collaboration. Save your money - don't see this movie in the theaters, don't buy this movie on DVD - don't even waste your time watching it in 5 years on USA Network's middle of the night movie program.